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The purpose of this paper is to explore the important and distinctly under‐researched topic of first customer references, for which a basic descriptive framework is created. The paper also tests the framework, validating it by means of new insights obtained from a longitudinal case study.

The present work is an embedded single longitudinal case study with two levels of analysis units: the company and its customers. Pattern‐matching logic and time‐series analyses are used. The idea is to compare the observed patterns with those introduced through the basic descriptive framework. Each case is analyzed, after which a cross‐case analysis is conducted over the specified time horizon. Programming theory is used to describe the iterative nature of the phenomenon of market entry, although natural language is used instead of formal notation.

The longitudinal case study demonstrates various operational aspects of the framework in practice. The study indicates the correct business operations setup model after each customer case. The case study generally reveals, from the perspective of competence marketing, that there are no failed customer cases if experimental knowledge has been gained.

In order to evaluate capabilities of start‐up technology companies to enter the market, all customer cases should be evaluated, even the failed ones. Successful customer references may provide only a partial picture of the gained capabilities.

This paper explores the important and distinctly under‐researched topic of first customer references, for which a basic descriptive framework is created and will be of interest to companies trying to enter the very competitive business‐to‐business market for complex products.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and understand the role of person-organisation (P-O) fit in mediating the relationship between job resources and work-related outcomes. The need to study the antecedents of P-O fit, dearth of its literature in India, and growing importance of ensuring congruence between the environment and the individual in a diverse workplace, to recruit and retain the employees, underlines the significance of this research. In addition to the mediating role of P-O fit, it was hypothesised that co-worker support and decision latitude will lead to an increase in P-O fit and, in turn, be positively related to work engagement (WE), job satisfaction (JS) and organisational commitment (OC).

Two-phased time-lagged data were collected from a total sample of 213 middle- and senior-level executives working in India. The data consisted of a self-report questionnaire on skill discretion, decision authority and co-worker support in Phase 1 and P-O fit, WE, OC and JS scales in Phase 2.

Structural equation modelling was simultaneously used to test the hypothesised relationships. It emerged that co-worker support and skill discretion positively correlated with P-O fit. It was found that P-O fit mediated the relationship between co-worker support and JS and OC. It also established partial mediation between co-worker support and WE, and between skill discretion and JS, organisational commitment and WE. The findings of this study, therefore, have profound implications for researchers as well as for practicing managers highlighting the need for a better job design and creating a supportive work environment.

Though the data were collected in two phases, the study design went through a time lag of four weeks, and thereby provided tests of association and not of robust causal relationships. A longitudinal design could be adopted for future research, to enable making inferences about the causal nature of these relationships. The second limitation of the study is its reliance on self- reports as the single source of data.

This is the first study to examine job resources as antecedents of P-O fit using a supplementary fit argument. Further, very few studies have explored P-O fit as a mediating variable and less than 2 per cent of published papers on P-O fit have been studied in the Indian context. Practitioners can employ findings to create interventions to generate more positive organisational outcomes.