Affect, Curiosity, and Socialization-Related Learning: A Path Analysis of Antecedents to Job Performance

This study examined the influence of affect, curiosity, and socialization-related learning on job performance, with 233 service industry employees from a diverse variety of occupations completing surveys at their places of work. Both state and trait curiosity and socialization-related learning (learning associated with employee socialization) were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between affect (operationalized as state and trait anxiety and anger) and job performance. Structural equation analyses indicate that the data are consistent with the theoretical models proposed. As expected, anxiety negatively influences curiosity, socialization-related learning, and job performance; conversely, anger positively influences curiosity, socialization-related learning, and job performance. Overall, the findings suggest that affects indeed predict perception of job performance, but through the mediation of curiosity and the learning associated with the socialization process. These results highlight the importance of the complex interplay between affect, curiosity, and learning when thinking about successful employee socialization and best possible job performance.     

Socialization tactics, employee proactivity, and person-organization fit

This study examined the linkage between organizational socialization tactics and person-organization (P-O) fit and examined the moderating influence of employees' proactivity behaviors. Results from a sample of 279 employee-supervisor pairs from 7 organizations in South Korea revealed a positive relationship between institutionalized socialization tactics and P-O fit perceptions. However, the association between firms' socialization tactics and P-O fit was facilitated or negated by several proactive behaviors that employees used to gain control over their environment. For example, employees' positive framing harmonized with institutional tactics to create higher P-O fit, whereas employees who proactively developed strong relationships with their supervisors essentially replaced institutionalized socialization tactics.     

Peer influence on bulimic symptoms in college students

This longitudinal study examined the influence of peer selection and socialization on bulimic symptoms in college students. Ninety-eight participants completed measures of bulimic symptoms, self-esteem, perfectionism, and impulsivity in the spring and fall of 2003. Peer influence was assessed by examining similarity among selected peers, unselected peers, and nonpeers over time. Among selected peers, bulimic symptoms demonstrated patterns of socialization, self-esteem and perfectionism demonstrated patterns of selection, and these personality traits longitudinally predicted changes in bulimic symptoms. Unselected peers demonstrated no similarity for bulimia, self-esteem, or perfectionism, but they did evidence socialization for impulsivity. The findings support an etiological model that integrates social and individual risk factors in creating environments that influence disordered eating among college students.     

A Test of a Model of New Salespeople’S Socialization and Adjustment in a Collectivist Culture

Drawing largely on organizational socialization theory and its derivations, such as uncertainty reduction and sense-making theory, the authors propose and test empirically a process model of newcomer salesperson socialization in the South Korean context. The results indicate that both organization-initiated and newcomers’ proactive socialization tactics (i.e., seeking performance feedback and information seeking, building relationships and networks) significantly influence newcomers’ perceived level of accommodation (i.e., role clarity and social integration) and thus their adjustment to the new work environment (i.e., level of organizational commitment, job performance, and job satisfaction). The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications and present future research directions.     

Delineating Selection and Mediation Effects Among Childhood Personality and Environmental Risk Factors in the Development of Adolescent Substance Abuse

Utilizing the large, longitudinal Minnesota Twin Family Study (N?=?2510; 96 % European American ancestry), we examined the influence of several person-environment transactions on adolescent substance abuse. We focused on the two childhood personality traits found to be most predictive of substance abuse in this sample—socialization (willingness to follow rules and endorse conventional values) and boldness (social engagement and assurance, stress resilience, thrill seeking)—and the environmental variables of antisocial and prosocial peers, academic engagement, parent–child relationship quality, and stressful life events. Path analysis revealed that low socialization had a selection effect for each environmental risk factor, that is, socialization at age 11 predicted environmental risk at age 14, after controlling for the stability of the environmental variables from ages 11 to 14. Antisocial peers and academic engagement at age 14 then mediated some of the risk of low socialization on substance abuse at age 17, but the majority of risk for substance abuse was accounted for by the stability of socialization from age 11 to 14. Boldness at age 11 also increased risk for substance abuse, but did so primarily via a direct effect. The findings help to parse the nature of person-environment transactions across multiple personality traits and contextual risk factors that contribute to adolescent substance abuse.     

