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A General Framework for Estimating Multidimensional Contingency Fit

Author

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  • Simon C. Parker

    (Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada)

  • Arjen van Witteloostuijn

    (Department of Management, University of Antwerpen, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium)

Abstract

This paper develops a framework for estimating multidimensional fit. In the context of contingency thinking and the resource-based view of the firm, there is a clear need for quantitative approaches that integrate fit-as-deviation, fit-as-moderation, and fit-as-system perspectives, implying that the impact on organizational performance of series of bivariate (mis)fits and bundles of multiple (mis)fits are estimated in an integrated fashion. Our approach offers opportunities to do precisely this. Moreover, we suggest summary statistics that can be applied to test for the (non)significance of fit linkages at both the disaggregated level of individual bivariate interactions, as well as the aggregated level of groups of multivariate interactions. We systematically compare our approach with extant alternatives using simulations, including the fit-as-mediation alternative. We find that our approach outperforms these established alternatives by including fit-as-moderation and fit-as-deviation as special cases, by being better able to capture the nature of the underlying fit structure in the data and by being relatively robust to mismeasurements, small sample sizes, and collinearity. We conclude by discussing our method's advantages and disadvantages.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon C. Parker & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2010. "A General Framework for Estimating Multidimensional Contingency Fit," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 540-553, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:21:y:2010:i:2:p:540-553
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1090.0464
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Marcus Dejardin & Julie Hermans & Dendi Ramdani, & Johanna Vanderstraeten & Jacqueline Brassey & Hendrik Slabbinck, 2015. "Fitting entrepreneurial, firm-level and environmental contingencies for better performance," Post-Print halshs-01379907, HAL.
    2. Henk W. Volberda & Niels van der Weerdt & Ernst Verwaal & Marten Stienstra & Antonio J. Verdu, 2012. "Contingency Fit, Institutional Fit, and Firm Performance: A Metafit Approach to Organization–Environment Relationships," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 1040-1054, August.
    3. Chris Changwha Chung & Paul W. Beamish, 2010. "The Trap of Continual Ownership Change in International Equity Joint Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(5), pages 995-1015, October.

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