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Journal of Applied Psychology 2007, Vol. 92, No. 3, 707–721 Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association 0021-9010/07/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.92.3.707 Newcomer Adjustment During Organizational Socialization: A MetaAnalytic Review of Antecedents, Outcomes, and Methods Talya N. Bauer, Todd Bodner, Berrin Erdogan, and Donald M. Truxillo Jennifer S. Tucker U.S. Army Research Institute This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Portland State University The authors tested a model of antecedents and outcomes of newcomer adjustment using 70 unique samples of newcomers with meta-analytic and path modeling techniques. Specifically, they proposed and tested a model in which adjustment (role clarity, self-efficacy, and social acceptance) mediated the effects of organizational socialization tactics and information seeking on socialization outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, intentions to remain, and turnover). The results generally supported this model. In addition, the authors examined the moderating effects of methodology on these relationships by coding for 3 methodological issues: data collection type (longitudinal vs. cross-sectional), sample characteristics (school-to-work vs. work-to-work transitions), and measurement of the antecedents (facet vs. composite measurement). Discussion focuses on the implications of the findings and suggestions for future research. Keywords: socialization, newcomer adjustment, meta-analysis, organizational socialization tactics Organizational socialization refers to the process by which newcomers make the transition from being organizational outsiders to being insiders. An interactionist perspective of both newcomer and organizational influence on the adjustment process (Reichers, 1987) characterizes the socialization literature. Rather than waning in importance over the years, socialization has become more important because individuals are more mobile. In fact, approximately 25% of U.S. workers are currently undergoing organizational socialization (Rollag, Parise, & Cross, 2005), and individuals change jobs an average of 10.2 times over 20 years (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005). These changes suggest that new employee socialization or “onboarding” is a key issue for organizations and newcomers alike as individuals undergo socialization more often in their careers and organizations deal with newcomers more often because of elastic personnel needs. Thus, examining this process has important theoretical and practical implications (Bauer & Elder, 2006). Despite the strides made in socialization research, the literature remains fragmented. For example, it suffers from a lack of clarity in terms of the role adjustment plays in newcomer socialization, a lack of consistency in how constructs are measured (noted by E. W. Morrison, 2002), and a lack of understanding of the impact of sampling and data collection timing (noted by Bauer, Morrison, & Callister, 1998). Summarizing the work to date and identifying areas for future research are important to unifying and advancing the socialization literature. Thus, the first goal of this research was to integrate socialization research into a model of antecedents and outcomes of adjustment and to test this model using meta-analysis and path modeling. Although narrative reviews of the literature exist (e.g., Ashforth, Sluss, & Harrison, in press; Bauer & Taylor, 2001; Bauer et al., 1998; Fisher, 1986; Saks & Ashforth, 1997a; Wanous & Colella, 1989), an empirical review of the socialization literature has yet to be conducted. The current study fills this void by proposing and testing a model of newcomer adjustment while building on previous literature to extend it. Our second goal was to study the effects of different methodological approaches by comparing them metaanalytically. Finally, our study makes a contribution by summarizing existing relationships and uncovering relationships that deserve further attention. In the following pages, we introduce a model of newcomer adjustment. We first describe three socialization indicators and explain our choice of these variables as indicators of newcomer adjustment for the current meta-analysis. Next, we discuss antecedents and outcomes of newcomer adjustment. Finally, we introduce three potential moderators of newcomer adjustment. Talya N. Bauer and Berrin Erdogan, School of Business Administration, Portland State University; Todd Bodner and Donald M. Truxillo, Department of Psychology, Portland State University; Jennifer S. Tucker, Infantry Forces Research Institute, U.S. Army Research Institute, Fort Benning, Georgia. We thank David Cadiz and Greg Tensa for their help on this study. A draft of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, Hawaii, August 2005. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Talya N. Bauer, School of Business, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97207. E-mail: TalyaB@sba.pdx.edu Model of Newcomer Adjustment During Socialization Figure 1 presents the model examined in this study. This model treats role clarity, self-efficacy, and social acceptance as three key indicators of newcomer adjustment. Information seeking and organizational socialization tactics are the proposed antecedents of newcomer adjustment, and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, intentions to remain, and turnover are the outcomes of newcomer adjustment. We proposed and tested this particular model for three reasons. First, from a theoretical 707 BAUER, BODNER, ERDOGAN, TRUXILLO, AND TUCKER This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. 