Cultural fit and academic performance of higher education students

Abstract

This study provided empirical evidence on the relationship between cultural fit and individual performance in an area where it is rarely investigated: the academic achievement of higher education students. The authors employed an adapted version of the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) to estimate individuals’ culture fit (as the inverse of the difference between the culture as it is perceived and as it is preferred by the respondents), and the indicator of students’ performance was their semester grade average. Their sample consisted of 348 full time higher education students from a Hungarian university. Based on linear and rank correlation, as well as linear regression analyses the authors have found that higher education students’ cultural fit tended to relate positively to their academic performance.