Depression socialization within friendship groups at the transition to adolescence: the roles of gender and group centrality as moderators of peer influence

Tests of interpersonal theories of depression have established that elevated depression levels among peers portend increases in individuals' own depressive symptoms, a phenomenon known as depression socialization. Susceptibility to this socialization effect may be enhanced during the transition to adolescence as the strength of peer influence rises dramatically. Socialization of depressive symptoms among members of child and adolescent friendship groups was examined over a 1-year period among 648 youth in grades six through eight. Sociometric methods were utilized to identify friendship groups and ascertain the prospective effect of group-level depressive symptoms on youths' own depressive symptoms. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed a significant socialization effect and indicated that this effect was most potent for (a) girls and (b) individuals on the periphery of friendship groups. Future studies would benefit from incorporating child and adolescent peer groups as a developmentally salient context for interpersonal models of depression.     

Religious Resources or Differential Returns? Early Religious Socialization and Declining Attendance in Emerging Adulthood

The transition from adolescence into emerging adulthood is usually accompanied by a decline in religious participation. This article examines why such decline occurs at different rates across major Christian traditions and whether this variation can be explained by early socialization factors. Using data from waves 1 and 3 of the National Study of Youth and Religion (N = 1,879), I examine the effects of parental religiosity, church support, religious education, and youth group involvement on the decline in attendance five years later. Results show that these socialization processes adequately explain why attendance declines at different rates across religious traditions. However, these socialization factors do not have the same effect across traditions and often yield differential returns for attendance outcomes. These findings also suggest that comparisons across religious traditions can resolve the “channeling hypothesis” debate about whether parental influence on an offspring's future religiosity is primarily direct or indirect.     

Bringing Up Nones: Intergenerational Influences and Cohort Trends

Recent polls show that an increasing number of young adults profess no religious affiliation. Prior research has suggested several explanations for this, among them older ages at marriage, higher education rates, reaction against the priest/pedophile scandal, and political backlash against the religious right, as well as the traditional explanation of youthful rebellion against religious parents. In this article, we propose another theory: intergenerational transmission, an increase in the number of parents and grandparents who have been explicitly socializing their children to a nonreligious worldview. We use a mixed methods approach with data from the 34‐year Longitudinal Study of Generations to examine parents’ and grandparents’ influence on youth over several decades. The rate of nonreligious young persons in our sample tripled between 1971 and 2005. Though this undoubtedly reflects broader cohort trends, we can trace a significant portion of this growth to family intergenerational continuity brought about by explicitly nonreligious socialization by parents as well as grandparents. Qualitative data provide insight into processes of nonreligious influence over generations, seen in three types: multigenerational socialization of humanism, of atheism, and of the unintended socialization of “religious rebels” from highly religious parents.     

Influencing the salesforce through perceived ethical leadership: the role of salesforce socialization and person–organization fit on salesperson ethics and performance

With today's emphasis on building strong customer relationships in the business-to-business sales environment, appropriate leadership is necessary to instill ethical and provide the proper guidance among employees to ensure ethical decision-making and improve sales performance. This research examines the role of perceived ethical leadership as it relates to both formal and informal marketing control mechanisms (i.e. salesforce socialization) that influence person–organization fit, and how this fit relates to salesperson unethical intent and performance. Results from a study of 408 business-to-business salespeople suggest that perceived ethical leadership both directly, and indirectly via salesforce socialization, affects salesperson ethical values person–organization fit, which in turn affects salesperson performance. Based on these findings, both theoretical and managerial implications are provided, as well as directions for future research.     

