Adjustment

The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 20, No.
4, April 2009, 928952
A longitudinal investigation on the factors affecting newcomers adjustment: evidence from Japanese organizations
Norihiko Takeuchia* and Tomokazu Takeuchib
a
School of Management, Tokyo University of Science, Saitama, Japan; bFaculty of Business Administration, Tokyo Fuji University, Tokyo, Japan Using the longitudinal survey data of newcomers working for Japanese rms, this study demonstrates that the socialization tactics used by Japanese rms were positively related to the degree of socialization of newcomers, which eventually correlated positively with the time-series differences in organizational commitment and achievement motivation from the rst year (T1) to the second year (T2) of their organizational entry, and negatively with the longitudinal change in turnover intention from T1 to T2. In addition, the results show that the newcomers attitudes toward their pre-entry job search efforts, as with their entry (T1), had a negative inuence on the change in value commitment from T1 to T2, indicating that those who rated their past job search activities as successful tended, as of their entry into the organization, to diminish their level of acceptance of their organizations values over a year. Findings are used to discuss how rms can effectively manage their entry-level employees to facilitate their adjustment and retention. Keywords: Japan; longitudinal study; organizational socialization tactics; pre-entry job search experiences
Introduction There is an increasing need for research exploring the links between the human resource (HR) practices of organizations and the work attitudes and behaviors of employees, such as organizational commitment (e.g., Meyer and Allen 1997), work motivation (e.g., Lawler 1992), turnover intention and behaviors (e.g., Huselid 1995), and so forth. In the light of studies that focused on the early stages of the career development of employees, examining the relationship between an organizations socialization tactics and the behavioral consequences for employees has been considered one of the crucial research agendas that may help both researchers and practitioners understand the effective management of newcomers or new hires (Van Maanen and Schein 1979; Jones 1986; Orpen 1995; Baker 1995; Bauer, Morrison and Callister 1998; Anakwe and Greenhaus 1999; Cooper-Thomas and Anderson 2002, 2006; Kim, Cable and Kim 2005; Allen 2006; Gruman, Saks and Zweig 2006; Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo and Tucker 2007; Saks, Uggerslev and Fassina 2007). Individuals are particularly amenable to inuence during role transitions, especially transitions such as organizational entry, because many of them usually face an increased role uncertainty in such a period, which may be caused by a substantial change in their social status or in their environment, or both. Organizational socialization is considered as the process by which employees acquire knowledge about and adjust to new jobs, roles, work groups, and the culture of the organization in order
* Corresponding author. Email: takeuchi@ms.kuki.tus.ac.jp

ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online q 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09585190902770877 http://www.informaworld.com
The International Journal of Human Resource Management
929
to participate successfully as an organizational member (Haueter, Macan and Winter 2003, p. 21). It is also considered an important psychological process that the majority of newcomers or new hires in organizations are required to go through in order to successfully adjust to their new environment. In this study, we will examine both the antecedents and the consequences of the socialization of newcomers, using the longitudinal data derived from new entrants working for Japanese rms at different points in time. In particular, the study focuses on exploring the process of socialization of newcomers by addressing three issues about which most previous studies have been little concerned. First, we test the mediating effect of newcomers perceptions of socialization on the relations between an organizations socialization tactics and its newcomers adjustment outcomes, including organizational commitment, turnover intention, and achievement motivation. Although much empirical evidence has been provided to date regarding the direct links between the socialization tactics and newcomers adjustment, few studies have attempted to examine the mediation effects on these links of the degree of socialization as perceived by newcomers. In particular, as the validation evidence of multidimensional socialization scales has accumulated, and as we have gradually come to know the content of newcomers socialization through such empirical studies (e.g., Chao, OLeary-Kelly, Wolf, Klein and Gardner 1994; Haueter et al. 2003; Taormina 1994, 2004), it seems an appropriate time to test which kinds of socialization tactic used by rms would affect which aspects of newcomers socialization perceptions, since the nature of their perceptions will eventually inuence their adjustment outcomes. Second, the study will include pre-entry factors for the prediction of newcomers adjustment. Many prior studies placed an overwhelming emphasis on after-entry factors that may affect such outcomes, like the organizational tactics (Haueter et al. 2003), information acquisition (Saks and Ashforth 1997a), and information and feedback-seeking behaviors (Morrison 1993; Mignery, Rubin and Gorden 1995; Bauer and Green 1998) of new entrants (McEvoy and Cascio 1985; Jones 1986; Miceli 1986; Ashforth, Saks and Lee 1998). Some recent studies, however, have provided several important ndings and implications, leading us to consider the inclusion of pre-entry factors as an antecedent of adjustment outcomes (Adkins 1995; Cable and Judge 1996; Saks and Ashforth 1997b; Cable and Parsons 2001; Riordan, Weatherly, Vandenberg, and Self 2001; Saks and Ashforth 2002). In particular, we added to the after-entry factors (i.e., organizational tactics), the newcomers pre-entry experiences related to job search. Third, this study will examine time-series longitudinal effects of the pre- and post-entry factors of newcomers socialization on their adjustment outcomes, including organizational commitment, turnover intention, and achievement motivation. Specically, we adopted the time-series differences in the sets of adjustment outcome measures in order to rigorously capture how they actually adjust to the organization or the job at two different points in time. We expected that ndings based on a longitudinal analysis for organizational socialization would provide relatively accurate and reliable evidence to assess the socialization processes of new entrants. Based on the aforementioned purposes of the study, we analyze the socialization processes of Japanese newcomers working for private Japanese rms. The results are expected to fuel the ongoing debate in the eld of organizational socialization by testing several of the untested relationships in the prior literature. Findings are also considered useful for individual employees as well as organizational practitioners to understand both the processes and magnitudes of the impacts of organizational tactics and pre-entry job search experiences on the adjustment of newcomers within rms.
930
N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi
Literature review and hypothesis Socialization studies Although researchers have diversied their attention, focusing on various aspects of organizational socialization, studies dealing with this issue may be assigned to three main pillars. The rst pillar of studies can be regarded as the one that conceptualizes and theorizes the term organizational socialization. Prior studies of this nature have long argued the issue as to what is actually learned by newcomers during their socialization process (e.g., Chao et al. 1994). By doing so, they attempted to conceptually analyze the content of socialization, and several of them offered some kind of typological framework regarding its content (Schein 1968; Fisher 1986). The second pillar of studies can be categorized as the one that attempts to develop psychometric measures on organizational socialization. Many researchers in this category reported, as a result of their efforts on developing socialization measurement instruments, that the socialization measures will or should encompass multidimensionality in their content (e.g., Ostroff and Kozlowski 1992; Morrison 1993; Chao et al. 1994; Taormina 1994, 2004; Haueter et al. 2003). At present, there seems to be a greater conformity among researchers that socialization takes a multidimensional form (Haueter et al. 2003). The third pillar of socialization studies can be classied as the one that attempts to examine the antecedents, or consequences, or both, of multidimensional schemes of organizational socialization experienced by new entrants (e.g., Allen, McManus and Russell 1999; Chow 2002; Cooper-Thomas and Anderson 2002, 2005; Lui, Ngo and Tsang 2003; Fu, Shaffer and Harrison 2004). Recent research of this type has explored a number of important factors positively affecting a newcomers adjustment outcomes. Although our work has been given impetus by prior studies on all the above three pillars, it can be categorized as part of the third pillar of organizational socialization research that specializes in identifying both the antecedents and the consequences of newcomers socialization. In this study, we focused on examining the process by which newcomers are socialized within their organization using the longitudinal survey data derived from 74 new entrants working for Japanese rms. In particular, the study focuses on testing (1) the mediation effects of newcomers perception of socialization on the relationships between an organizations socialization tactics and the newcomers adjustment outcomes indexed by the one-year changes in their organizational commitment, turnover intention, and achievement motivation over a one-year-period, and (2) the effects of newcomers pre-entry experience of job search on their adjustment outcomes. Multidimensionality in organizational socialization Once newcomers join their organizations, they come to learn what organizations expect them to learn, so that they can become congruent with their organization, task, group, and so forth. The content of what newcomers learn or what organizations expect them to learn is not one-dimensional but covers multiple aspects. Firms typically encourage new entrants to acquire various types of skills and attitudes during their adjustment process in the form of organizational socialization tactics. Earlier work on socialization tactics carried out by Van Maanen and Schein (1979) conceptualized multiple forms of such tactics, and identied six tactics dimensions rms can utilize to assist the adjustment of their newcomers. These include: (1) collective versus individual; (2) formal versus informal; (3) sequential versus random; (4) xed versus variable; (5) serial versus disjunctive; and (6) investiture versus divesture. An empirical assessment of the
931
Van Maanen and Scheins framework carried out by Jones (1986) revealed, however, that newcomers perceived the socialization tactics of their organizations as having more amorphous dimensions than Van Maanen and Schein had predicted. Jones (1986) concluded that six dimensions of original socialization tactics can be grouped into three components, namely, (1) context, (2) content, and (3) a social aspect of organizational socialization tactics. Recent empirical studies also supported and validated the tactics measures that subsume the above three components (e.g., Cable and Parsons 2001; Fu et al. 2004). This study, therefore, used the three-component model of socialization tactics that involves context, content, and social aspect dimensions. As the tactics for enhancing newcomers socialization and adjustment contain multiple aspects, socialization itself is considered to involve several dimensions. Chao et al. (1994) analyzed the content of socialization, and developed the multidimensional measures of socialization that subsume the following six components, namely, socialization in terms of: (1) performance or task prociency; (2) people; (3) organizational goals and values; (4) language; (5) politics; and (6) history. In their attempts to develop their measures of newcomers socialization, Haueter et al. (2003) retested Chao et al.s (1994) measure and found that their multi-items measure was grouped not into six, but into three components, namely, (1) organization, (2) task, and (3) group dimensions. Specically, Chao et al.s (1994) dimensions of organizational goals and values, language, politics, and history could not be categorized as expected, but had to be grouped into a single factor to form the organization dimension in the study of Haueter et al. (2003) that limited its sample to newcomers. This suggests that newcomers may nd it difcult to distinguish the narrowly dened content of socialization, and thus more approximate dimensions of socialization content emerged from Haueter et al.s (2003) study of newcomers. Following Haueter et al.s (2003) ndings, we focused on the organization and task dimensions of socialization content that are more likely to be appropriate to newcomers in Japanese organizations1. Relationships between organizational socialization tactics, socialization perceptions, and adjustment outcomes A number of socialization studies have in the past hypothesized the direct effects of an organizations socialization tactics on the adjustment outcomes of newcomers, like organizational commitment and turnover intention, and many of them supported such predictive effects to a varying degree (e.g., Jones 1986; Allen and Meyer 1990a; Ashforth and Saks 1996; Cable and Parsons 2001). For instance, Ashforth and Saks (1996) reported that socialization tactics used by rms relate positively to the organizational commitment, organizational identication, and job satisfaction of newcomers, and negatively to their turnover intention at the tenth month after entry. In their longitudinal analysis study of new entrants, Cable and Parsons (2001) revealed that both the content and the social aspect dimensions of socialization tactics had signicant and positive inuences on newcomers perceptions of the person organization (P O) t and post-entry value congruence. A stream of these studies suggested that the use of socialization tactics by rms did inuence the adjustment outcomes of newcomers. In other words, the relationship between socialization tactics and adjustment outcomes seems to be convincing. However, one aspect overlooked by previous investigations is a mediation effect of socialization perceptions on the links between organizational tactics and newcomers adjustment outcomes. Socialization perceptions involve the newcomers perceptions of what they learn (Ashforth, Sluss and Saks 2007). Prior research has asserted that the
932
content of learning as perceived by newcomers would be a more proximal outcome of socialization tactics used by rms, whereas newcomers adjustment would be a more distal outcome of the socialization tactics (Cooper-Thomas and Anderson 2002; KammeyerMueller and Wanberg 2003; Ashforth et al. 2007). Specically, the use of socialization tactics by organizations immediately and directly work to enhance the degree of newcomer learning (i.e., socialization experiences), which entails an increment in their adjustment outcomes involving organizational commitment, turnover intention, and achievement motivation within their organizations. If this is the case, multiple aspects of organizational socialization tactics, including context, content, and the social aspect of socialization tactics, would rst inuence the degree of socialization as perceived by newcomers. Thus, we can make the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1a: The extent to which rms use a context factor in socialization tactics is signicantly and positively related to the degree of socialization as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 1b: The extent to which rms use a content factor in socialization tactics is signicantly and positively related to the degree of socialization as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 1c: The extent to which rms use a social aspect factor in socialization tactics is signicantly and positively related to the degree of socialization as perceived by newcomers. Several prior studies have suggested that the magnitude of effects on the adjustment outcomes of newcomers and perhaps on the degree of their learning and socialization would differ depending on the types of socialization tactics used by organizations. Our review of the previous literature has led us to hypothesize that a social aspect factor of socialization tactics would have a greater inuence on newcomers socialization perceptions than the other two factors of socialization tactics, namely context and content. For instance, Jones (1986) reported that the social aspect factor of socialization tactics predicted the large variances in newcomers adjustment outcomes. Joness conclusions, then, placed importance on the social aspect factor in the adjustment process of newcomers. In a similar vein, Allen and Meyer (1990a) found from their longitudinal analysis that, of the six dimensions of socialization tactics used in their studies, an investiture dimension, which was categorized as part of the social aspect factor of socialization tactics, had the most signicant and positive effect on the newcomers affective organizational commitment. Extending such empirical evidence to this study, we can formulate the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 1d: Of the three types of socialization tactics used by rms, a social aspect factor of socialization tactics has the strongest positive inuence on the degree of socialization as perceived by newcomers. Following a mediation hypothesis, we assume that newcomers adjustment outcomes involving organizational commitment, turnover intention, and work motivation should be directly tied to the degree of socialization as perceived by newcomers, which is an immediate consequence of the organizational socialization tactics used by rms. It is well accepted that both the organizational commitment of newcomers and their turnover intention are important outcome measures of organizational socialization, and prior studies have repeatedly used these attitudinal measures for assessing an organizational aspect of the adjustment outcomes (e.g., Allen and Meyer 1990a; Haueter et al. 2003). Recent studies
933
