DO ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION TACTICS INFLUENCE NEWCOMER EMBEDDEDNESS AND TURNOVER?

Abstract

Despite research suggesting socialization tactics can affect turnover, meta-analytic reviews of turnover antecedents do not include newcomer orientation or socialization tactics (e.g. Griffeth, Hom, & Gaertner, 2000), and few socialization studies have examined relationships with turnover directly (Kammeyer-Mueller & Wanberg, 2003). This paper suggests that socialization tactics are one method for embedding newcomers in organizations, and that embeddedness is one mechanism by which socialization tactics influence turnover. Hypotheses are tested in a sample of newcomers in a large financial services organization. Results indicated that serial and investiture socialization tactics that provide experienced organizational members as models and that provide positive social support for newcomers were positively related to embeddedness, as were socialization tactics that provide realistic information. Serial and investiture socialization tactics and embeddedness were negatively related to subsequent turnover.