Social antecedents of the role stress and career-enhancing strategies of newcomers to organizations:: A longitudinal study

Newcomers experience uncertainty and stress following entry into an organization. Two features of socialization are important for reducing their stress: socialization tactics and relations with superiors and co-workers. The present study tests a structural equation model, including, first, the effects over time of initial institutional socialization tactics and, second, the association between social relations at the workplace on newcomers' role stress and career-enhancing strategies, two years later, among a large ( N =661) international sample of job and organization stayers. Using LISREL 8.3 the results indicate a good fit between the model and data on several fit indices. Institutional socialization tactics had a significant association with newcomers' relations with both their superiors and co-workers, and a significant negative association with their role conflict. Newcomers' relations with superiors had a negative relationship with their role ambiguity, and a positive relationship with two kinds of career-enhancing strategies that they use to aid in their adaptation to their work situation. The relations of newcomers with co-workers were positively related to role conflict and negatively related to role ambiguity. Co-worker relations were also positively related to immediate career-enhancing strategies. Role conflict was positively related to immediate and negatively related to intermediate career-enhancing strategies, while role ambiguity was negatively related to intermediate career-enhancing strategies. The results are discussed in relation to their theoretical and practical importance.