have suggested that newcomers organizational commitment takes various forms. It seems likely that out of the various forms of organizational commitment proposed by prior research (e.g., Allen and Meyer 1990b; Morrow 1993), two dimensions of organizational commitment are appropriate for newcomers adjustment outcomes: affective and value commitment to an organization (Meyer and Smith 2000). Affective organizational commitment reects an emotional attachment to, identication with, and involvement in the organization (Meyer and Smith 2000, p. 320). Value commitment refers to an employees commitment to or involvement in his or her organizations values. Although some studies consider value commitment as part of affective organizational commitment, the present study uses the concept as an independent adjustment outcome of organizational socialization. This is because taking into account the value congruence between employees and their organizations is important, especially during the adjustment processes among newcomers, and some empirical studies support this view (e.g., Cable and Parsons 2001). In addition, an attitude toward jobs has been recognized as another aspect of adjustment outcomes (Chao et al. 1994; Haueter et al. 2003). Job satisfaction or motivation to work hard has long been used as a proxy for measuring a job aspect of newcomers adjustment outcomes in Western research contexts (Ashforth et al. 2007). Caution is needed, however, in that it would only be effective or reasonable to measure job satisfaction as an indicator for assessing the degree of person job congruence among newcomers when specic and stable forms of jobs are assigned to newcomers in their organizations. Specically, the use of job satisfaction for newcomers is considered valid only in those circumstances where the new hires can engage in one or more specic jobs in an organization immediately on entry, and where it is expected that they can continue to perform the assigned job(s) for a certain period of time. In Japanese organizations, however, such conditions cannot be expected; new hires are expected to have multiple skills and knowledge within an organization, and no xed and stable jobs are assigned to them, especially not during their adjustment processes. Thus, what is strongly encouraged during the socialization processes in Japanese rms is the acquisition by the newcomers and new hires of the motivation to achieve the assigned tasks and goals, rather than the degree of congruence between a person and a specic job content. Therefore, the achievement motivation was considered as an alternative measure for assessing a job aspect of adjustment outcomes in this study. Thus, we formulate the following hypotheses regarding the relationships between newcomers socialization perceptions and their adjustment outcomes in a Japanese context: Hypothesis 2a: The extent to which newcomers perceive themselves as socialized in terms of the organization they work for is signicantly and positively related to a longitudinal increment in multiple organizational commitment including affective and value commitment. Hypothesis 2b: The extent to which newcomers perceive themselves as socialized in terms of the organization they work for is signicantly and negatively related to a longitudinal increment in turnover intention as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 2c: The extent to which newcomers perceive themselves as socialized in terms of the organization they work for is signicantly and positively related to an increment in achievement motivation as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 2d: The extent to which newcomers perceive themselves as socialized in terms of the task they do is signicantly and positively related to a longitudinal increment in multiple organizational commitment including affective and value commitment.
934
Hypothesis 2e: The extent to which newcomers perceive themselves as socialized in terms of the task they do is signicantly and negatively related to a longitudinal increment in turnover intention as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 2f: The extent to which newcomers perceive themselves as socialized in terms of the task they do is signicantly and positively related to an increment in achievement motivation as perceived by newcomers.
Relationships between newcomers pre-entry experiences of job search and adjustment outcome Another important question of this study is: Would the pre-entry job search experience of newcomers lead to their successful adjustment after their engagement? Many prior studies have tended to place an overwhelming emphasis on examining the links between organizational tactics and individual adjustment outcomes (e.g., Jones 1986; Ashforth et al. 1998; Chapman and Webster 2006). Recent empirical studies, however, imply that the newcomers pre-entry experiences of job search would play a crucial role in the formation of their attitudes toward organizations after their entry (Cable and Judge 1996; Cable and Parsons 2001; Riorden et al. 2001; Saks and Ashforth 2002). In this study, we considered two concepts of pre-entry experiences of job search; namely, perceived job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction. Perceived job search efforts refer to the extent to which newcomers perceive themselves to have exercised their efforts to the full during their job search activities. Pre-entry company satisfaction refers to the extent to which newcomers feel satised with the company they joined before entering it. Some empirical reports have suggested that the relationships between pre-entry positive experiences of job search and after-entry newcomer adjustment tend to be inverse. For instance, Cable and Parsons (2001) reported that the number of job offers received during the pre-entry periods was signicantly and negatively related to newcomers subjective ratings of value congruence with their organization after their entry. Such a negative relationship between pre-entry job search experiences and newcomers adjustment can be explained by the reality shock hypothesis proposed by Wanous (1980, 1992). According to this hypothesis, the pre-entry positive experiences of newcomers in their job search activities were likely to increase the level of their expectations toward the rm they were potentially to take up employment with, which may serve to enlarge the gaps between their pre-entry expectations and the after-entry realities. To the extent that they have large gaps between such expectations and realities, they are likely to acquire negative images of the organization they join and to behave in ways that are less favorable or less exible toward the organization (Buckley, Fedor, Veres, Wiese and Carraher 1998; Buckley, Mobbs, Mendoza, NovicevicCarraher and Beu 2002; Wanous 1980, 1992). The aforementioned empirical ndings as well as the notion contained in the reality shock hypothesis direct us to hypothesize that both perceived job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction would have negative inuences on newcomers adjustment after entry. Specically, the more the newcomers have devoted themselves in their job search to attracting a job offer from the company they eventually join, and the more they are satised with joining the company, the more likely is the gap between such pre-entry expectations and post-entry realities to widen, thus leading newcomers to lower their motivation to adjust to the company and the job. Therefore, we can make the following hypotheses:
935
Hypothesis 3a: Perceived job search efforts are signicantly and negatively related to a longitudinal increment in multiple organizational commitment including affective and value commitment. Hypothesis 3b: Perceived job search efforts are signicantly and positively related to a longitudinal increment in turnover intention as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 3c: Perceived job search efforts are signicantly and negatively related to a longitudinal increment in achievement motivation as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 3d: Pre-entry company satisfaction is signicantly and negatively related to a longitudinal increment in multiple organizational commitment including affective and value commitment. Hypothesis 3e: Pre-entry company satisfaction is signicantly and positively related to a longitudinal increment in turnover intention as perceived by newcomers. Hypothesis 3f: Pre-entry company satisfaction is signicantly and negatively related to a longitudinal increment in achievement motivation as perceived by newcomers.
Figure 1 displays the analytical framework of this study. Methodology Sampling procedure For the purpose of testing the sets of hypotheses stated above, we attempted to collect individual employee data using a questionnaire survey method. In particular, to capture the longitudinal inuence of organizational socialization tactics, socialization perceptions, and job search experiences on newcomers adjustment outcomes, we administered two waves of a survey to the same subjects in our sample at two different points in time. The rst wave of the survey was carried out in early April 2002 (Time 1: T1), with 183 Japanese participants at 10 manufacturing companies in Japan. The participants were all fresh graduates who joined the companies at the beginning of April 2002. In Japan, there is a consistent practice among rms that almost all new recruits are hired to start work in April. We visited these companies, who agreed to cooperate with our research, and we distributed questionnaires directly to the participants from each rm. We asked the respondents to ll in all the survey questions immediately, and then collected the questionnaires after they had been completed. As a consequence, we were able to collect responses from all 183 participants, and all the responses were also found to be usable. Thus, the response rate we achieved for this Time 1 survey was 100%. One year after the Time 1 survey, we carried out the second wave of the survey in April 2003 (Time 2: T2). We contacted HR managers of all the 10 participating companies, requesting them to conduct this wave of the survey for all those who had participated at Time 1. Questionnaires and stamped addressed envelopes were then sent to the HR manager of each rm who agreed to cooperate with the T2 survey, together with our request that each set was then distributed by the HR manager to the participants. As a consequence, 74 participants out of 183 Time 1 survey respondents returned the questionnaires at Time 2, a 40.4% response rate. The 74 matched responses for the Time 1 and Time 2 surveys were used in the current investigation. The average age of the participants was 20.6 years with a standard deviation of 2.4 years. The gender composition of our participants was 45.9% male and 54.1% female. In terms of their educational
936 N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi
Figure 1. Factors affecting newcomers adjustments in this study: An analytical framework. Note: indicates the expected positive effect and indicates the expected negative effect.
937
background, 40.5% of the participants achieved their highest level of education at high school 2.7% at vocational school, and 10.0% at junior college, and 46.0% were university undergraduates or graduates. Measurement instruments Organizational commitment An organizational commitment scale was included in both the Time 1 and Time 2 questionnaires. As explained earlier, we used two constructs of organizational commitment; namely, affective and value commitment to the organization. To measure affective and value organizational commitment, we relied on the use of existing psychometric properties developed by Sekimoto (1992) who modied the Western version of an organizational commitment scale (i.e., Allen and Meyer 1990b; Mowday, Steers and Porter 1979) to suit a Japanese organizational context. This measurement is also comparable to the one that was developed by prior research in another geographical location in East Asia (Huang, Lu, Tang and Huang 2004). To check the convergent and discriminate validity of the four-item measure on the Japanese version of the organizational commitment scale, we conducted a factor analysis with Varimax rotation over the data collected for the Time 1 survey. As shown in Table 1, and as expected, two factors were found to emerge from this analysis. The rst factor comprises two items related to affective commitment. Cronbachs coefcient alphas for these affective commitment items were found to be .75 at Time 1 and .60 at Time 2. The second factor consisted of two items related to value commitment. Coefcient alphas for this measure showed .75 at Time 1 and .83 at Time 2. Therefore, we may conclude that our respondents could distinguish the two underlying dimensions of affective and value commitment of the four-item Japanese version measure of organizational commitment. In order to capture the degree of organizational adjustment from the rst year to the second year for each respondent, we created the time-series change variables of affective and value commitment measures from Time 1 to Time 2; namely, variables of affective commitment (T12T2) and value commitment (T12T2) were computed and used in the analysis. Turnover intention A turnover intention scale was included in both the Time 1 and the Time 2 questionnaires. Employees turnover intention was tapped into by using two items taken from Yamamoto (2000), who tested its validation in samples of Japanese employees (sample item: I want
Table 1. Results of a factor analysis on organizational commitment. Items F1: Affective commitment (alpha(T1) .75; alpha(T2) .60) I will do any job at any place if doing so is really needed by my company. I have a strong feeling to put my heart into this company. F2: Value commitment (alpha(T1) .75; alpha(T2) .83) My value ts the organizational climate and culture of my own company very well. I can accept the management philosophy and organizational norms in my company without resistance. Valiance explained Factor 1 .84 .61 .22 .39 1.28 Factor 2 .24 .38 .79 .63 1.22 h2 .76 .51 .68 .55 2.50
938
to leave the present organization). Coefcient alphas for this two-item measure were .79 at Time 1 and .83 at Time 2. For the analysis, the time-series difference measure of turnover intention (turnover intention (T12T2)) was created by computing the values of turnover intention at Time 2 minus those at Time 1 for each respondent. Achievement motivation As we did for other adjustment outcome measures, we included an achievement motivation scale in both the Time 1 and the Time 2 questionnaires. Achievement motivation was measured with three items that were developed and validated by Yamamoto (2000) (sample item: I am willing to actively acquire new knowledge and obtain new skills). Reliability coefcients of this measure were found to be .57 at Time 1 and .77 at Time 2. We then produced the time-series difference measure of achievement motivation from Time 1 to Time 2 (achievement motivation (T12T2)). Socialization perceptions A socialization perceptions scale was included only in the Time 2 survey questionnaire. This is because the extent to which newcomers perceive what they have learnt within organizations can be measured only after a certain period of learning experience. We used the 14 items of socialization perceptions adopted from Chao et al.s (1994) socialization measure in order to gauge the newcomers perceptions of learning content within organizations. As stated earlier, organizational socialization has recently been captured with the three-component conceptualization, which includes organization, task, and group dimensions (Haueter et al. 2003). As shown in Table 2, however, the results of our factor analysis with Varimax rotation over the current Japanese sample revealed that the 14 items of Chao et al.s (1994) socialization measure were divided into two dimensions, namely, organization and task. This may partly be attributable to the fact that newcomers do not generally have sufcient abilities to tell the difference between organizational history, politics, languages, and values or goals, and that these aspects are just considered as matters of their organization and task among newly joined employees. Thus, the study used two simple contents of socialization; namely, organization and task. The organization dimension of socialization comprised eight items related to the perceived learning and mastery of organizational issues, including the companys history, politics, language, and values or goals. The alpha coefcient of this scale was .78. The task dimension of organizational socialization was found to consist of six items associated with the tasks assigned to each organizational member. Cronbachs coefcient alpha for this scale turned out to be .85. Organizational socialization tactics An organizational socialization tactics scale was included in the Time 2 survey questionnaire. It was measured using nine of the 12 items used in Cable and Parsons (2001). These nine items were selected by reviewing the reports on factor loadings for each item. Specically, we took three items for each of the three factorial dimensions of socialization tactics based on the descending order of factor loadings. As shown in Table 3, our factor analysis with Varimax rotation replicated the ndings reported by Cable and Parsons (2001) in that we identied the expected three factors just as they had found in their study in the US; namely, context, content, and a social aspect of dimensions of socialization tactics. As can be seen in Table 3, the nine items of the

