The Organizational Socialization Inventory

Abstract

Abstract Organizational socialization is regarded as an interactive process between employees and their organizations such that employee perceptions of socialization may impact on the process. Four social‐psychological factors were theorized to influence employee perceptions of their socialization at work, namely: training; understanding; co‐worker support; and prospects for the future. Based on these four factors, an Organizational Socialization Inventory (OSI) was created as a quantitative measure of socialization in organizations. The OSI is intended for general use in a variety of organizational settings. This paper describes the construction of the OSI and its subscales, reports their reliabilities, relates the results of their initial validity tests, and suggests some potential uses of the OSI.