Change of organizational newcomers' unmet expectations: Does proactive coping matter?

Katarzyna Ślebarska,Roman Soucek

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0243234

Katarzyna Ślebarska, Roman Soucek

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243234

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Dec 10, 2020
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Silesia, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Abstract

Unmet expectations are one of the major sources of strain for organizational newcomers. We explore the change of newcomers’ expectations over time and propose that proactive coping should restrict the amount of unmet expectations. We recruited participants among employees from newly opened retail stores (N = 172) and accompanied them for six months after organizational entry. The results revealed a change of unmet expectations over time. Though proactive coping was related to a lower amount of unmet expectations right after organizational entry, unmet expectations increased after six months, especially in case of high proactive coping.

Highlights

The early period of employment is considered as one of the most critical phases of organizational life
Since the actual experience differs in the process of onboarding, the fulfillment of expectations might change during organizational entry
The high correlations of proactive coping between the assessments indicate the stability of this construct over time, whereas the measures of unmet expectations are interrelated to a lesser extent between the assessments

Summary

Introduction

The early period of employment is considered as one of the most critical phases of organizational life. The failure to meet new employees’ expectations can even exacerbate the “reality shock” and lead to unsuccessful adaptation and a lower job satisfaction [4] Regarding these negative consequences, the problem of unmet expectations remains a crucial topic for organizational socialization. Contrary to prior conceptions of organizational newcomers as being passive and reactive respondents to their work context, the prevalent view portrays employees as actively shaping their jobs and work environment [5, 6]. This active work behavior refers to proactive coping that describes individuals as self-started, change-oriented, and future-focused [7].

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