Table 2. Results of a factor analysis on newcomers socialization perceptions. Items F1: Task dimension (alpha .85) I have mastered the required tasks of my job. I understand what most of the acronyms and abbreviations of my trade/ profession mean. I understand the specic meanings of words and jargon in my trade/ profession. R I have not mastered this organizations slang and special jargon. R I have not fully developed the appropriate skills and abilities to successfully perform my job. R I have not yet learned the ropes of my job. F2: Organization dimension (alpha .78) The goals of my organization are also my goals. I am familiar with the history of my organization. I have learned how things really work on the inside of this organization. I would be a good resource in describing the background of my work group/ department. R I know very little about the history behind my work group/ department. I support the goals that are set by my organization. I would be a good example of an employee who represents my organizations values. I know who the most inuential people are in my organization. Valiance explained
Note: R denotes the item with a reverse scale.
939
Factor 1 .78 .73 .67 2 .60 2 .60 2 .59 .02 .12 .39 .10 2 .25 .07 .23 .16 2.99
Factor 2 .15 .27 .20 2 .22 2 .30 .03 .67 .61 .61 .53 2 .53 .50 .38 .35 2.54
h2 .62 .61 .48 .41 .45 .35 .45 .38 .53 .29 .34 .25 .20 .15 5.53
socialization tactics measure were clearly loaded on each of the three factors. Coefcient alphas for these tactics subscales were found to be .66, .71, and .63, respectively. Perceived job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction These two variables were included in the Time 1 survey questionnaire. This is because we wanted to collect the information associated with the newcomers job search experiences during the initial phase of our survey, conducted at the very beginning of their organizational entry. Following the method recommended in Nagys (2002) work that used single-item measures for facet satisfaction, we gauged both job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction using two single-item measures. For job search efforts, we asked respondents to give 0 to 100 points based on their past feelings on the extent to which they had been active in getting their jobs during their job search processes. In a similar vein, pre-entry company satisfaction was measured with up to 100 points, the respondents being asked to rate the extent to which they had been satised with the company they were hoping to join. Perceived job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction These two variables were included in the Time 1 survey questionnaire. This is because we wanted to collect the information associated with the newcomers job search experiences
940
Table 3. Results of a factor analysis on organizational socialization tactics. Items F1: Content socialization tactics (alpha .71) The steps in the career ladder are clearly specied in this organization. There is a clear pattern in the way one role leads to another, or one job assignment leads to another, in this organization. The way in which my progress through this organization will follow a xed timetable of events has been clearly communicated to me. F2: Social socialization tactics (alpha .63) I am gaining a clear understanding of my role in this organization from observing my senior colleagues. R I have received little guidance from experienced organizational members as to how I should perform my job. Almost all of my colleagues have been supportive of me personally. F3: Context socialization tactics (alpha .66) I have been through a set of training experiences that are specically designed to give newcomers a thorough knowledge of job related skills. This organization puts all newcomers through the same set of learning experiences. I have been extensively involved with other new recruits in common, job related activities. Valiance explained
Note: R denotes the item with a reverse scale.
Factor 1 .76 .58 .49
Factor 2 .07 .32 .35
Factor 3 .17 .10 .30
h2 .62 .45 .45
.12 2 .34 .07
.73 2.56 .42
.17 2 .25 .00
.58 .49 .18
.15 .12 .37 1.47
.09 .38 .05 1.41
.80 .51 .49 1.37
.67 .42 .38 4.24
during the initial phase of our survey, conducted at the very beginning of their organizational entry. Following the method recommended in Nagys (2002) work that used single-item measures for facet satisfaction, we gauged both job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction using two single-item measures. For job search efforts, we asked respondents to give 0 to 100 points based on their past feelings on the extent to which they had been active in getting their jobs during their job search processes. In a similar vein, pre-entry company satisfaction was measured with up to 100 points, the respondents being asked to rate the extent to which they had been satised with the company they were hoping to join. Control variables We controlled for the following background variables when running a hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses: (1) age; (2) gender (1 male and 0 female); and (3) company size (1 300 or more employees and 0 less than 300 employees). Except for the two single-item measures, job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction, as well as the control variables used in the study, we adopted a ve-point Likert-type response format, ranging from 5 ( agree) to 1 ( disagree). A correlation matrix of all the variables used in the study is presented in Table 4.
Table 4. Mean, standard deviation, and correlation coefcient among variables used in the present study. Variables 1 Age 2 Gender 3 Company size 4 Context socialization tactics 5 Content socialization tactics 6 Social aspect socialization tactics 7 Job search efforts 8 Pre-entry company satisfaction 9 Organization dimension of socialization 10 Task dimension of socialization 11 Affective organizational commitment (T12T2) 12 Value organizational commitment (T12T2) 13 Turnover intentions (T12T2) 14 Achievement motivation (T12T2) Mean (SD) 1 2 1.00 2 .24 2 .02 .02 .22 2 .05 .05 .08 2 .07 2 .10 .13 .04 .22 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
20.58 2.42 1.00 .46 .50 .09 .63 .49 .06 3.46 .92 2 .03 2.91 .82 .03 3.58 .75 .05 67.82 21.52 2 .02 78.46 18.02 .10 2.85 .63 .11 3.05 .79 2 .24 .05 1.24 .26 2 .51 1.13 .08 .59 1.19 .08 2 .38 .67 .13
1.00 .11 1.00 .34 .51 1.00 .03 .42 .45 1.00 .20 .14 .15 .31 1.00 .21 .11 .14 .13 .44 1.00 2 .01 .28 .36 .50 .25 .07 1.00 .04 .29 .31 .43 .27 .07 .44 1.00 .02 .19 .13 .36 .06 2.18 .48 .09 1.00 2 .02 .17 .10 .34 2 .16 2.12 .37 2 .02 .50 1.00 2 .08 2.18 2.22 2.26 2 .07 .08 2 .43 2 .12 2.37 2.55 1.00 2 .07 .10 .26 .34 .04 2.19 .35 .08 .32 .17 2.28 1.00
Note: n 74. Critical values for r are as follows: p , .05 .23; p , .01 .31; p , .001 .39.
941
942
Results Ordinary least square (OLS) regressions are applied to test a series of individual hypotheses that are predicted based on the above framework. For the purpose of testing the individual Hypotheses 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d, we regressed two measures of socialization perceptions that involved organization and task dimensions on three variables of socialization tactics (context, content, and social aspect of socialization tactics), after controlling for age, gender, and company size. Then, to test Hypotheses 2a to 2f, we regressed each of the four newcomer adjustment measures (affective commitment (T12T2), value commitment (T12T2), turnover intention (T12T2), and achievement motivation (T12T2)) on two socialization variables of organization and task dimensions, after controlling for the above background variables and socialization tactics measures. Finally, to test Hypotheses 3a to 3f, we regressed the ve adjustment measures again on all the independent variables, adding to the sets of variables entered in the previous steps two measures of newcomers pre-entry experiences of job search, namely, job search efforts and pre-entry company satisfaction. Table 5 shows the results of hierarchical regression analyses based on the above statistical procedures. In order to show graphically the above regression results based on our analytical model presented in Figure 1, we drew the path diagram as shown in Figure 2. The standardized beta coefcients shown in Figure 2 all achieved a level of statistical signicance at p , .05. The results can be summarized as follows. Links between socialization tactics, socialization, and newcomer adjustment variables First, it was found from Figure 2 that two measures of socialization perceptions, including the contents of organization and task socialization, were signicantly and positively affected only by one type of socialization tactic; namely, the social aspect dimension of socialization tactics (beta .39, p , .05 and beta .39, p , .05, respectively). Nonetheless, two other dimensions of socialization strategies, including the aspects of context and content, had no statistically signicant effects on newcomers socialization perceptions. This indicates that, of the multiple socialization tactics provided by rms, only serial and investiture (i.e., social aspects) socialization tactics can explain the substantial variances of both the task and the organization aspects of socialization. These ndings give strong support to Hypotheses 1c and 1d, which predict that the effects of the social aspect dimension of socialization tactics used by rms on newcomers socialization perceptions would be signicant (in support of Hypothesis 1c) and strongest among all three socialization tactics (in support of Hypothesis 1d). However, Hypotheses 1a and 1b were unsupported due to the absence of signicant effects of content and context aspects of a rms socialization tactics uses on newcomers socialization perceptions. Second, the results shown in Figure 2 indicated that two measures of time-series adjustment variables on organizational commitment, affective commitment (T12T2) and value commitment (T12T2), were signicantly and positively affected by an organization dimension of socialization as experienced by newcomers (beta .44, p , .001 and beta .36, p , .01, respectively). However, the task dimension of newcomers socialization perceptions did not provide any meaningful effects on the longitudinal changes in either the affective or the value commitment to the organization. These ndings indicate that newcomers organizational adjustment through an increased level of their affective and value commitment can be expected when they experience organizational socialization after their entry. These ndings give support to Hypothesis 2a, but not to Hypothesis 2d.
Table 5. Results of the hierarchical regression analyses on newcomers socialization perceptions and adjustment outcomes.
Socialization perceptions Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Affective commitment Organization Task t
(T12T2)
Newcomers adjustment outcomes Model 4 Value commitment

