Organizational Socialization Tactics and Newcomer Adjustment

Abstract

Understanding and facilitating new hires’ adjustment are critical to maximizing the effectiveness of recruitment and selection. The aim of the current study is to examine how organizational socialization tactics interact with perceived organizational support (POS) to influence socialization outcomes above and beyond proactive personality. Our sample consisted of 103 blue-collar apprentices from a well-established apprenticeship program that began in the Middle Ages in France. Using a time-lagged design, we surveyed apprentices in their first months of employment, while they were learning their trade (carpentry, roofing, and stone cutting). We found that POS significantly moderated the relationship between socialization tactics and three important socialization outcomes (learning the job, learning work-group norms, and role innovation), such that there was a positive relationship under low POS and a non-significant relationship under high POS. Unexpectedly, POS was negatively related to role innovation. Implications for the organizational socialization literature are discussed.