Process of Chinese Career Starters Adapting to Their Work: The Differentiated Roles of Proactive and Reactive Organizational Socialization

Abstract

This study is to explore how socialization tactics and proactive behavior affect proximal and distal adjustment outcomes of Chinese career starters jointly after organizational entry. Using a three-wave longitudinal survey data of college graduates working for various enterprises in China, this study examines the predictive effects of reactive and proactive socialization on adjustment process. Results indicate that institutionalized socialization tactics of organization (reactive socialization) facilitate affective commitment directly, and proactive information seeking behavior of career starters (proactive socialization) facilitates overall job satisfaction directly. Both reactive and proactive socialization positively influence work performance indirectly through socialization content. Furthermore, proactive socialization reinforces the positive relation between reactive socialization and adjustment outcomes. For career starters who have full-time work experiences, relation between proactive behavior and socialization content is the strongest, but for those have no work experience, the relation between reactive socialization and socialization content is the strongest. Despite some limitations, this study contributes to fully understand effects of reactive and proactive socialization during organizational entry of Chinese career starters.

Keywords: socialization tactics, proactive behavior, socialization content, adjustment, longitudinal study