Misfit beyond person-environment interactions: an integrative model and systematic reviews of anthropogenic, exogenous, and idiographic forms

Abstract There is increasing interest in the concept of misfit. However, there are concerns that it is poorly defined and elusive. I argue that the concept is beyond definition and better thought of as an umbrella term under which many different perspectives and approaches shelter. I develop a categorization of causes of misfit based on a classical division in the psychology literature: the influence of the person versus the environment in determining human behavior. The categorization yields four drivers of misfit. First, misfit primarily coming from the self, anthropogenic misfit. Second, misfit primarily coming from the environment, exogenous misfit. Third, misfit coming from an interaction of the person and the environment, person-environment (PE) misfit. And fourth, misfit neither rooted in the person nor the environment but which takes a non-essentialist form, idiographic misfit. PE misfit captures mainstream approaches to misfit and has been subject to recent review by other authors. This paper offers human-generated systematic reviews of the three other quadrants of misfit; anthropogenic, exogenous, and idiographic drivers of misfit. These systematic reviews demonstrate the importance of the model and highlight future avenues for research. I argue that this categorization is an integrative framework that moves beyond PE perspectives to envelop misfit caused by the individual themselves and misfit caused by others such as bullies and abusive managers. It also identifies realms of misfit research that focus on ‘misfit as psychological construct’ and separates it from mainstream approaches that regard ‘misfit as misalignment’.