Newcomer Learning Research Articles

Exploring the differential effects of career and psychosocial mentoring on newcomer socialization.

Drawing on the social cognitive career theory, this study proposed an integrative framework to uncover how and when different types of mentoring accelerate newcomer's socialization in corresponding domains. We tested this relational model with time-lagged, multisource survey data collected from 157 newcomers and 88 supervisors. The results indicated that career mentoring facilitated newcomer task mastery, task performance, and job satisfaction by improving newcomer occupational self-efficacy, whereas psychosocial mentoring promoted newcomer job satisfaction and social integration via inspiring newcomer social self-efficacy. Furthermore, newcomer learning adaptability amplified the influence of career mentoring on newcomer occupational self-efficacy, as well as the impact of psychosocial mentoring on newcomer social self-efficacy. Our study extended the mentoring and socialization literature and provided significant practical implications for managers on how to arrange tailored mentoring to facilitate newcomer socialization.

Colleagues, Friends, and Both: How Different Social Networks Affect Processes of Newcomer Adjustment

Newcomer adjustment literature maintains that newcomers should be strategic and purposeful to build social networks (e.g., information, friendship) to facilitate their adjustment to the new job. However, the literature ignores the overlap between information and friendship networks and how the overlapping network helps newcomers to adjust. Based on social network research and the literature on newcomer adjustment, we propose that different social networks (i.e., information, friendship, and overlapping) will affect newcomer learning, assimilation, and role-making, respectively. Four waves of data collected from a sample of 178 organizational newcomers were used to test our hypotheses. Results suggest that the number of strong information ties positively predicted role clarity and subsequent task performance (i.e., the learning process); the number of weak friendship ties negatively predicted organizational identification and subsequent job satisfaction (i.e., the assimilation process); the number of “close comrades” (i.e., those ties that strong information connections overlapped with strong friendship connections) positively, whereas the number of “indifferent workmates” (i.e., those ties that strong information connections overlapped with weak friendship connections) negatively predicted job-change negotiation and subsequent authentic self-expression (i.e., the role-making process). Overall, this study shows that different social networks have implications for different adjustment processes for newcomers, and highlights the importance of the overlapping networks for newcomer role-making.

How long are newcomers new in different occupations?

Purpose This study aims to examine the effects of occupational characteristics on the length of time required to socialize newcomers. The authors examine task mastery, role clarity and social acceptance as indicators of socialization. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypotheses, the authors used occupational data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and survey data of subject matter experts in 35 occupations. Findings Findings show that occupational differences account for a significant variance in the time needed to socialize newcomers. Across occupations, it takes longer to achieve task mastery than role clarity or social acceptance. Occupational complexity increases the time it takes for newcomers to attain task mastery, role clarity and social acceptance. Additionally, unstructured work and decision-making freedom increase the time it takes for newcomers to attain role clarity. Originality/value This study provides both theoretical and empirical guidance on the duration of the organizational socialization period. The study also provides empirical support for prior propositions that different types of newcomer learning occur at different rates.

How and when are learning‐adaptable newcomers innovative? Examining mechanisms and constraints

AbstractHigher levels of learning adaptability at work are expected to help performance when individuals encounter an unfamiliar environment, such as during organizational entry. However, little is known about how and when newcomer learning adaptability drives innovative behaviors. Drawing on and extending individual adaptability theory, we propose that two mediating mechanisms, positive framing and task mastery, may transmit the effect of learning adaptability on innovative behavior, with supervisor's tendency to avoid uncertain situations posited as a boundary condition. The proposed hypotheses were tested using multi‐source, multi‐wave data from three companies. We found that learning adaptability indirectly impacts innovative behavior via positive framing but not via task mastery. In addition, supervisor uncertainty avoidance moderated the relationship between learning adaptability and positive framing, and task mastery moderated the relationship between positive framing and innovative behavior, supporting a pattern of moderated mediation, such that the indirect relationship between learning adaptability and innovative behavior via positive framing was more positive when both moderators were low. The research findings are discussed in terms of implications for socialization research and practice.

Learning as moments of friction and opportunity: an autoethnography of ECR identities in queer time

In this article, we explore how time and temporality shape the identities of early career researchers as they learn to become academics. We engage in a collaborative autoethnography to reflect on how our shared identities as middle-class women and our divergences in age, ethnicity, familial status and sexuality shaped our embodied experiences of becoming academics. Drawing on the concept of queer time, we reconceptualise the becoming of newcomers as they learn (or do not learn) to belong to academia. We illustrate how queer time interrupts normative ideas of newcomer learning as progress, development and reproduction. We suggest that learning may alternatively be understood as ‘moments of friction’ and ‘moments of opportunity’ in which newcomers to the academy feel out of step, out of place and out of time. We conceptualise these moments as simultaneously painful yet productive of possibilities for learning to become an academic, differently.