景颇族初中生的民族社会化觉察及其特征

民族社会化觉察是指少数民族孩子对父母向他们传递的有关民族特征信息的认知。采用问卷调查、情境实验和故事补全任务考察景颇族初中生对母亲传递的民族社会化信息的觉察及特征。结果表明：(1)景颇族初中生觉察到的民族社会化信息包含促进和睦、文化社会化、促使不信任和偏见准备; (2)景颇族初中生对不同信息的觉察存在差异, 对促进和睦的觉察显著多于文化社会化和偏见准备, 对促使不信任的觉察最少; (3)在冲突情境中, 有无偏见线索影响被试对偏见准备的觉察; (4)被试的民族社会化觉察存在性别差异, 女生更多地觉察到促进和睦, 男生更多地觉察到促使不信任。整个研究表明, 青少年的民族社会化觉察存在着文化差异, 与美国少数族裔青少年觉察到母亲偏重于传递文化社会化、偏见准备不同, 景颇族初中生觉察到母亲偏重于传递促进和睦。     

Joint effects of social networks and information giving on innovative performance after organizational entry

We combine the social network approach and organizational socialization literature in order to examine the influence of social networks and proactive behavior on newcomers' innovative performance. A sample of new employees completed questionnaires on social network and proactive measures, and their supervisors rated their innovative performance. The results suggest that both sparse (low density) social networks and newcomers' information giving were related to innovative performance. The results also indicate that information giving moderated the relation between sparse social networks and innovative performance: when newcomers' information giving was high, the characteristics of their social networks were not related to their innovative performance.     

The Family and Partisan Socialization in Red and Blue America

How do competing social influences shape individual partisanship over the course of the life cycle? People enter and exit a host of environments over the course of the lifespan, and these environments provide social pressures that can conflict or reinforce early socialized attitudes. Socialization could be an agent for either opinion change or opinion stability. Using the Youth‐Parent Socialization Study and constructing partisan environmental measures at the county level, I explore this question. The findings demonstrate that environments exert significant socializing influence over the lifespan, moderating the persistence of early forces. This helps us understand when early socialized pressures persist and when they do not. When environments throughout life provide reinforcing social pressures, parental influence endures over time. However, when early socialized influence is challenged over time by the political environment that citizens reside in, the influence of early parental socialization is offset and nullified.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ORGANIZATIONAL-LEVEL ORIENTATION TRAINING PROGRAM IN THE SOCIALIZATION OF NEW HIRES

This quasi-experimental field study examined the impact of attending a voluntary, organizational-level new employee orientation training program on organizational socialization. Six content dimensions of socialization were measured before and 1 to 2 months following orientation training for a sample of 116 new employees in a variety of occupations. Results revealed that employees attending the orientation training were significantly more socialized on 3 of the 6 socialization content dimensions (goals/values, history, & people) than employees who did not attend the training. Employees attending the orientation training also had significantly higher levels of affective organizational commitment than nonattendees, a relationship that was fully mediated by the socialization content dimensions, primarily goals/values, and history.     

Changes in person – organization fit: The impact of socialization tactics on perceived and actual P – O fit

This study examines the impact of socially oriented socialization tactics on changes in newcomer perceived and actual value-based person?–?organization (P?–?O) fit, and on the relations between these two measures of fit. Newcomers' fit was measured at entry (T1) and again after 4 months (T2) using the organizational culture profile (OCP; ). The results show that socialization tactics influence perceived fit, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, but not actual fit. As hypothesized, perceived and actual fit become more congruent over time, suggesting a shift in newcomers' perceptions of the organization. Additional analyses were conducted to investigate the mediating influence of perceived fit on the relationship of investiture with job satisfaction and with organizational commitment and, for both outcomes, this was found to be significant. We discuss the implications for organization socialization procedures, research into newcomer entry using measures of actual and perceived fit, and HRM practices during the initial few months of organizational entry.     

Asian Americans and racism: when bad things happen to "model minorities."

Due to the limited psychological research on Asian Americans' experiences with racism, in the current study the authors examined the relationships between racial socialization, racial identity, and perceptions of racism, with a college-aged sample (N = 254) consisting primarily of Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans. With the use of multiple regression analyses, the results indicated that racial socialization, particularly discussions about race and racism, was positively related to one's perceptions of racism. Moreover, the study also showed that the relationship between racial socialization and perceptions of racism was partially mediated by racial identity schemas. To understand how Asian Americans regard racism, it is useful to have an understanding of racial identity theory and the manner in which Asian Americans are socialized to perceive racism.     

