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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of organisational socialisation tactics, namely, context-based, content-based and social-based tactics, on affective commitment by the mediating role of perceived organisational support.

A quantitative study was conducted using a judgmental sample of 119 newcomers with one-year experience or less in Jordanian small and medium-sized enterprises. The collected data were analysed using bootstrapped procedure by the partial least squares-structural equation modelling.

The empirical results show that perceived organisational support plays a crucial role in mediating the relationships between socialisation tactics and affective commitment. Specifically, both social-based tactics and content-based tactics have a significant indirect effect on affective commitment through perceived organisational support. However, context-based tactics do not directly or indirectly influence affective commitment or perceived organisational support significantly.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first studies in the Jordanian context that investigate the relationship between organisational socialisation and affective commitment by the mediating role of perceived organisational support, thus adding originality to the existing literature. Furthermore, this study contributes to the scholarly debate on the relationship between socialisation and outcomes.

This study examined how six institutionalized socialization tactics affect a particular occupation of knowledge workers – information technology (IT) professionals' role adjustment (role conflict and role ambiguity) and organizational attachment variables (job satisfaction, affective commitment, continuance commitment and intention to quit).

The research model and hypotheses were tested using path analysis techniques with survey data collected from 187 recently hired IT professionals.

The results showed that the six socialization tactics affected IT professionals differently. Socialization tactics that recognize employees' values and skills (investiture tactics) and that emphasize the interpersonal and mentoring aspects (serial tactics) had the most significant effects on employees' role adjustment and organizational attachment. The study also revealed complex mediating relationships among socialization tactics, role adjustment and organizational attachment variables.

This study provides new insights about the differential effects of the various socialization tactics on IT professionals' role adjustment and organizational attachment. It also sheds light on the complex mediating relationships among socialization tactics, role adjustment and organizational attachment variables. Without considering the logical relationships between the various variables, studies examining the direct effects of socialization on isolated organizational outcome variables may overlook important linkages that are critical for explaining the inconsistent results in past empirical studies.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how organizational socialization tactics affect newcomers' organizational commitment and learning processes.

A survey was conducted using a measurement tool based on Van Maanen and Schein's theory on organizational socialization tactics and Kuvaas' measurement tools of organizational commitment. The respondents were newcomers in two large Norwegian government organizations.

It was found that there was no significant relationship between organizational socialization tactics on the context and content dimensions and affective organizational commitment. That means that facilitating formal training and timetables for career development does not necessarily lead to organizational commitment. The research finds, however, a significant relationship between institutionalized social dimensions and organizational commitment. That means providing newcomers with role models and support and acknowledgement from experienced colleagues, positively affect their organizational commitment. Consequently, the extent that newcomers have the chance to participate in work activities and socially interact with established colleagues, positively affect their affective commitment and learning processes.

The measurement tool was translated into Norwegian, which might affect losing the validity of two out of six dimensions of organizational socialization. Also, the social dimension only explains 25 percent of the factors resulting in organizational commitment. Thus, other factors need further investigation, also to address the complexity in newcomers' learning processes when facilitating organizational socialization.

The paper recognizes the importance of newcomers having access to, and being able to learn from established colleagues through participation and practice in work activities.

There are no previous studies of organizational socialization tactics in Norway, and only limited research combining these tactics with organizational commitment, including recognizing organizational tactics' limitation in sufficiently understanding the complexity of newcomers' learning processes.

The aim of this paper is to explore the role of social socialization tactics on the relationship between task‐ and organization‐related information (socialization content) and newcomers' affective commitment to their work organization.

A total of 280 new hires in a Greek service company participated in a survey. Moderated regression analyses were conducted to test research hypotheses.

The results supported the role of investiture‐divestiture tactics as a moderator in the relationship between newcomers' task‐related information acquisition and organizational affective commitment. In addition, serial‐disjunctive tactics were found to moderate the relationship between organization‐related information acquisition and newcomers' affective commitment. The study also demonstrated that both task‐related and organization‐related information acquisition are important to the development of newcomers' affective commitment at the early stages of the socialization process.

Owing to the cross‐sectional design of the research, causality cannot be drawn.

The knowledge of whether, and the extent to which, particular socialization tactics and content areas contribute to newcomers' adjustment would provide organizations a competitive advantage by incorporating them into their socialization programs.

Provision of feedback affirming newcomers' personal characteristics as well as assignment of established role models were found to provide the framework within which the acquisition of task and organization‐related information respectively are related to new hires' affective commitment towards their work organization.

The purpose of this paper is to identify how three types of socialization tactics – content, context and social tactics – influence fit perceptions, and then how three types of fit perceptions – person–organization (P–O) fit, person–job (P–J) fit and person–group (P–G) fit – mediate the relationship between socialization tactics and positive socialization outcomes: organizational commitment, job satisfaction and intent to quit.

Responses from participants – 207 Korean youth workers – were subjected to ordinary least squares path analyses with bootstrapping to test the hypotheses.

First, this study found that socialization tactics promote youth workers’ perceived fit with organization, job, and people. Then, the mediation model showed that content socialization tactics do not influence dependent variables (socialization outcomes) through mediators (fits), while context tactics influence through perceived P–O fit and P–G fit for organizational commitment only, and social tactics through perceived P–O, P–J and P–G fit for organizational commitment, job satisfaction and intent to quit.

The results of this study suggest that institutionalized social tactics can serve as a key socialization method for new employees. In addition, youth organizations need to implement jointly formal and collective training programs with follow-up social workplace learning (e.g. mentoring and study circle) to help newcomers share the values of the organization and integrate well into it.

