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Trends in the Study of the Organizational Socialization of Employees in the Employment Relationship: Theoretical Framework and Research Perspectives

Received: 26 July 2022    Accepted: 12 August 2022    Published: 24 August 2022
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Abstract

This article aims to better understand the concept of organizational socialization of employees, a concept that has been largely integrated in the majority of work in recent years relating to the attitudes and behaviors of individuals in the employment relationship. Emerging from the different debates between several fields of investigation including sociology, psychology and, in a related perspective, social psychology, organizational socialization is a fundamental concept that attempts to reconcile the company (its values, its structure) and the employee with its own characteristics, its personal identity. Indeed, organizational socialization theories seek more precisely to understand the behaviors by which individuals manage to link individual variables (the personal identity that distinguishes them from their organizational environment) and situational variables (the organizational identity to which they must conform to belong to a professional family). In this research, we identify four major trends in the literature on organizational socialization. A first approach includes organizational socialization as a sequential process within a role transition process. A second cognitive approach studies organizational socialization through a process of attribution of meaning. The third, so-called proactive approach, considers man as his own actor in his socialization with the organization. The last approach, called interactionist, studies the success of the individual’s adjustment to the organization through a balance between the way that the individual responds to the reality of his or her organizational life and the context in which the company evolves. A contextual approach to alluding to the latter is also discussed. Finally, we propose a multi-criteria model for the study of organizational socialization to facilitate understanding of this concept and discuss future research perspectives.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 11, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20221104.13
Page(s) 208-219
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Socialization, Proactivity, Identity, Cognition, Learning, Meaning Assignment

References
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  • APA Style

    Aboubakar Roukatou, Zamba Guidkaya. (2022). Trends in the Study of the Organizational Socialization of Employees in the Employment Relationship: Theoretical Framework and Research Perspectives. Social Sciences, 11(4), 208-219. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221104.13

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    Aboubakar Roukatou; Zamba Guidkaya. Trends in the Study of the Organizational Socialization of Employees in the Employment Relationship: Theoretical Framework and Research Perspectives. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(4), 208-219. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221104.13

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    AMA Style

    Aboubakar Roukatou, Zamba Guidkaya. Trends in the Study of the Organizational Socialization of Employees in the Employment Relationship: Theoretical Framework and Research Perspectives. Soc Sci. 2022;11(4):208-219. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221104.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20221104.13,
      author = {Aboubakar Roukatou and Zamba Guidkaya},
      title = {Trends in the Study of the Organizational Socialization of Employees in the Employment Relationship: Theoretical Framework and Research Perspectives},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {11},
      number = {4},
      pages = {208-219},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20221104.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221104.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20221104.13},
      abstract = {This article aims to better understand the concept of organizational socialization of employees, a concept that has been largely integrated in the majority of work in recent years relating to the attitudes and behaviors of individuals in the employment relationship. Emerging from the different debates between several fields of investigation including sociology, psychology and, in a related perspective, social psychology, organizational socialization is a fundamental concept that attempts to reconcile the company (its values, its structure) and the employee with its own characteristics, its personal identity. Indeed, organizational socialization theories seek more precisely to understand the behaviors by which individuals manage to link individual variables (the personal identity that distinguishes them from their organizational environment) and situational variables (the organizational identity to which they must conform to belong to a professional family). In this research, we identify four major trends in the literature on organizational socialization. A first approach includes organizational socialization as a sequential process within a role transition process. A second cognitive approach studies organizational socialization through a process of attribution of meaning. The third, so-called proactive approach, considers man as his own actor in his socialization with the organization. The last approach, called interactionist, studies the success of the individual’s adjustment to the organization through a balance between the way that the individual responds to the reality of his or her organizational life and the context in which the company evolves. A contextual approach to alluding to the latter is also discussed. Finally, we propose a multi-criteria model for the study of organizational socialization to facilitate understanding of this concept and discuss future research perspectives.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    AU  - Aboubakar Roukatou
    AU  - Zamba Guidkaya
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    AB  - This article aims to better understand the concept of organizational socialization of employees, a concept that has been largely integrated in the majority of work in recent years relating to the attitudes and behaviors of individuals in the employment relationship. Emerging from the different debates between several fields of investigation including sociology, psychology and, in a related perspective, social psychology, organizational socialization is a fundamental concept that attempts to reconcile the company (its values, its structure) and the employee with its own characteristics, its personal identity. Indeed, organizational socialization theories seek more precisely to understand the behaviors by which individuals manage to link individual variables (the personal identity that distinguishes them from their organizational environment) and situational variables (the organizational identity to which they must conform to belong to a professional family). In this research, we identify four major trends in the literature on organizational socialization. A first approach includes organizational socialization as a sequential process within a role transition process. A second cognitive approach studies organizational socialization through a process of attribution of meaning. The third, so-called proactive approach, considers man as his own actor in his socialization with the organization. The last approach, called interactionist, studies the success of the individual’s adjustment to the organization through a balance between the way that the individual responds to the reality of his or her organizational life and the context in which the company evolves. A contextual approach to alluding to the latter is also discussed. Finally, we propose a multi-criteria model for the study of organizational socialization to facilitate understanding of this concept and discuss future research perspectives.
    VL  - 11
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Management, Strategy and Prospective, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Ngaoundéré, Ngaoundéré, Cameroon

  • Department of Management, Strategy and Prospective, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Ngaoundéré, Ngaoundéré, Cameroon

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