(T12T2)
(T12T2)
Model 5 Turnover intentions

(T12T2)
Model 6 Achievement motivation

(T12T2)
Model 7 Affective commitment

(T12T2)
Model 8 Value commitment

(T12T2)
Model 9 Turnover intentions

(T12T2)
Model 10 Achievement motivation

(T12T2)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
(SE)
Step 1: Control variables - Age .08 (.03) - Gender 2.05 (.14) - Company 2.12 (.15) size 2 R1 .010
2.25 (.04) * 2.12 (.18) 2.06 (.19) .063
.15 (.06) 2 .21 (.27) 2 .03 (.30) .071
2.03 (.05) .07 (.26) .00 (.28) .032
.18 (.06) .02 (.28) 2.01 (.30) .012
.06 (.03) .08 (.16) 2.07 (.17) .039
.17 (.06) 2.19 (.27) .03 (.30) .071
2.03 (.05) .06 (.24) .08 (.27) .032
.17 (.06) .02 (.28) 2 .04 (.31) .012
.09 (.03) .10 (.15) 2.02 (.17) .039
Step 2: Organizational socialization tactics - Context .03 (.09) .05 (.11) .04 (.17) - Content .19 (.11) .14 (.13) 2 .10 (.20) - Social aspect .39 (.11) ** .39 (.13) ** .29 (.22) * R2 .265 .292 .226 ** *** * 2 DR2 .255 .229 .155 *** *** ** 122 Step 3: Newcomers sociliazation perceptions - Organization - Task R2 3 DR2 223 Step 4: Pre-entry experiences on job search - Job search efforts - Pre-entry company satisfaction R2 4 DR2 324
.07 (.16) 2.08 (.20) .34 (.21) * .178 * .146 *
2.01 (.17) 2.09 (.21) 2.16 (.23) .142 .130 *
2.13 (.10) .06 (.16) .21 (.12) 2.10 (.20) .17 (.13) .30 (.22) * .133 .226 * .094 .155 **
.06 (.15) 2.11 (.18) .43 (.20) ** .178 * .146 *
2 .01 (.17) 2 .08 (.21) 2 .18 (.23) .142 .130 *
2.11 (.09) .22 (.11) .16 (.13) .133 .094
.44 (.26) *** .36 (.24) 2 .15 (.21) 2.25 (.20) .355 .279 *** .129 .101 **
.27 (.15) .44 (.25) *** .40 (.23) ** ** 2.43 (.26) ** .12 (.21) 2.16 (.12) 2.13 (.20) 2.20 (.19) .268 .183 .355 .279 ** * *** ** .126 .050 .129 .101 * ** ** *
2 .44 (.26) ** .24 (.15) .10 (.22) 2.16 (.12) .268 .183 * .126 .050 **
2.02 (.01) 2.25 (.01) * .414 .059
2.36 (.01) ** 2.03 (.01)
.07 (.01) .09 (.01)
.10 (.00) 2.31 (.00) * .257 .074
***
.391 .112
*** **
.284 .016
2 2 2 2 2 Note: R2 , R2 , R2 , and R2 denote the adjusted R squares generated by the rst-, second-, third-, and fourth-step regressions, respectively; DR2 1 2 3 4 122 R2 2 R1 . DR223 R3 2 R2 . R2 2 R2 ; p , .10, * p , .05, ** p , .01, *** p , .001. DR2 324 4 3
943
944
Third, consistent with the above ndings, the organization dimension of socialization was found to be signicantly and negatively related to the perceptual changes in turnover intention from Time 1 to Time 2 (turnover intention (T12T2): beta 2 .43, p , .01). The negative relation between socialization and a time-series change in newcomers turnover intention means that the more socialized newcomers feel themselves in their organizations, the less they show an intention to quit. The nding, therefore, provides consistent support for Hypothesis 2b. The task dimension of socialization, however, failed to show a predictive signicant effect on turnover intentions, indicating that Hypothesis 2e was unsupported. Fourth, we found that the achievement motivation (T12T2) had no signicant socialization predictors, indicating that the socialization tactics used by rms and organizational socialization experienced by newcomers might not predict the yearly increment in newcomers achievement motivation. Therefore, Hypotheses 2c and 2f were unsupported. Fifth, our regression analyses made us aware of the existence of unexpected paths that directly linked the social aspect of socialization tactics with the degree of newcomers adjustment outcomes, including affective and value commitment (T12T2) (beta .29, p , .05 and beta .34, p , .05, respectively). The presence of these direct and signicant paths from socialization tactics to organizational commitment may mean that socialization tactics could account for the variances in each organizational commitment measure that were left unexplained by the task and organization dimensions of newcomers socialization perceptions. Links between pre-entry experiences of job search and newcomer adjustment variables In addition to the socialization tactics factor, we predict that there is another important factor that promotes or impedes newcomers adjustment to their organizations; namely, the effects of newcomers pre-entry experiences of job search as predicted in Hypotheses 3a to 3f. First, as hypothesized, value commitment (T12T2) was found to be signicantly and negatively inuenced by the pre-entry job search efforts made by the newcomers (beta 2 .36, p , .01). In other words, newcomers who had made great efforts in their job search during their pre-entry job search period tended to lower the level of value commitment to their organization, especially from the rst year to the second year of their service. This evidence provided partial support for Hypothesis 3a of the study, which predicted a negative association between the pre-entry job search efforts of newcomers and their organizational adjustment as measured by organizational commitment. Contrary to our prediction, however, pre-entry job search efforts did not have signicant inuences on other adjustment outcomes, including turnover intention (T12T2) and achievement motivation (T12T2), thus failing to support Hypotheses 3b and 3c of the study. Second, another pre-entry experience factor, pre-entry company satisfaction, was found to signicantly and negatively affect the newcomers longitudinal changes in (1) affective commitment (T12T2) (beta 2.25, p , .05) and (2) achievement motivation (T12T2) (beta 2.31, p , .05). These consistent negative effects of the newcomers pre-entry satisfaction with the company on these adjustment outcomes might indicate that the feelings of affective commitment to the company by newcomers who had been satised with the company they joined tended to diminish, as did their willingness to achieve something in their jobs. These ndings give partial support to Hypothesis 3d and full support to Hypothesis 3f. Turnover intention (T12T2) was found not to have been affected by pre-entry company satisfaction, thus Hypothesis 3e of the study was not supported.
945
Figure 2. The path diagram on the relations between organizational socialization tactics, pre-entry experiences, socialization, and adjustment outcomes. Note: indicates the positive effect and indicates the negative effect.
In short, the ndings clearly indicate that there were several signicant and negative relations between newcomers pre-entry experiences of job search and their after-entry adjustment, providing basic support for Hypotheses 3a, 3d, and 3e. This also supports the reality shock predictions and realistic job preview arguments asserted in the prior literature. Discussion The present study has attempted to answer the following research questions. First was the question as to whether the newcomers socialization perceptions mediate the relations between socialization tactics used by rms and newcomers adjustment outcomes. To answer this question, we hypothesized (1) a positive relationship between organizational socialization tactics and newcomers socialization perceptions, and (2) a positive relationship between newcomers socialization perceptions and their adjustment outcomes. By testing the mediator role that socialization perceptions would play in the tactics-adjustment links (e.g., Allen and Meyer 1990a; Ashforth and Saks 1996; Cable and Parsons 2001; Cooper-Thomas and Anderson 2002) we aimed to ll a gap in empirical research. Second was the question as to how newcomers pre-entry experiences of job search would affect their adjustment. Our review of related literature and the reality shock prediction offered by Wanous (1980, 1992) led us to hypothesize the negative inuences of newcomers pre-entry job search efforts and company satisfaction on adjustment outcomes. In this study, we used data from a longitudinal survey of newcomers in Japanese rms to test sets of hypotheses developed in the study, providing evidence of (1) a mediation of newcomers socialization perceptions between the social aspect socialization tactics used by the rms and the organizational commitment and turnover intention of newcomers, and (2) the negative links between pre-entry job search efforts and the company satisfaction experienced by newcomers and several after-entry adjustment outcomes, including organizational commitment and achievement motivation. The summary of our individual hypotheses and the corresponding results are displayed in Table 6. These ndings can be evaluated and discussed as follows. First, we found that newcomers perceptions of socialization, especially in an organization dimension of socialization content, mediated the relationships between the
946
social aspect socialization tactics used by rms and newcomers adjustment outcomes, including an increase in affective and value commitment to their organization as well as a decrease in their turnover intention. These results strongly supported our mediation hypotheses in Hypotheses 1c, 2a, and 2b. However, other tactics dimensions used by rms, including context and content aspects of socialization, did not show any signicant effects either on the newcomers perceptions of socialization or on their adjustment outcomes. These ndings are partially consistent with some prior empirical reports provided by Jones (1986) and Allen and Meyer (1990a) in that the social and interpersonal approaches of socialization tactics used by rms facilitated newcomers adjustment most. Social aspect socialization tactics may mean a rms approach facilitates social interactions between newcomers and their seniors or their supervisors as well as among newcomers. In this respect, organizations that strategically encourage such an interpersonal approach to promoting newcomers adjustment during their socialization process would be more effective in achieving the adjustment than rms using other tactics, including context and content dimensions of socialization tactics that are characterized by the formality or regularity of socialization training programs offered by the rms. Second, and relating to the rst point, the evidence of mediation we have offered in the study might have claried the black box between the tactics used by rms and the adjustment made by newcomers. In particular, we found that an organization dimension of newcomers socialization perceptions plays a vital role in strengthening the links between a rms social aspect of socialization tactics and the newcomers adjustment in organizations. This indicates that an interpersonal approach to socialization tactics by a rm enables newcomers to smoothly adjust themselves to the organization when they are successful in learning organizational matters, including its history, language, politics, and values or goals. Nonetheless, contrary to our Hypotheses 2d, 2e, and 2f, no signicant effects of the task dimension of socialization perceptions on newcomers adjustment were observed, indicating that the task mastery of individuals does not necessarily promote their adjustment to their organization and job. Putting these ndings together, rms that merely emphasize the technical aspects of skill learning for the socialization of newcomers will not facilitate the adjustment of newcomers and in particular will not facilitate enhanced organizational commitment or reduced turnover intention. Third, we found that, consistent with the notion inferred by the reality shock prediction in the prior literature and depicted in our Hypotheses 3a, 3d, and 3f, newcomers pre-entry experience of job search had signicant and negative inuences on some newcomers adjustment as measured by organizational commitment (T12T2) and achievement motivation (T12T2). Specically, newcomers pre-entry job search efforts were found to be negatively related to their after-entry value commitment. In other words, newcomers willingness to become congruent with or to accept organizational values and goals tends to be discouraged if the newcomers self-evaluate that they have made extensive efforts on job search before entering the organization. In a similar vein, the ndings show that newcomers pre-entry company satisfaction was negatively related to their after-entry affective commitment and achievement motivation, indicating that newcomers who rated greater satisfaction with the company from which they received a job offer tended to lower their affective commitment and achievement motivation from the rst year to the second year of their services. These ndings support some prior empirical evidence (Cable and Parsons 2001) and the hypothetical explanations made by the prior studies (Wanous 1980, 1992) that newcomers pre-entry expectations toward the organization they actually join serve to widen the gap between their organizational image and its reality. This, in turn, eventually deates their positive attitudes toward the organization. Hence, our study