Are You Satisfying Your Newcomers’ Needs? A Self-Determined Approach to Organizational Socialization

The purpose of this study was to propose and test a motivational model of newcomer socialization. Specifically, we apply a novel Self- Determination Theory (SDT) perspective to newcomer socialization by exploring how organizational socialization tactics and autonomy supportive supervision jointly address newcomers’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, and in turn, their organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Results from structural equation modelling analyses of data from a longitudinal study of 489 MBA interns supported the hypothesized motivational model. There were significant indirect effects of socialization tactics and autonomy support on adjustment outcomes via need satisfaction. Furthermore, compared to organizational tactics, autonomy supportive supervision had a stronger influence on commitment and retention via need satisfaction. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed. We conclude by proposing SDT as a promising and meaningful motivational lens for future research on newcomer learning and adaptation.

Comparing newcomer proactive behaviors: Direct inquiry and changing work procedures

Previous studies examining newcomer socialization have underlined the importance of proactive behaviors in aiding the adjustment of newcomers to an organization. However, few studies have focused on the effects of different types of proactive behaviors. In this study, we examine different proactive behaviors in the person-environment fit domain and investigate its impact on newcomer learning and ultimately newcomer performance and mental health. Specifically, we focus on direct inquiry and changing work procedure and propose that direct inquiry results in more learning while changing work procedure results in less learning, which is also a mediating mechanism for performance and mental health. To test our model, we use a 2-wave multi-source dataset of newcomers. This study contributes to the literature on proactive behavior of newcomers by identifying differences between proactive behaviors in the person-environment domain and further understanding the behaviors that newcomers can take to be successfully integrated into an organization.

The Pathways That Make New Public Employees Committed: A Dual-Process Model Triggered by Newcomer Learning

The Pathways That Make New Public Employees Committed: A Dual-Process Model Triggered by Newcomer Learning

Organizational Socialization Context: Evidence from the Microfinance Sector in the Developing Country

Although extant literature mainly emphasizes socialization models like early life socialization, socialization stage models, socialization tactics, newcomer learning and individual differences, little attention has been paid to the socialization in the organizational context. The main purpose of the research is to examine how context influences the organizational socialization process. The study has carried out multilevel organization analysis employing a single case study in the microfinance sector of Bangladesh. The study finds that contextual factors such as structure, goals, job role and environment facilitate and also constrain the socialization process. Institutional, formal, group and informal socialization tactics are commonly practiced in the multiple levels of the microfinance institution. Socialization stages such as learning and initiation, encountering and adjustment are commonly practiced and they are associated with uncertainty and environmental constraints. Overall, the study argues that context is critical in understanding and explaining socialization process.

The effect of learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings on newcomer proactive behaviours and learning

Learning is central to newcomer socialization, but research has rarely investigated the individual motivations that predict learning. Drawing from motivated action theory, this study examines newcomers’ learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings, and their effects on the different domains of learning through two separate routes of information‐seeking and relationship‐building proactive behaviours. In Study 1, we develop and validate a scale for communal goal strivings, demonstrating the empirical distinctiveness of the proposed construct from related constructs of prosocial motivation and need to belong. Study 2 involved a 2‐wave survey of 185 university student interns investigating newcomer learning. The results revealed that learning goal orientation predicted greater information seeking in the form of direct inquiry, which in turn predicted role, organization, and social learning. Communal goal strivings predicted the relationship‐building proactive behaviour of networking, and increased social and organization learning. These results underscore the value of goal strivings during socialization and provide a nuanced understanding of the relationships between goal strivings, proactive behaviours, and newcomer learning. Practical implications are discussed.Practitioner points Organizations keen to hire proactive employees can select job applicants high in both learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings. Organizations should not treat newcomer learning as a single entity. Our results suggest that organizations can encourage specific newcomer proactive behaviours to meet targeted learning objectives in the socialization process. To encourage newcomers’ proactivity and learning, greater attention should be accorded to the organizational environment, emphasizing the social aspects of the socialization process. This includes highlighting the importance of teams and workgroups.

Context, socialization, and newcomer learning

In the current paper, we provide a formal taxonomy of the organizational context relevant to newcomer socialization. We also propose that what newcomers learn during socialization periods (i.e., socialization content) and how they could learn the new information and knowledge (i.e., socialization process) are two distinct but related aspects of newcomer socialization. Based on these conceptual developments, we establish a theoretical model that articulates the mechanisms via which different contextual factors may impact newcomer socialization content and socialization process. Implications and future directions related to this theoretical model are discussed.

