Constructing fit: An empirical study of employees' understanding of fit at work

Abstract Fit is widely used in organizational practice to guide hiring, retention, and employee management decisions, yet how individuals actually experience and make sense of fit remains poorly understood. In response, this study advances a constructivist account of person–environment fit by examining how it becomes meaningful to individuals in practice. Based on in‐depth interviews with 60 employees in three major Chinese cities, the study explores how people understand and articulate fit when invited to reflect on their work experience without predefined conceptual guidance. The findings indicate that fit is often tacit, weakly articulated, or taken for granted in routine work contexts, and is typically constructed through reflective narration rather than experienced as a stable, ongoing judgement. Participants assembled their understanding of fit through contrast, temporal comparison, and contextual interpretation, drawing on instrumental, relational, and moral considerations. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we show that fit emerges dialogically and unevenly, shaped by career trajectories, organizational change, and culturally embedded expectations. We develop a process model that reconceptualizes fit as an interpretive and temporally situated construction rather than a static alignment. The study contributes to contemporary fit research by clarifying how fit comes into awareness and acquires meaning in employees' working lives.