Newcomer socialization: The role of supervisors, coworkers, friends and family members

The present study examined referents for sensemaking and the relationships between choice of referent and socialization outcomes. Newly hired employees of a state department of mental health were surveyed at two time periods approximately six months apart. Results indicated that newcomer use of friends and family as referents for sensemaking predicted socialization outcomes at Time 1, whereas use of supervisors and coworkers as referents for sensemaking predicted socialization outcomes at Time 2. The implications of these results for practice are discussed.The authors would like to thank Meryl Reis Louis for her assistance in developing the measures used in this study. We also acknowledge the helpful comments of Kevin Mossholder, Craig Russell and Adrienne Collela on previous drafts of this paper.