THE IMPACT OF ALTERNATIVE SOCIALIZATION TACTICS ON SELF-MANAGING BEHAVIOR AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

This study evaluated the impact of an organization's socialization tactics on newcomer behavior and attitudes, specifically, the extent to which new employee are self-managing and show organizational commitment. Socialization tactics may range between being highly ''institutional''-highly structured,formal and largely unchanging over time, to being ''individual-based''-informal, non-uniform and administered on an individual-to-individual basis. Using a longitudinal design, findings, though weak, suggest that individual-based tactics led to greater self-management. Consistent with previous research, individual-based tactics also led to lower organizational commitment. Individual self-efficacy was associated with greater self-managing behaviors and organizational commitment, though self-efficacy did not moderate the linkage between socialization tactics and these outcome variables.