708 Figure 1. Antecedents and outcomes of newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization. Newcomer information seeking can be broken down into (a) referent information, (b) appraisal information, and (c) relational information, following Miller and Jablin (1991). For socialization tactics, high scores indicate institutionalized socialization. Organizational socialization tactics can be broken down into (a) content tactics, (b) context tactics, and (c) social tactics, following Jones (1986). standpoint, the socialization process is one of uncertainty reduction (e.g., Berger, 1979). Uncertainty reduction theory posits that newcomers desire to increase the predictability of interactions between themselves and others within the new organization (Berger & Calabrese, 1975). Second, the individual level of adjustment was an explicit main focus of our study, including the effects of both information seeking and organizational socialization tactics on outcomes. Finally, from a practical standpoint, this model represents the most commonly studied constructs in newcomer socialization (Bauer et al., 1998). Unlike a theoretical review article, which can include any potential constructs, a meta-analytic review is limited to relationships that have been consistently studied. What Is Newcomer Adjustment? Socialization researchers have tended to study similar adjustment indicators in a variety of ways. According to Fisher’s (1986) review of the literature, newcomer adjustment following organizational entry consists of working through both task and social transitions. Similarly, Feldman (1981) noted that adjustment consists of three aspects (see Table 1). Resolution of role demands refers to understanding job tasks to perform and understanding task priorities and time allocation (role clarity). Task mastery refers to learning the tasks of the new job and gaining confidence in the role (self-efficacy). Adjustment to one’s group refers to coming to feel liked and accepted by peers (social acceptance). Subsequently, researchers have frequently used role clarity, self- efficacy, and social acceptance as indicators of newcomer adjustment (e.g., Bauer et al., 1998). However, researchers have taken different approaches to the measurement of adjustment. It should be noted that learning is only a latent aspect of the adjustment facets focused on in this study. Whereas some investigators have taken the approach noted above to tap the latent construct of learning (e.g., Bauer & Green, 1998; Feldman, 1976), others have measured adjustment more closely as actual learning and knowledge acquisition. For example, Ostroff and Kozlowski (1992) measured adjustment as a single global measure, and, more recently, researchers have developed more specialized measures of adjustment that tap learning regarding specific aspects of the job and organization directly (e.g., Chao, O’Leary-Kelly, Wolf, Klein, & Gardner, 1994; Haueter, Macan, & Winter, 2003; Ostroff & Kozlowski, 1992; Taormina, 1994, 2004). Although these measures show great promise, to date, none has been used consistently across the socialization literature. For example, the Chao et al. (1994) scale has been studied the most frequently, but it has rarely been used in its entire form (for an exception, see Wesson & Gogus, 2005), with researchers using only some of the dimensions. Antecedents of Newcomer Adjustment A decade after Fisher’s (1986) review, Saks and Ashforth (1997a) presented a summary model of socialization that proposed information seeking and socialization tactics as antecedents of adjustment. We focused on these same influences on adjustment. Table 1 Antecedents of Newcomer Adjustment: Information Seeking and Organizational Socialization Tactics Information seeking (adapted from Miller & Jablin, 1991) Organizational socialization tactics (adapted from Jones, 1986) Newcomer adjustment (adapted from Feldman, 1981) Referent information: What is required to function on the job? Content tactics: Clear stages exist for training, and there is a clear timetable for role adjustment. Appraisal information: Degree of functioning successfully on the job. Context tactics: Learning task requirements as part of a group and having formal training before starting the actual job. Social tactics: Receiving positive feedback and identity affirmation from organizational insiders and having a trusted insider to guide them within the organization. Role clarity/resolution of role demands: Understanding the tasks to perform for the job and understanding task priorities and time allocation. Self-efficacy/task mastery: Learning the tasks of the new job and gaining confidence in the role. Social acceptance/adjustment to group: Coming to feel liked and trusted by peers. Relational information: Nature of relationships with others. This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. NEWCOMER ADJUSTMENT Organizations (either passively or actively) create strong or weak situations under which newcomers must adjust to their new environments, representing different socialization tactics. Simultaneously (and perhaps in reaction to tactics), newcomers proactively seek information to help them adjust. A theoretical basis for both newcomer information seeking and organizational socialization tactics is the reduction of uncertainty newcomers experience on organizational entry. Organizations differ in terms of the goals they have for newcomers, ranging from conformity to innovation, and newcomers must learn what is expected of them through the adjustment process. Information seeking. Van Maanen and Schein’s (1979) first assumption for their theory of socialization was that newcomers will try to reduce uncertainty. Uncertainty reduction theory (Berger, 1979) argues that individuals do this to create predictable environments (Falcione & Wilson, 1988). As Saks and Ashforth (1997a) noted, “Uncertainty is reduced through information provided via various communication channels, notably social interactions with superiors and peers” (p. 236). Louis (1980) also noted that a key input to the sense-making process is information from organizational insiders. Because reality testing is an important aspect of sense making, having insiders serve as “sounding boards” and provide background information is critical for newcomers to diagnose and interpret the many surprises they encounter. Information seeking and newcomer adjustment. At its core, information seeking maps onto three adjustment types. In their theoretical article on information seeking, Miller and Jablin (1991) developed a typology of information sought during organizational entry. These include referent information, which includes understanding what is needed to function on the job (role clarity); appraisal information, which includes information on how well the newcomer is able to function in relation to role requirements (self-efficacy); and relational information, which relates to the quality of relationships with organizational insiders (social acceptance). Table 1 summarizes how the types of information sought and indicators of adjustment overlap. Measuring information