Topic: New Employee and Organizational Identification
Author(s), Title and Publication
Stephens, K. K. & Dailey, S. L. (2012). Situated organizational identification in newcomers: Impacts of pre-entry organizational exposure. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(3), 404-422.
Summary
This study investigated how new employees’ organizational identification was influenced by their pre-orientation non-work related experiences with an organization, and orientation quality. The authors surveyed 193 new employees before and after orientations at a large Southwestern university. The survey measured the new employees’ pre-orientation experiences with the university (i.e., days of work experience in current position and whether they previously took courses from the university), organizational identification (i.e., feeling that they have a lot in common with others at the university), and orientation quality (i.e., quality of information about the university and quality of information about benefits).
Results revealed that attending orientation significantly increased new employees’ organizational identification level. Results also showed that orientations had greater impact on the organizational identification level of those new employees who had pre-orientation experiences with the organization than on the organizational identification level of those who did not.
Implications for Practice
Instead of holding one-size-fits-all new employee orientations, an organization may want to provide different orientations based on new employees’ prior experiences with the organization. Such tailored orientations may personalize the organization and potentially enrich identification.
Location of Article
The article is available online at: http://mcq.sagepub.com/content/26/3/404.short (abstract free, purchase full article)
