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Exponential organizations (ExOs) are purpose-driven companies that leverage exponential technologies and exponential business practices to grow and scale rapidly, transform industries and create massive value and impact. In contrast, non-ExOs follow a linear approach to business and organizational strategy design and execution. This study aims to validate the hypothesis, based on financial metrics, that ExOs outperform their competitors and linear counterparts. Furthermore, it also brings a new understanding of the gap raised in the past eight years about how ExOs can achieve significantly better performance, measured with financial metrics.

For measuring how exponential an organization is, this study elaborated a completely new assessment tool called Exponential Quotient (ExQ). This study applied ExQ to the 100 largest US headquartered companies as ranked by Fortune magazine in 2014. Calculating the ExQ enabled this study to rank these Fortune 100 companies and identify the most and the least exponential firms. This study tracked these companies as to how they performed on different financial metrics over the eight years of 2014–2021 and analyzed the results.

Through the analysis, this study revealed that the top 10 ExOs have significantly outperformed their bottom 10 non-exponential peers, delivering 40x higher shareholder returns, 2.6x better revenue growth, 6.8x higher profitability and 11.7x better asset turnover. Furthermore, this study could identify commonalities and similarities between the two groups. This means that ExOs can thrive even in tough times and that accelerating technologies unlock abundance and allow every organization to become a disruptive innovator and stay ahead of the competition. These are novel results in the research focusing on the gap between exponential and traditional organizations.

Using the ExQ diagnostics tool, every organization can see how flexible, scalable and agile they are, which is the starting point for an exponential transformation program. Although this approach has already found its way into practice and is applied globally by thousands of organizations (startups, scaleups and incumbents), so far, the academic establishment is in its nascent phase. With this research, the authors wanted to extend this field of science. On the other hand, because of its novelty, no appropriate previous studies existed to compare the results.

The possible implications showed that there is a plannable way for significantly increasing an organization’s ExQ and advance it from a linear toward an exponential organizational model.

The results validated the robustness of the ExO framework and philosophy and shed light on the importance of exponential transformation – a proven method to increase an organization’s ExQ. This framework is not a “how to be successful” guide. Instead, it uncovered some of the previously unknown and universal mechanisms of scalability – which, in turbulent times, make companies successful (based on financial metrics). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was among the first kind of in-depth analyses to validate the whole ExO model.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Integrating new technologies is vital for a firm to maintain a competitive edge, and those who do it well will find themselves at the forefront of their industries.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy- to-digest format.

Central to the fit concept is that congruence between individual and environmental attributes leads to improved outcomes. However, when discussing fit, researchers often describe congruence as alignment between distinctive or unique individual and environmental attributes. We suggest that current approaches to examining fit do not adequately account for this assumption of distinctiveness because they fail to consider normative expectations and preferences. As such, we propose an alternative theoretical and methodological approach to conceptualizing and measuring fit.

We introduce the normative theory of fit, outline how researchers can decompose fit into distinctive and normative components and identify areas for future research.

Management researchers have largely ignored the importance of decomposing fit into distinctive and normative components. This shortcoming necessitates additional research to ensure a more accurate understanding of fit and its relationship with outcomes.

We provide a clarification and critical examination of a pervasive construct in the field of management by introducing the normative theory of fit, identifying areas where researchers can employ this theoretical lens and suggesting a reevaluation of the importance placed on differentiation that is traditionally employed in practice.

This paper aims to describe a new measure of employee motivational fit, namely the Genos employee motivation assessment (GEMA), its predictive validity and use in learning and organizational development activities.

Within three different organizations, employees completed GEMA via an online web survey system. Correlation analyses were then performed with a series of job performance and employee engagement data.

Motivational fit (i.e. the degree of alignment between what an individual is motivated by and experiences in their work), within four areas measured by GEMA (namely, role fit, management fit, team fit, and organization fit), were found to be associated with average predictive validity correlation coefficients equal to 0.46, .073, 0.67, and 0.52, respectively.

Statistical analyses at the individual level would be beneficial in future research. Additionally, whether motivational fit can be improved via learning and/or organizational development interventions, and whether such improvement leads to corresponding improvements in performance and engagement remains to be determined.

Intervention initiatives designed to improve motivational fit need to be designed and tested. The findings of this study suggest that successful interventions may result in improvements in job performance and employee engagement.

This paper will be of interest to professionals in recruitment, learning and organizational development interested in the improvement of job performance and employee engagement. This is the first study to examine the validity of GEMA scores and to propose the potential use of motivational fit as an intervention medium to improve these areas.

The aim of this paper is to examine the mediation effect of the psychological contract (PC) on the relationship between person–organization (P‐O) fit, person–job (P‐J) fit and affective commitment to the organization (organizational affective commitment or OAC).

