USE OF PROACTIVE SOCIALIZATION TACTICS AND SOCIALIZATION OUTCOMES: A LATENT GROWTH MODELING APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING NEWCOMER SOCIALIZATION PROCESS

In this study, we examined the intraindividual change trends in newcomers' usage of seven proactive socialization tactics and their covariations in the first 4 months after their job entry. We also investigated how the initial level and change trends of these socialization tactics are associated with socialization outcomes (i.e., leader-member exchange, affective commitment, and job-related self-efficacy). Results showed that newcomers' usage of proactive socialization tactics had different change trends over the first 4 months after organization entry. For example, newcomers increased their usage of feedback seeking, but decreased their usage of job-change negotiation over time. The usage of some tactics (e.g., networking) even plateaued after the first 3 months. However, newcomers did not appear to switch their usage from tactics to tactics over time, as indicated by positive or nonsignificant covariations among the change trends of different socialization tactics. Additionally, we also found that the initial level of usage and change trends of certain tactics were associated with socialization outcomes. We discuss how these findings may inform future theoretical and empirical development.