The well-adjusted organizational newcomer: The roles of pre-entry knowledge, proactive personality, and socialization

The period of early entry is one of the most critical phases of organizational life. During this time newly hired employees determine what their new organization is like and decide whether they “fit in.” To investigate this process, organizational entry research focuses on commitment to the organization and its goals, and the knowledge, confidence, and motivation for performing a work role. In recent years considerable progress has been made toward understanding how adjustment arises, but the literature remains divided along a number of fronts. Some theories emphasize newcomer characteristics, others emphasize organizations' use of formal socialization tactics, and others emphasize interpersonal communications between newcomers and established members of the organization like leaders and co-workers. The current investigation extends previous research by examining these multiple antecedents as they relate to outcomes that are more closely related or “proximal” to the process of newcomer adjustment as well as outcomes that are more broad, global, or “distal” to the process of newcomer adjustment. A four-wave longitudinal study of newcomers in seven organizations examined pre-entry knowledge, proactive personality, and socialization influences as antecedents of both proximal (task mastery, role clarity, work group integration, and political knowledge) and distal (organizational commitment, work withdrawal, and turnover) indicators of newcomer adjustment. Results suggest that pre-entry knowledge, proactive personality, and socialization influences are independently related to proximal adjustment outcomes, consistent with a framework of distinct dimensions of organizational and work task adjustment. The proximal adjustment outcomes partially or fully mediated most of the relationships between the antecedents of adjustment and more distal attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The pattern of results demonstrated considerable differentiation between organizational and work aspects of adjustment.