seeking. E. W. Morrison (2002) noted in her review of the newcomer information-seeking literature that some researchers have used global versus different types of measures, which makes comparisons across studies challenging. Some of the ways that information-seeking measures vary include the degree to which they address information acquisition (e.g., amount of information gathered), information types (e.g., referent, appraisal, and relational), and measurement approaches (e.g., composite or facet measurement). To examine these different measurement approaches, we studied the relationship between information seeking and outcomes and explored, using moderation analysis, whether results differed when analyses were conducted on facets and on aggregate measures. Organizational socialization tactics. Socialization tactics are organizational approaches to information dissemination to facilitate adjustment in new roles. Van Maanen and Schein (1979) suggested that organizations could be differentiated on the basis of how they approach newcomer socialization on at least six dimensions. Even though they did not propose that the six dimensions represented all of the ways in which organizations differ in their approaches to socialization, the framework has motivated several subsequent studies. 709 The first aspect on which organizations differ is whether socialization practices are collective versus individual. Under the collective approach, newcomers go through common experiences as part of a group, whereas under the individual approach, newcomers accumulate unique experiences separate from other newcomers. Second, socialization tactics can be formal or informal. Formal tactics involve newcomers who are segregated from others and trained off the job, whereas informal tactics involve little separation between newcomers and existing employees. Third, socialization experiences can be sequential or random. Under sequential, newcomers know what phases they need to go through, whereas under random, the progression is more ambiguous. Fourth, fixed or variable socialization tactics involve having a timetable of when the socialization process is complete as opposed to having no specific timetable. Fifth, serial or disjunctive tactics refer to whether the person is socialized with the help of insiders or without the help of a role model. Finally, investiture versus divestiture tactics refer to whether newcomers receive feedback from insiders that affirms or disaffirms their identity. A review of the literature indicates that researchers tend to draw from uncertainty reduction theory to explain the link between socialization tactics, adjustment, and outcomes. Saks and Ashforth (1997a) suggested that the purpose of tactics is to reduce the degree of uncertainty experienced during early socialization. Tactics shape the type of information newcomers receive, the source of this information, and the ease of getting information. As Jones (1986) and Allen (2006) proposed, socialization tactics should reduce uncertainty, which should reduce ambiguity for newcomers, leading to more positive attitudes and facilitating adjustment. Organizational socialization tactics and newcomer adjustment. Jones (1986) proposed that the six tactics could be classified as content (collective, formal), context (sequential, fixed), and social (serial, investiture) aspects of socialization. This higher order classification has received scant attention. In one study that examined the relationship of content, context, and tactics with person– organization fit, Cable and Parsons (2001) found that these three dimensions were differentially related to outcomes. Their findings suggest the value of examining the differential relations between socialization dimensions and outcomes. Despite the theoretical rationale for expecting different tactics to relate differentially to outcomes, researchers have tended not to make differential predictions. The three aspects of socialization tactics map onto the three aspects of newcomer adjustment (see Table 1). Specifically, content tactics address whether newcomers are trained off the job, where performance consequences are minimized, and prepared for their new roles in a way that is nonthreatening. When dangers of the new role are removed and newcomers can practice their roles without fear of failure, their confidence should increase. Thus, content tactics should be positively related to self-efficacy. Context tactics reflect whether newcomers have a fixed timetable and whether they know the stages they need to progress through and, therefore, should contribute to role clarity. Finally, social tactics encourage organizations to provide mentoring and positive feedback to newcomers, leading to greater social acceptance. Measuring organizational socialization tactics. It is important to examine whether future research should study the six socialization tactics separately or as one dimension. An argument against aggregation is whether there is agreement on the classification of This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. 710 BAUER, BODNER, ERDOGAN, TRUXILLO, AND TUCKER different tactics as institutionalized as opposed to individualized. Specifically, some evidence suggests that not all of the dimensions fit well with this aggregated conceptualization. For example, it is not clear whether the investiture dimension behaves as the other institutionalized tactics. Jones (1986) classified investiture as an institutionalized tactic. Others followed suit and found positive relations between investiture and other institutionalized tactics (e.g., Allen & Meyer, 1990; Ashforth & Saks, 1996). However, Saks and Ashforth (1997b) found negative correlations between investiture and some other institutionalized tactics, and Laker and Steffy (1995) classified investiture as an individualized tactic. We agree with Saks and Ashforth (1997a) that, given the conflicting treatment of investiture in the field, it is important to continue to examine whether aggregation of the different tactics is warranted. To examine the validity of the single continuum, we studied the relationship between each tactic and the different outcomes and conducted moderation tests to determine whether results differed when analyses were conducted on facets or on aggregate measures. Outcomes of Newcomer Adjustment Newcomer adjustment has been associa …
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