The effect of learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings on newcomer proactive behaviours and learning

Abstract

Learning is central to newcomer socialization, but research has rarely investigated the individual motivations that predict learning. Drawing from motivated action theory, this study examines newcomers' learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings, and their effects on the different domains of learning through two separate routes of information-seeking and relationship-building proactive behaviours. In Study 1, we develop and validate a scale for communal goal strivings, demonstrating the empirical distinctiveness of the proposed construct from related constructs of prosocial motivation and need to belong. Study 2 involved a 2-wave survey of 185 university student interns investigating newcomer learning. The results revealed that learning goal orientation predicted greater information seeking in the form of direct inquiry, which in turn predicted role, organization, and social learning. Communal goal strivings predicted the relationshipbuilding proactive behaviour of networking, and increased social and organization learning. These results underscore the value of goal strivings during socialization and provide a nuanced understanding of the relationships between goal strivings, proactive behaviours, and newcomer learning. Practical implications are discussed. Practitioner pointsOrganizations keen to hire proactive employees can select job applicants high in both learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings. Organizations should not treat newcomer learning as a single entity. Our results suggest that organizations can encourage specific newcomer proactive behaviours to meet targeted learning objectives in the socialization process. To encourage newcomers' proactivity and learning, greater attention should be accorded to the organizational environment, emphasizing the social aspects of the socialization process. This includes highlighting the importance of teams and workgroups.New hires constitute a significant proportion of an organization's employee pool. Recent statistics show that for organizations in the United States, a quarter of employees have been with the organization for less than a year (Bureau

A new look at the psychological contract during organizational socialization: The role of newcomers' obligations at entry

“…Commonly, these define various domains of knowledge or activities a newcomer has to learn to become a full member of the organization and that lead to more distal indicators of work adjustment, such as in‐role performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intent to leave, and actual turnover (Bauer et al, ; Saks et al, ). In this paper, we used a parsimonious classification similar to Bauer and Erdogan () comprising role, social, and organizational learning that captures the domains represented in previous organizational socialization research (also Tan, Au, Cooper‐Thomas, & Aw, ). The role dimension refers to the clarity of activities and responsibilities, performance expectations, and appropriate behaviors related to one's position in the broader organization.…”

Team Membership Change “Events”: A Review and Reconceptualization

“…Research on team newcomers has examined the impact of a wide variety of attributes that facilitate a newcomer’s entry into an intact team. Studies have shown that newcomer traits including proactive personality (Li et al, 2011; Wang et al, 2017), motivation to learn (Tan et al, 2016), and the “Big Five” traits of openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness (Major et al, 2006) are associated with newcomer proactive behaviors during newcomer entry, which may reduce the disruptiveness of a newcomer entry event. Furthermore, newcomers’ creative abilities may increase the criticality of their entry into a team by positively impacting not only the team’s overall creative output but also the creativity of the incumbent team members (Choi & Thompson, 2005), perhaps by stimulating creative idea generation within the team (Nemeth & Ormiston, 2007).…”

“…Although a wide variety of proactive behaviors have been identified (Cooper-Thomas et al, 2012), research suggests the most important behaviors for reducing the potential challenges associated with newcomer entry are information seeking, feedback seeking, and relationship building (Kammeyer-Mueller et al, 2013; Wanberg & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2000). These behaviors may improve team functioning by reducing the burden on incumbent team members to provide informational and social support to the newcomer (Tan et al, 2016). In addition, teams are more likely to adopt the unique knowledge of newcomers who use integrating (i.e., “we,” “our”) as opposed to differentiating (i.e., “I,” “my”) language during task completion (Kane & Rink, 2015).…”

Cultural and generational predictors of learning goal orientation: A multilevel analysis of managers across 20 countries

“…Overall, those with high LGO aspire to participate in training activities and developmental processes so that they can apply what they learn (Brett and VandeWalle, 1999). They also seek greater information in the form of direct inquiry, which predicts role, organization, and social learning (Tan et al, 2016).…”