Learning and Adjustment Outcomes in Socialized and Unsocialized Newcomers : An Ex-
Post-Facto Comparative Study

Careers today are becoming increasingly multi-organizational (Howard, 1996), as workers are becoming more mobile and less loyal to a single organization (Fang, Duffy, & Shaw, 2011). Retention is a growing problem, and organizations are more and more preoccupied with the successful socialization and integration of their newcomers. However, best practice research on the subject of newcomer socialization has come up with mixed results over the course of the last 25 years of research. This comparative study sought to explore the differences between socialized newcomers and unsocialized newcomers in terms of organizational socialization process variables. Specifically, in its first objective, this study aimed at comparing these newcomer groups in terms of (1) proximal outcomes (learning of socialization content and role clarity) and (2) distal outcomes (affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and intention to quit) of the organizational socialization process, as well as in terms of (3) information network characteristics (network size, status, range, strength, and density), controlling for newcomer proactive strategies. In its second objective, this study sought to explore how the organizational socialization process (relationships between variables) differed between newcomer groups.   The participants were new employees in a large multi-media company (n = 53), all with a tenure of less than one year in the organization. This organization had a sanctioned socialization practice in place, but allowed department managers to socialize their newcomers at their discretion. This resulted in two newcomer groups: those who were socialized by their respective departments (“socialized” newcomer group) and those who were not (“unsocialized” newcomer group). Participants completed a questionnaire measuring proactive behaviors, mastery of socialization content, role clarity, affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, intention to quit, and information network characteristics.  The results indicated that, with regards to the first objective, socialized and unsocialized newcomers differ in terms of their mastery of socialization content, namely, learning of job/task, group, and organization knowledge was significantly greater for socialized newcomers than for unsocialized newcomers. No differences in distal socialization outcomes or network characteristics were observed. As for the second objective, the organizational socialization process was different depending on the newcomer group. Unsocialized newcomers showed a significant positive relationship between proactive information seeking and network size, as well as between feedback seeking and network status. Proactive positive framing was positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to intention to quit, and role clarity was related to job satisfaction in unsocialized newcomers. These relationships were not found in socialized newcomers. Instead, socialized newcomers showed significant relationships between learning of socialization content and each of the distal socialization outcomes (affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and intention to quit).   Overall, unsocialized newcomers’ adjustment seems related to their proactive strategies, while socialized newcomers’ adjustment is facilitated by a greater mastery of socialization content.  This study’s unique sample offers interesting insights into the different experiences of newcomers not normally found in popular best practice research. Recommendations for research and practice are discussed accordingly.

Keyphrases: Adaptation, Recherche comparative, Organizational socialization, Proactive behaviors, Learning, Adjustment, Social networks, Comparative study