The role of supervisor trust and support for authenticity on newcomers’ creativity and adjustment

Abstract

This study addresses how and under what conditions newcomers with high creative self-perceptions can adjust to their new roles in the organization. We integrate self-verification and self-concept theories with past socialization literature to theorize that supervisors’ perceptions of newcomer creativity enable newcomers holding strong creative self-perceptions to adjust successfully at work, if supervisors trust their newcomers and provide support for their authentic self-expression. Accordingly, we propose a dual-stage moderated mediation model in which a) newcomer creative self-perceptions interact with supervisor trust to trigger supervisor creative perceptions; and b) supervisor creative perceptions, in turn, interact with supervisor support to influence adjustment outcomes (i.e., task performance, job satisfaction, and stress symptoms). A two-wave, multisource study of 146 newcomer–supervisor dyads provides support for our predictions, suggesting that high levels of supervisor trust and support for authenticity serve as moderating conditions allowing supervisor creative perceptions to positively mediate the relationship between newcomer creative self-perceptions and adjustment.