Table 6. Summary of hypotheses and ndings of the study. Hypotheses Hypothesized directions of effects 2 2 2 2 2 2 Findings Not supported Not supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Not supported Not supported Not supported Not supported Partially supported (value commitment only) Not supported Not supported Partially supported (affective commitment only) Not supported Supported
H1. Relationship between organizational socialization tactics and newcomers socialization perceptions H1a Context socialization tactics ! Socialization perceptions H1b Content socialization tactics ! Socialization perceptions H1c Social aspect socialization tactics ! Socialization perceptions H1d Effects of a social aspect socialization tactics would be strongest among three H2. Relationship between newcomers socialization perceptions and adjustment outcomes H2a Organization dimension ! Organizational commitment (T12T2) H2b Organization dimension ! Turnover intentions (T12T2) H2c Organization dimension ! Achievement motivation (T12T2) H2d Task dimension ! Organizational commitment (T12T2) H2e Task dimension ! Turnover intentions (T12T2) H2f Task dimension ! Achievement motivation (T12T2) H3. Relationship between newcomers pre-entry experiences and adjustment outcomes H3a Job search efforts ! Organizational commitment H3b H3c H3d H3e H3f Job search efforts Job search efforts Pre-entry company satisfaction Pre-entry company satisfaction Pre-entry company satisfaction ! ! ! ! !
(T12T2)
Turnover intentions (T12T2) Achievement motivation (T12T2) Organizational commitment (T12T2) Turnover intentions (T12T2) Achievement motivation (T12T2)
947
948
provided the supporting evidence for this notion by demonstrating the longitudinal negative inuences of pre-entry job search efforts and company satisfaction on the after-entry adjustment of employees, especially during the process of socialization. In particular, studies that include pre-entry factors in the model of newcomers adjustment have rarely been carried out in this research eld (Riorden et al. 2001). We expect that our ndings will become a useful source of information for future studies that attempt to test the relations between pre-entry antecedents and after-entry consequences of newcomers socialization. Implications Our ndings have contributed not only to the advancement of socialization studies, but also to the deepening of understanding among HR practitioners and executives as to how newcomers can be adjusted to the company. In particular, the retention management of newcomers is of great concern for HR practitioners in many corporations, since, in many cases, they spend considerable time, costs, and effort on selecting and hiring new recruits. Our ndings suggest that, in order to retain newcomers, rms should place more emphasis on establishing organic relations between newcomers and existing members as well as between newcomers, rather than simply implementing mechanical programs of newcomer training. Again, our ndings, as well as those of others (e.g., Jones 1986; Allen and Meyer 1990a), have demonstrated that the social aspect of organizational tactics plays a vital role in the adjustment of newcomers. In the light of a newcomer supervisor relationship, an organization needs to encourage each supervisor to become a role model from which newcomers can actually receive organizational support (Eisenberger, Stinglhamber, Vandenberghe, Sucharski and Rhoades 2002). Mentorship is another important tool for promoting newcomers adjustments and retention during socialization processes (Chao, Walz and Gardner 1992; Bozionelos 2006). For instance, Chao et al. (1992) reported that the proteges who had experienced informal mentoring from their mentors (supervisors) showed greater organizational socialization and job satisfaction than those who did not. These ndings combined with our empirical ones suggest that the use of a social aspect of socialization tactics, including the introduction of an informal mentorship program and coaching training for potential mentors in organizations, would help newcomers to easily accept the organizational rules, norms, and values during their socialization processes. Our study also demonstrated that newcomers successful learning of organizational matters did reduce their intentions to leave the organization. Moreover, we found that newcomers have the tendency to reduce their level of organizational commitment and achievement motivation during the rst to the second year when they perceive that they have positively self-evaluated their pre-entry job search. This may mean that employees who had an excessively positive image of the organizations they were to join and who gave much effort to their job search, tended to expand the gap between their pre-entry picture and the post-entry reality. Although such reality shocks may happen to any people to a varying degree, our ndings have suggested that severe reality shocks experienced by newcomers might drive them to quit the organization. One important HR activity that could prevent them from having such reality shocks would be to provide potential newcomers (i.e., job applicants) with accurate information on the company and the jobs (Wanous 1992). This HR activity during the selection process of new hires is called realistic job preview (Wanous 1980) and, by using it, HR practitioners can reduce newcomers excessive expectations toward their prospective job and company. As far as our results are concerned, the use of a realistic job preview for the selection
949
processes as well as an informal mentorship program for the newcomers socialization process would be important HR practices that might help rms to reduce newcomers intentions to quit or job-hop.
Limitations and conclusions Finally, the limitations of the study need to be addressed. First, the present study limited its sample to Japanese newcomers who worked for Japanese domestic corporations. This may partially hinder the generalizability of the ndings to the general theory of the adjustment and socialization of newcomers. At the same time, however, the ndings facilitate understanding of the newcomers adjustment process in an Asian research context, explorations of which are equally important for the theory advancement of socialization studies unique to the Asian context. Authors of future studies are therefore encouraged to conduct comparative studies that replicate our research model between Western and Asian samples as well as within Asian samples. Second, due to the longitudinal survey design applied for surveying newcomers at different points in time, our nal data sample was reduced to 74 employees from the 183 initial survey participants. Although there are a number of advantages in using such time-series data, especially when rigorously testing concepts that involve a time interval in their meaning (e.g., adjustment), a larger sample size could provide more solid evidence than the current sample. Although data collection in this kind of longitudinal survey requires more complex and more rigorous processes than that of a cross-sectional survey, future studies are encouraged to examine both pre-entry and post-entry factors affecting adjustments with a larger size of longitudinal data. In conclusion, our study using a longitudinal survey design provided new evidence on the adjustment of newcomers, namely, newcomers socialization perceptions mediated the positive relationships between a social, interpersonal aspect of socialization tactics used by rms, and newcomers organizational adjustment. Traditionally, the effects of the methods of socialization (i.e., how rms promote adjustment) and those of the contents of socialization (i.e., which aspects of socialization promote adjustment) have been examined separately. Our study is one of the few that has examined both effects in one piece of research by incorporating into the current analytical model the mediator role socialization perceptions (i.e., content) plays between a rms tactics and its newcomers adjustment. Moreover, we explored a negative inuence of newcomers pre-entry job search experiences on their after-entry adjustment, providing support for the reality shock hypothesis for newcomers. This nding seems equally signicant for newcomers socialization studies since most of the studies to date have exclusively focused on after-entry factors in newcomers adjustment. The authors of future studies are strongly encouraged to utilize our ndings and to conduct research that can contribute to the meaningful advancement of a theory on newcomers socialization in general and of socialization studies in Asian research contexts in particular.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 48th annual meeting of the Academy of International Business (AIB) held in Beijing, China on 23 26 June 2006. A part of this research was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientic Research (B) awarded to the rst author (No. 19730264) and the second author (No. 19730280).
950 Note
1.
Prior to conducting the main survey in this research, we conducted a pilot survey of the Japanese newcomer samples (n 352) in order to see how Chao et al.s (1994) measure of socialization perceptions can be subdivided into several factors. Running a factor analysis with a Varimax rotation generated only two dimensions of organization and task with the cutoff eigen value being 1.0. The reason why the group dimension of socialization content could not be an independent factor in the Japanese samples may be that Japanese newcomers tend to see their organization as an extension of their work group. It seems likely that their perceptions of organization and group socialization would be mixed, and thereby these two contents of socialization were inseparable for Japanese newcomers.