The relative importance of proactive behaviors and outcomes for predicting newcomer learning, well-being, and work engagement

New employees can accelerate and optimize their socialization by behaving proactively, although the key behaviors vary across studies. Recent research suggests that newcomer proactive behaviors influence socialization through the mediating effect of corresponding proactive outcomes. This may partly explain differences across studies, along with possible variations in the relative importance of specific proactive behaviors. This study investigates further the mediating role of proactive outcomes, and the relative importance of different proactive behaviors and proactive outcomes in predicting newcomer learning, well-being, and work engagement. Based on a sample of 176 temporary agency workers, support for the mediating role of proactive outcomes was found, although some proactive behaviors were effective in their own right. Relative importance analyses revealed that different proactive behaviors were important for different socialization criteria. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

採用内定から組織参入までの期間における新卒採用内定者の予期的社会化に関する縦断分析―組織に関する学習の先行要因とアウトカム―

採用内定から組織参入までの期間における新卒採用内定者の予期的社会化に関する縦断分析―組織に関する学習の先行要因とアウトカム―

Learning the Ropes: Communities of Practice and Social Networks in the Public Sector

ABSTRACT How do public agencies integrate new employees and shape their learning process? How do newcomers’ connections, formed with experienced professionals, help them “learn the ropes”? Public managers may find themselves asking such questions as they employ tactics to transition newcomers into productive organizational members who fit in well. At the same time that managers work to shape newcomer learning, newcomers proactively develop their own ties within the organization for information and support. This study examines organizational socialization tactics in a state agency using longitudinal qualitative and social network data. We investigate the dynamics of organizationally instituted communities of practice and individual level egocentric networks in the context of newcomer adaptation. Our analysis reveals that while both are venues for newcomer learning and information acquisition there exists a distinction in real-time learning and practice between these two knowledge sources. Our article develops implications for both public management theory and practice.

Newcomer socialisation in New Zealand small manufacturing firms: A socialisation agent perspective

This paper examines the nature and significance of the pre-encounter and encounter phases of the OS process and resultant outcomes in small manufacturing firms in Hawke’s Bay (a New Zealand region) from the perspective of socialisation agents. Key findings of this exploratory qualitative study were: (1) informal recruitment of staff through owner/managers’ and employees’ social networks facilitated newcomer learning and adjustment; (2) selection methods were employed that enabled socialisation agents to predict newcomer learning and adjustment; (3) socialisation agents used a blend of formal and informal socialisation tactics to socialise newcomers; and (4) key outcomes of the socialisation process include turnover and work performance. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are highlighted and the paper includes suggestions for further research.

Socialization tactics, proactive behavior, and newcomer learning: Integrating socialization models

The purpose of the study was to examine how socialization processes (socialization tactics and proactive behavior) jointly affect socialization content (i.e., what newcomers learn) and adjustment. Longitudinal survey data from 150 business and engineering graduates during their first 7 months of work indicate that: (1) institutionalized socialization and proactive behavior are each associated with newcomer learning, (2) the socialization processes and learning are each associated with various forms of adjustment, and (3) the socialization processes are associated with adjustment, while controlling for learning. These findings suggest that how newcomers are socialized has substantive and symbolic value over and above what they actually learn.

Organizational Socialization: A Field Study into Socialization Success and Rate

The last decade has witnessed a resurgence of organizational socialization research. However, a critical question has been neglected: Is there a common underlying pattern to organizational socialization? We investigated newcomer learning, job satisfaction and intent to quit as common indicators of socialization, in research with 222 newcomers at two organizations during the crucial post‐entry period. The results support a learning‐dependent model of newcomer adjustment, with learning in specific domains related to improved attitudinal outcomes. Some aspects of organizational socialization were not uniform across the two organizations, suggesting a need for further development of socialization models and greater accounting for this in organizational socialization research.

Newcomers' Relationships: The Role of Social Network Ties During Socialization

A sample of 154 new auditors was surveyed to investigate how patterns of social relationships affected socialization. Characteristics of the newcomers' informational networks (size, density, strength, range, and status) related to three different indicators of learning: organizational knowledge, task mastery, and role clarity. Also, the structure of the newcomers' friendship networks related to their social integration and organizational commitment. By linking socialization outcomes to social network structure, this study sheds new light on the role of relationships in newcomer learning and assimilation.

NEWCOMERS' RELATIONSHIPS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORK TIES DURING SOCIALIZATION.

A sample of 154 new auditors was surveyed to investigate how patterns of social relationships affected socialization. Characteristics of the newcomers' informational networks (size, density, strength, range, and status) related to three different indicators of learning: organizational knowledge, task mastery, and role clarity. Also, the structure of the newcomers' friendship networks related to their social integration and organizational commitment. By linking socialization outcomes to social network structure, this study sheds new light on the role of relationships in newcomer learning and assimilation.