How organizational socialization occurring in virtual setting unique: A longitudinal study of socialization

Parul Gupta, Anupama Prashar, Mihalis Giannakis, Vincent Dutot and Yogesh K. Dwivedi

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2022, vol. 185, issue C

Abstract: Based on organizational socialization frameworks used to study newcomers' journey of adaptation from outsiders to insiders, this study develops an evolutionary model to examine their socialization in virtual settings. Extending the existing literature, the proposed model views organizational socialization as a cumulative process that allows the impact of pre-entry variables on accommodation and outcomes. Longitudinal design is used to measure the impact of key socialization factors on newcomers' productivity and commitment by controlling for entry-level perceptions. The virtual setting chosen for this study is the academic units at a premium Business school with multiple campuses in India. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) hierarchical linear regression modeling is used to analyze time-lagged study data of 373 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. The study reports some unique aspects of newcomers' socialization in a virtual environment, and explains how and why some influential socialization factors might show varying effects if traditional physical settings are missing. Contesting the findings of previous studies, results of this study reveal that in virtual socialization process, pre-entry experience emerges as a strong predictor of accommodation for newcomers. However, dissemination of pre-entry information solely through advanced communication technologies might not produce desired results, unless complemented by face-to-face contact with peers and other stakeholders. Overall, this study offers a cumulative view of socialization in virtual settings in which early stages exert influence over later stages even after intervening variables are controlled.

Keywords: Newcomers' socialization; Virtual environment; Longitudinal study; Productivity; Commitment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:185:y:2022:i:c:s0040162522006187

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122097

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