References
Adkins, C.L. (1995), Previous Work Experience and Organizational Socialization: A Longitudinal Examination, Academy of Management Journal, 38, 839862. Allen, D.G. (2006), Do Organizational Socialization Tactics Inuence Newcomer Embeddedness and Turnover?, Journal of Management, 32, 237256. Allen, N.J., and Meyer, J.P. (1990a), Organizational Socialization Tactics: A Longitudinal Analysis of Links to Newcomers Commitment and Role Orientation, Academy of Management Journal, 33, 847 858. Allen, N.J., and Meyer, J.P. (1990b), The Measurement and Antecedents of Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 1 18. Allen, T.D., McManus, S.E., and Russell, J.E.A. (1999), Newcomer Socialization and Stress: Formal Peer Relationships as a Source of Support, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 453 470. Anakwe, U.P., and Greenhaus, J.H. (1999), Effective Socialization of Employees: Socialization Content Perspective, Journal of Managerial Issues, 11, 315 329. Ashforth, B.E., and Saks, A.M. (1996), Socialization Tactics: Longitudinal Effects on Newcomer Adjustment, Academy of Management Journal, 39, 149 178. Ashforth, B.E., Saks, A.M., and Lee, R.T. (1998), Socialization and Newcomer Adjustment: The Role of Organizational Context, Human Relations, 51, 897 926. Ashforth, B.E., Sluss, D.M., and Saks, A.M. (2007), Socialization Tactics, Proactive Behavior, and Newcomer Learning: Integrating Socialization Models, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 447 462. Baker, W.K. (1995), Allen and Meyers 1990 Longitudinal Study: A Reanalysis and Reinterpretation Using Structural Equation Modeling, Human Relations, 48, 169 186. Bauer, T.N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D.M., and Tucker, J.S. (2007), Newcomer Adjustment during Organizational Socialization: A Meta-analytic Review of Antecedents, Outcomes, and Methods, Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 707 721. Bauer, T.N., and Green, S.G. (1998), Testing the Combined Effects of Newcomer Information Seeking and Manager Behavior on Socialization, Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 72 83. Bauer, T.N., Morrison, E.W., and Callister, R.R. (1998), Organizational Socialization: A Review and Directions for Future Research, in Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management (vol. 16), eds. G.R. Ferris and K.M. Rowland, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 149 214. Bozionelos, N. (2006), Mentoring and Expressive Network Resources: Their Relationship with Career Success and Emotional Exhaustion among Hellenes Employees Involved in Emotion Work, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17, 362 378. Buckley, M.R., Fedor, D.B., Veres, J.G., Wiese, D.S., and Carraher, S.M. (1998), Investigating Newcomer Expectations and Job-related Outcomes, Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 452 461. Buckley, M.R., Mobbs, T.A., Mendoza, J.L., Novicevic, M.M., Carraher, S.M., and Beu, D.S. (2002), Implementing Realistic Job Previews and Expectation-lowering Procedures: A Field Experiment, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 263 278. Cable, D.M., and Judge, T.A. (1996), Person Organization Fit, Job Choice Decision and Organizational Entry, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 67, 294311.
951
Cable, D.M., and Parsons, C.K. (2001), Socialization Tactics and Person Organization Fit, Personnel Psychology, 54, 1 23. Chao, G.T., OLeary-Kelly, A.M., Wolf, S., Klein, H.J., and Gardner, P.D. (1994), Organizational Socialization: Its content and Consequences, Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 730 743. Chao, G.T., Walz, P.M., and Gardner, P.D. (1992), Formal and Informal Mentorships: A Comparison on Mentoring Functions and Contrast with Non-mentored Counterparts, Personnel Psychology, 45, 619 636. Chapman, D., and Webster, J. (2006), Toward an Integrated Model of Applicants Reactions and Job Choice, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17, 1032 1057. Chow, I.H. (2002), Organizational Socialization and Career Success of Asian Managers, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13, 720 737. Cooper-Thomas, H., and Anderson, N. (2002), Newcomer Adjustment: The Relationship between Organizational Socialization Tactics, Information Acquisition and Attitudes, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75, 423 437. Cooper-Thomas, H., and Anderson, N. (2005), Organizational Socialization: A Field Study into Socialization Success and Rate, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 13, 116 128. Cooper-Thomas, H., and Anderson, N. (2006), Organizational Socialization: A New Theoretical Model and Recommendations for Future Research and HRM Practices in Organizations, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21, 492 516. Eisenberger, R., Stinglhamber, F., Vandenberghe, C., Sucharski, I., and Rhoades, L. (2002), Perceived Supervisor Support: Contributions to Perceived Organizational Support and Employee Retention, Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 565 573. Fisher, C.D. (1986), Organizational Socialization: An Integrative Review, in Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, vol. 4, eds. K.M. Rowland and G.R. Ferris, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 101 145. Fu, C.K., Shaffer, M.A., and Harrison, D.A. (2004), Adaptation of Self-initiated Foreign Employees: The Inuence of Organizational and Proactive Socialization Tactics, paper presented at the 4th Asia Academy of Management Conference, Shanghai, China. Gruman, J.A., Saks, A.M., and Zweig, D.I. (2006), Organizational Socialization Tactics and Newcomer Proactive Behaviors: An Integrative Study, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 90 104. Haueter, J.A., Macan, T.H., and Winter, J. (2003), Measurement of Newcomer Socialization: Construct Validation of a Multidimensional Scale, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63, 20 39. Huang, K.C., Lu, N., Tang, C.H., and Huang, C.I. (2004), Fairness Perceptions and Work Attitudes Revisited: Roles of Employee Specialty, Hospital Level and Ownership, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15, 1317 1329. Huselid, M.A. (1995), The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance, Academy of Management Journal, 38, 635 672. Jones, G.R. (1986), Socialization Tactics, Self-efcacy, and Newcomers Adjustments to Organizations, Academy of Management Journal, 29, 262 279. Kammeyer-Mueller, J.D., and Wanberg, C.R. (2003), Unwrapping the Organizational Entry Process: Disentangling Multiple Antecedents and their Pathways to Adjustment, Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 779 794. Kim, T.-Y., Cable, D.M., and Kim, S.-P. (2005), Socialization Tactics, Employee Proactivity, and Person-organization Fit, Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 232 241. Lawler, E.E. (1992), The Ultimate Advantage: Creating the High-involvement Organization, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Lui, S.S., Ngo, H., and Tsang, A.W. (2003), Socialized to be a Professional: A Study of the Professionalism of Accountants in Hong Kong, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14, 1192 1205. McEvoy, G.M., and Cascio, W.F. (1985), Strategies for Reducing Employee Turnover: A Metaanalysis, Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 342 353. Meyer, J.P., and Allen, N.J. (1997), Commitment in the Workplace: Theory, Research, and Application, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Meyer, J.P., and Smith, C.A. (2000), HRM Practices and Organizational Commitment: Test of a Mediation Model, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 17, 319 331.
952
Miceli, M.P. (1986), Effects of Realistic Job Previews on Newcomer Affect and Behavior: An Operant Perspective, Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 8, 73 88. Mignery, J.T., Rubin, R.B., and Gorden, W.I. (1995), Organizational Entry: An Investigation of Newcomer Communication Behavior and Uncertainty, Communication Research, 22, 54 85. Morrison, E.W. (1993), Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Information Seeking on Newcomer Socialization, Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 173 183. Morrow, P.C. (1993), The Theory and Measurement of Work Commitment, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Mowday, R.T., Steers, R.M., and Porter, L.M. (1979), The Measurement of Organizational Commitment, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14, 224 247. Nagy, M.S. (2002), Using a Single Item Approach to Measure Facet Job Satisfaction, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75, 77 86. Orpen, C. (1995), The Effect of Socialization Tactics on Career Success and Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study, Psychological Studies, 40, 93 96. Ostroff, C., and Kozlowski, S.W.J. (1992), Organizational Socialization as Learning Process: The Role of Information Acquisition, Personnel Psychology, 45, 849 874. Riordan, C.M., Weatherly, E.W., Vandenberg, R.J., and Self, R.M. (2001), The Effects of Pre-entry Experiences and Socialization Tactics on Newcomer Attitudes and Turnover, Journal of Managerial Issues, 13, 159 176. Saks, A.M., and Ashforth, B.E. (1997a), Socialization Tactics and Newcomer Information Acquisition, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 5, 48 61. Saks, A.M., and Ashforth, B.E. (1997b), A Longitudinal Investigation of the Relationships between Job Information Sources, Applicant Perceptions of Fit, and Work Outcomes, Personnel Psychology, 50, 395 426. Saks, A.M., and Ashforth, B.E. (2002), Is Job Search Related to Employment Quality? It All Depends on the Fit, Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 646 654. Saks, A.M., Uggerslev, K.L., and Fassina, N.E. (2007), Socialization Tactics and Newcomer Adjustment: A Meta-analytic Review and Test of a Model, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 413 446. Schein, E.H. (1968), Organizational Socialization and the Profession of Management, Industrial Management Review, 9, 1 16. Sekimoto, M. (1992), Change in Employees Commitment to Organization, Journal of Law, Politics, and Sociology (Hogaku Kenkyu), 65, 287 312 (in Japanese). Taormina, R.J. (1994), The Organizational Socialization Inventory, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 2, 133 145. Taormina, R.J. (2004), Convergent Validation of Two Measures of Organizational Socialization, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15, 76 94. Van Maanen, J., and Schein, E.H. (1979), Toward a Theory of Organizational Socialization, in Research in Organizational Behavior (vol. 1), ed. B.M. Staw, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 209 264. Wanous, J.P. (1980), Organizational Entry: Recruitment, Selection, and Socialization Newcomers, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing. Wanous, J.P. (1992), Organizational Entry: Recruitment, Selection, and Socialization of Newcomers (2nd ed.), Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Yamamoto, H. (2000), A Study of Promotion: From the Career Plateau Perspective, Tokyo: Souseisha (in Japanese).

