There are two sides to every story: The veteran's perspective on socialization

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Dunn, A. (2017). There are two sides to every story: The veteran's perspective on socialization. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Organizational socialization is a two-way interactive process where organizational outsiders become insiders and insiders adjust to working with outsiders. When carried out correctly, socialization is related to better newcomer adjustment (e.g., higher role clarity, self-efficacy, and social acceptance), decreased newcomer turnover, and reduced resources used on future hiring efforts. Much of the extant research has focused on organizational socialization tactics, newcomer information seeking, and newcomer adjustment. Veterans’ (coworkers who socialize newcomers) perceptions during the process have largely been ignored. Using socialization resources theory (SRT) (Saks & Gruman, 2012), the current study examines unexplored relationships between veterans’ perceptions of resources (e.g., assimilation, socialization-related job demands, and knowledge self-efficacy), newcomer adjustment, and veteran well-being and job attitudes (e.g., emotional exhaustion, intent to quit, and affective commitment). Data were collected from 115 matched veteran-newcomer pairs. Results suggest veteran’s assessment knowledge self-efficacy was related to newcomer adjustment and veteran’s well-being and job attitudes during socialization. An interesting non-significant finding was that most veterans (72%) did not perceive socialization as an added socialization-related job demand. This is encouraging because it suggests that veterans could view socialization positively and suggests an area for future research. These findings advance SRT by empirically testing the proposition that veterans are an important social capital resource for newcomers. It also extends SRT as it is one of the first studies to incorporate veteran perceptions of the process. These results provide evidence to organizations that they need to pay attention to the veteran’s role in the socialization process, particularly when it comes to newcomer’s feelings of social acceptance and veteran’s own well-being and job attitudes.

Details
Author

Dunn, Alexandra

Title

There are two sides to every story: The veteran's perspective on socialization

Physical Description

1 online resource (171 pages) : PDF

Date

2017

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Organizational socialization is a two-way interactive process where organizational outsiders become insiders and insiders adjust to working with outsiders. When carried out correctly, socialization is related to better newcomer adjustment (e.g., higher role clarity, self-efficacy, and social acceptance), decreased newcomer turnover, and reduced resources used on future hiring efforts. Much of the extant research has focused on organizational socialization tactics, newcomer information seeking, and newcomer adjustment. Veterans’ (coworkers who socialize newcomers) perceptions during the process have largely been ignored. Using socialization resources theory (SRT) (Saks & Gruman, 2012), the current study examines unexplored relationships between veterans’ perceptions of resources (e.g., assimilation, socialization-related job demands, and knowledge self-efficacy), newcomer adjustment, and veteran well-being and job attitudes (e.g., emotional exhaustion, intent to quit, and affective commitment). Data were collected from 115 matched veteran-newcomer pairs. Results suggest veteran’s assessment knowledge self-efficacy was related to newcomer adjustment and veteran’s well-being and job attitudes during socialization. An interesting non-significant finding was that most veterans (72%) did not perceive socialization as an added socialization-related job demand. This is encouraging because it suggests that veterans could view socialization positively and suggests an area for future research. These findings advance SRT by empirically testing the proposition that veterans are an important social capital resource for newcomers. It also extends SRT as it is one of the first studies to incorporate veteran perceptions of the process. These results provide evidence to organizations that they need to pay attention to the veteran’s role in the socialization process, particularly when it comes to newcomer’s feelings of social acceptance and veteran’s own well-being and job attitudes.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Organizational behavior
Psychology, Industrial

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

Newcomers
Onboarding
Socialization
Socialization Resources Theory
Veterans

Subject Area

Organizational Science

Advisor(s)

Shanock, Linda

Committee Members

Heggestad, Eric
Banks, George
Scott, Cliff

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2017.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Dunn_uncc_0694D_11361

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:595