Constructing and validating variables to measure attitudes of women entering the military craft skills

Behavioral measures of role stereotypes and socialization factors are developed through a factor analytic approach to validate prior-constructed variables for a study of over 1,700 women entering previously male-dominated military craft skills. The analysis confirms previously published findings relating perceived job performance to the existence of stereotypic behavior.     

Peer Influence and Nonsuicidal Self Injury: Longitudinal Results in Community and Clinically-Referred Adolescent Samples

Research suggests that adolescents’ engagement in nonsuicidal self-injurious (NSSI) behaviors may be increasing over time, yet little is known regarding distal longitudinal factors that may promote engagement in these behaviors. Data from two longitudinal studies are presented to examine whether NSSI may be associated with peer influence processes. Study 1 included 377 adolescents from a community-based sample; Study 2 included 140 clinically-referred adolescents recruited from a psychiatric inpatient facility. In Study 1, adolescents’ NSSI was examined at baseline and one year later. Adolescents’ nominated best friend reported their own levels of NSSI. In Study 2, adolescents’ NSSI was examined at baseline as well as 9 and 18-months post-baseline. Adolescents’ perceptions of their friends’ engagement in self-injurious behavior (including suicidality) and depressed mood also were examined at all three time points. Baseline depressive symptoms were measured in both studies; gender and age were examined as moderators of peer influence effects. Results from both studies supported longitudinal peer socialization effects of friends’ self-injurious behavior on adolescents’ own NSSI for girls, but not for boys, even after controlling for depressive symptoms as a predictor. Study 1 suggested socialization effects mostly for younger youth. Results from Study 2 also suggested longitudinal socialization effects, as well as peer selection effects; adolescents’ NSSI was associated with increasing perceptions of their friends’ engagement in depressive/self-injurious thoughts and behavior. Findings contribute to the nascent literature on longitudinal predictors of NSSI and to work on peer influence.     

组织社会化视角下员工组织公民行为动态变化趋势及其形成机制

日益复杂多变的市场竞争环境对组织的灵活性和适应性都提出了更高的要求, 员工的组织公民行为在这一背景下显得尤为重要, 因它能有效提高组织在不确定环境下的生存能力和核心竞争力、提升组织的绩效水平。虽然已有大量研究关注员工的组织公民行为, 但研究者多采用相对静态的研究范式, 而忽视了组织公民行为的长期动态变化趋势。基于组织社会化视角, 本研究重点关注新员工和工作变更员工组织公民行为的长期动态变化趋势、探索影响组织公民行为动态变化趋势的内在机制和边界条件, 以期为培养和激发员工持续性高水平的组织公民行为提供可参考的理论依据。     

Field independence as a function of sex, sex-roles, and the sex-role appropriateness of the task

Two experiments were conducted to explain the sex difference in field independence by reference to socialization factors. It was hypothesized that the sex-role appropriateness of the task as masculine or feminine-typed would influence the performance of masculine and feminine women in a manner congruent with their sex-role orientation. 28 pilot subjects and 100 subjects in Study 2 were equally divided between the sexes. Both studies used the Bem Sex-role Inventory, but different versions of the Embedded Figures Test. The over-all results suggested that feminine women varied their performance according to task appropriateness, although not always in a manner congruent with their sex-role orientation. Androgynous individuals and masculine men did not alter their performance.     

Context and Message Content During Organizational Socialization

This study examined the socialization experiences of 85 newly hired managers over a 4‐month period. Results indicated partial support for a model proposing a mediating relationship among structured and unstructured socialization contexts, socialization message content, and newcomer adjustment. Performance proficiency message content mediated the impact of fixed and serial tactics on role ambiguity while sequential tactics and trial by fire experiences had a direct effect. Investiture tactics were negatively related to new manager role innovation.