Adjustment

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Descrição original:

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Adjustment

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 20, No.

4, April 2009, 928952

* Corresponding author. Email: takeuchi@ms.kuki.tus.ac.jp

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

936 N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

Factor 1 .76 .58 .49

Factor 2 .07 .32 .35

Factor 3 .17 .10 .30

h2 .62 .45 .45

.12 2 .34 .07

.73 2.56 .42

.17 2 .25 .00

.58 .49 .18

.15 .12 .37 1.47

.09 .38 .05 1.41

.80 .51 .49 1.37

.67 .42 .38 4.24

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

Newcomers adjustment outcomes Model 4 Value commitment

Model 5 Turnover intentions

Model 6 Achievement motivation

Model 7 Affective commitment

Model 8 Value commitment

Model 9 Turnover intentions

Model 10 Achievement motivation

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

2.25 (.04) * 2.12 (.18) 2.06 (.19) .063

.15 (.06) 2 .21 (.27) 2 .03 (.30) .071

2.03 (.05) .07 (.26) .00 (.28) .032

.18 (.06) .02 (.28) 2.01 (.30) .012

.06 (.03) .08 (.16) 2.07 (.17) .039

.17 (.06) 2.19 (.27) .03 (.30) .071

2.03 (.05) .06 (.24) .08 (.27) .032

.17 (.06) .02 (.28) 2 .04 (.31) .012

.09 (.03) .10 (.15) 2.02 (.17) .039

.07 (.16) 2.08 (.20) .34 (.21) * .178 * .146 *

2.01 (.17) 2.09 (.21) 2.16 (.23) .142 .130 *

.06 (.15) 2.11 (.18) .43 (.20) ** .178 * .146 *

2 .01 (.17) 2 .08 (.21) 2 .18 (.23) .142 .130 *

2.11 (.09) .22 (.11) .16 (.13) .133 .094

2.02 (.01) 2.25 (.01) * .414 .059

2.36 (.01) ** 2.03 (.01)

.07 (.01) .09 (.01)

.10 (.00) 2.31 (.00) * .257 .074

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

N. Takeuchi and T. Takeuchi

The International Journal of Human Resource Management