The empirical data for the study were collected using self‐administered questionnaires with 960 participants from 16 large companies in the UAE. Respondents were asked to provide their perceptions of the main concepts used in the study.

The results indicate that P‐O fit and P‐J fit were positively related to the OAC. In addition, the PC was found to be a partial mediator between P‐O fit, P‐J fit and OAC.

The findings imply that managers should take into consideration the P‐O fit when selecting new employees.

Since little is known about the process by which UAE organizations promote the P‐J fit, P‐O fit or OAC, this article contribute to the literature by examining HRM practices in a non‐western, cross‐cultural context.

The purpose of this paper is to review relevant literatures on career success and develop a theoretical framework and testable propositions concerning how human capital, person‐environment fit and organizational support relate to career success. Whilst acknowledging the substantial literature that has accumulated regarding the various antecedents and operationalizations involved in employees' career success, there is little research as how person‐environment fit and career success are related.

Literature outlining approaches to career success is summarized and research at the intersection of person‐environment fit and organizational support/career success are reviewed. This is followed by a set of propositions based upon the antecedents of career success.

It is suggested that person‐environment fit and organizational support are important antecedents of career success. Knowledge of career changes and these antecedents help individuals and organizations manage career success.

Future research should examine empirically the linkages suggested by the paper along with other relationships asserted or implied by person‐environment fit and career success literature as mentioned in the paper.

Both employers and employees may benefit from integrating different types of fit into the psychological contract because each fit will impact aspects of career success. Therefore, organizations need to select and develop employees that can easily adjust and fit into careers that are compatible with their work environments.

This paper contributes to the literature by being one of the first to examine the effects of different types of person‐environment fit on career success.

Over one million individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will be entering adulthood and attempting to cultivate fulfilling, meaningful life experiences. These young adults with ASD represent Generation A. The workplace will be a major element in cultivating fulfilling lives for Generation A. Social interaction is an integral component for functioning within most postsecondary and occupational settings. It is necessary to understand the interaction between autistic adults and organizations to understand potential social and behavioral deficits. The workplace is inherently a social place. Understanding both formal and informal social information in the workplace may be critical to successful job performance. Fit, particularly person–organization fit, is used to address this social nature of the workplace. Understanding this interaction helps provide a means for crafting both individual and organizational interventions which support autistic adults in the workplace. This chapter provides an analysis of interventions that support those with ASD in the workplace. It is proposed that these interventions will help create a more supportive work environment for those with ASD. As important, it is proposed that the accommodations for those with ASD are reasonable for any organization seeking to improve both satisfaction and performance for all its employees. By addressing these issues, organizations have the potential to create a more satisfying workplace for all workers, not just those in Generation A.

The purpose of this paper is to extend research on employer branding in the recruitment context. The authors develop a model that integrates research from employer branding, social identity theory, and person-organization fit in order to investigate the impact of company reputation and identity congruency between organizations and their job applicants on the attractiveness of an employer brand.

An online survey was conducted to test the theoretical model in a recruitment context in the Norwegian offshore industry. Structural equation modelling is employed in the data analysis.

A key finding is that a company’s reputation and identity congruence between applicants’ self-identities and their perceived organization identity affect job applicants’ job pursuit intentions through mediation of cognitive social identity. Moreover, identity congruence predicts applicants’ cognitive identification with the company.

The study suggests that managers should try to map and understand central characteristics that describe job applicants’ identities and strive to provide applicants with access to necessary information about the company to form cognitive identification with the company.

The authors extend research on employer branding by incorporating social identity and attitude as mediators between symbolic and instrumental attributes of an employer brand and its attractiveness. This study also deepens research on social identity by including explicitly a comparison process between applicants’ self-identities and their perceived organizational identity, which leads to applicants’ identification with the company.

In recent years, theory and research have been increasingly devoted to understanding organizational behavior in cross-cultural and global contexts, with particular attention being paid to the appropriateness of various human resources management (HRM) practices because practices that may be effective within one cultural context may not be effective in other cultural contexts. This chapter argues that a multi-level perspective is needed to explain the interplay between HRM practices and employee responses across cultural contexts. Specifically, the multi-level framework developed in this chapter elucidates the importance of fit between HRM practices, individual values, organizational values, and societal values. Societal values play a key role in the adoption of HRM practices, and the effectiveness of these HRM practices will depend largely on “fit” or alignment with the values of the societal culture in which the organization is operating. HRM practices also shape the collective responses of employees through organizational climate at the organizational level and through psychological climate at the individual level. For positive employee attitudes and responses to emerge, the climate created by the HRM practices must be aligned with societal and individual values. Building on these notions, the strength of the societal culture in which the organization is operating serves as a mechanism that links relationships between climate, value fit, and attitudes across levels of analysis. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for future research and implications for practice.