This study contributes for understanding the socialization process of new employees working in educational and social work fields and role of fit perception between socialization tactics and their career successes.

This chapter briefly reviews findings from recent socialization research to provide an updated view of the socialization literature. To help advance the literature, this chapter then takes an instructional system approach, viewing socialization fundamentally as a process of learning about a new or changed role and the environment surrounding that role. As such, attention will first be given to further understanding exactly what needs to be learned during socialization. In doing so, an expanded socialization content typology is presented. In addition, two other components are added to this typology to reflect the fact that (a) each of those content dimensions needs to be learned relative to different organizational levels (e.g., job, work group, unit, organization) and (b) socialization occurs over several months and there are temporal considerations relating to the different socialization content dimensions. This chapter then examines how to best facilitate the learning of that expanded socialization content. The Gagné-Briggs theory of instruction is used in connecting socialization content with the means of learning that content. The socialization and orienting activities commonly used by organizations to help new employees in the adjustment process are also identified and then mapped onto the learning outcomes they could best help facilitate. Finally, the conceptual, measurement, and research needs suggested by these extensions to the socialization literature are identified.

The purpose of this paper is to compare newcomers’ perceptions on how employers structure the socialization process in the core and peripheral workforce and to explore the proactivity of these new hires in form of information seeking behavior.

The data of this study were collected from a German sample with 359 contingent and permanent new hires in skilled jobs.

The employment type was linked to both socialization tactics firms provided during organizational entry as well as information seeking of permanent and contingent newcomers. In addition, organizational tenure was positively linked with information seeking of both newly hired temporary agency workers and newcomers holding fixed-term contracts.

Since most of the participants worked for different employers, differences in socialization might also be caused by different organizational cultures. Future studies should compare the socialization of new permanent and new temporary workers on an inter-organizational and intra-organizational level.

For skilled jobs firms should offer long-term assignments for temporary agency workers, as they are associated with higher proactivity. Further, firms should intensify the socialization of newcomers holding longer-term work contracts, as these employees may tend to show lower proactivity.

A structured organizational entry of skilled temporary agency workers may represent a stepping stone for permanent employment due to improved work attitudes and behaviors.

This is the first study that examines employment characteristics as potential determinants of organizational socialization tactics. In addition, the study uses a German sample and therefore, follows recent calls for more research on organizational socialization in non-Anglo-Saxon work contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of self-initiated expatriate (SIE) organizational socialization.

To assess the socialization process, data were collected at three points in time. SIE English teachers were surveyed at three points in time. At Time 3, data from the principals of those teachers who completed surveys at Time 2 were also collected.

Organizational socialization tactics facilitate social integration and learning speed, which, in turn, are positively related to SIE adjustment. Moreover, SIEs who climbed the learning curve more quickly were only able to capitalize on their learning ability to promote performance when their calculative commitment was low.

First, in contrast with the majority of expatriate socialization studies that tend to focus on the proactive behaviors of expatriates, the authors examine the organizational socialization tactics of a local host organization. Second, they consider the role of calculative commitment, which is especially germane to the SIE context, on SIE performance. Third, this study contributes to the organizational socialization literature by recognizing that socialization is an on-going process that continues to influence employees even after they are no longer “newcomers.” Fourth, the authors assess adjustment directly rather than through proxy measures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of psychological contract fulfillment in the relationship between socialization tactics and attachment-related outcomes (i.e. organizational commitment and person-organization fit).

Data were obtained from online data collection services which allowed for a custom sample of new employees (n=326) from a variety of organizations and industries.

Psychological contract fulfillment partially mediated the relationship between one socialization tactic (i.e. social) and attachment-related outcomes. Post hoc analyses offered support for a hierarchy of socialization tactics with respect to prediction of organization-relevant outcomes.

Researchers and practitioners have long believed socialization plays an important role in creating successful new employees. However, researchers have yet to adequately examine the mechanisms facilitating these relationships. This study advances the socialization literature by highlighting one such mechanism – psychological contract fulfillment.

This study seeks to explore the “black box” of socialization. Specifically, whereas prior work has suggested one tactic (i.e. social) may be more important than others, this is among the few studies exploring a potential hierarchy of socialization tactics. The authors then discuss the implications of this hierarchy for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to facilitate newcomers’ career advancement within an organization and diminish their intention to quit from the perspective of socialization. In addition, the moderating role of the type of newcomers on the relationship between socialization tactics and career advancement, and consequently, on the mediating effect of newcomers’ proactive socialization behavior, will be examined.

Longitudinal survey research was conducted in the tertiary industry in four large cities of China. Regression analysis and bootstrapping method were used to verify the hypothesized relationships.

Organizational socialization tactics could have positive effects on newcomers’ proactive socialization behavior and promotion prospects. And newcomers’ proactive socialization behavior partly mediates the relationship between organizational socialization tactics and their promotion prospects. The type of newcomers moderates the relationship between proactive socialization behavior and promotion prospects and also the mediation effect of proactive behavior, which says a moderated mediating effect.

Employers should put more value on college recruitment, making good use of social media tools in particular. And they should also select applicants with proactive personality traits. Finally, a series of structured orientation programs should be implemented for all newcomers.

This study contributes evidence for career advancement as one of the distal socialization outcomes, the moderating role of the type of newcomers on the relationship between socialization and career advancement, and the classification as graduates from school and experienced newcomers from other organizations holds significance to examine newcomers’ socialization.