A Multilevel Analysis of Organizational Support on the Relationship between Person-Environment Fit and Performance of University Physical Education Teachers

Limited research has evaluated the performance of physical education (PE) teachers. This study aimed to use person-environment fit and organizational support to evaluate PE teachers’ work performance using multilevel analysis. The relationship between person-environment fit and performance of university physical education teachers (at the person-level) and a cross-level effect on performance of university physical education teachers of perceived organizational support (at the school-level) and a moderator effect of organizational support were examined. A total of 447 PE teachers recruited from 55 universities in Taiwan were invited to participate in this survey, with a return rate of 65.74%. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the study found that person-job fit, person-organization fit, and person-supervisor fit at individual level have positive impacts on the performance of university PE teachers. As for cross-level effect, organizational support has positive impacts on the performance of university physical education teachers. However, organizational support at school level had no significant moderating effects on the relationship between person-environment fit and the performance of university physical education teachers. The implications of the findings for both university PE teachers and administrators and suggestions for future research are discussed.