Titolo della tesi: Perceived Organizational Support and Onboarding Practices SRT-Based: reinforcing the newcomers Socialization and Engagement in hybrid working conditions.
In recent years, both public and private enterprises have had to adapt to a completely different way of working, transferring as many activities as possible from the office to other locations, including employees' homes. Remote working represents work activities that can be flexibly carried out regardless of time or location, characterized by extensive utilization of technology to facilitate adaptable work approaches (Grant et al., 2013).Working remotely mixed with working from office created an hybrid workplace which represents the major style of working that companies are taking in place. The general paradigm of work organization has therefore changed rapidly and it has been affecting the Organizational Socialization. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent surge in remote work, the scientific discourse addressing the implications for employment and organizations has expanded. Nevertheless, a notable dearth of research examining novel work environments remains. While remote work affords individuals autonomy in choosing their workspace this still leads them to often experience a long-distance relationship with colleagues and supervisors. Analyzing the literature about organization socialization in remote working era we do not yet know how the lack of physical presence affects organizational socialization. The literature is scattered there are a small number of relevant articles from different disciplines focusing mostly on impediments of virtual organizational socialization. Whereas working from home before the pandemic usually wasn’t daily and by choice (Delanoeije et al., 2020) , due to Covid-19, working from home every day became mandatory for many knowledge workers (Waizenegger et al., 2020). During the pandemic, new employees started a job without being physically on-site. New contacts were made predominantly or even exclusively via digital communication media. This has implications for the nature of socialization in the company as well as for the Onboarding practices that companies and HR professionals take in place to help socialization. Onboarding refers to “all formal and informal practices, programs, and policies enacted or engaged in by an organization or its agents to facilitate newcomer adjustment”. Organizational socialization, as the broader term, describes the process by which an organizational outsider transforms into an organizational insider by learning and adapting to new jobs, roles, and the culture of their workplace (Bauer et al., 2021; van Maanen et al., 1977). The concept of organizational socialization refers to the progression of individuals who are new to an organization as they shift from being external to internal members of the organization (Bauer et al., 2007). Considerably more work needs to be done to identify onboarding practices that work well in hybrid work arrangements to accomplish a full organizational socialization. It will be especially valuable to explore in qualitative research and case studies what practices new hires, and their managers describe as helpful in a hybrid socialization process. Numerous research studies have provided evidence regarding the consequences of organizational socialization in traditional workplace settings. The recent shift from traditional work towards hybrid work may introduce new challenges or opportunities for research’s development about organizational socialization. There is a lack of empirical investigations into the effects of remote work on the adjustment of newcomers in the companies. The dissertation wants to study how the relationship between the perceived organizational support (POS), proposed by the Organization Support theory (OST), and the Onboarding practices presented by the Socialization Resources Theory, could be effective in reinforcing the newcomers socialization and engagement during the first months in the company considering the new hybrid work organization (remote working or smart working). Organizational support theory explains relationships between employers and employees based on social exchange (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). The theory’s central construct, perceived organizational support (POS) refers to employees’ perceptions that the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being (Eisenberger et al., 1986). OST was generally successful in its predictions concerning both the antecedents of POS (leadership, employee–organization context, human resource practices, and working conditions) and its consequences (employee’s orientation toward the organization and work, employee performance, and well-being). There are many practices and methods that organizations can employ to socialize new hires and get them on board a complete and integrated approach to the organizational socialization is called Socialization Resources Theory (SRT). Socialization Resources Theory focuses on the resources that newcomers require for a successful adjustment and socialization. When individuals join and enter organizations, they find themselves in a state of unfamiliarity and uncertainty in many respects (Alan et al., 2012) . They are unsure of their role and how well they will perform their job. They are unaware of the appropriate and acceptable ways of behaving in the organization. In effect, they are like strangers in a strange land who must learn how to think, behave, and interact with other members of the organization if they are to become accepted and effective members themselves. Thus, they not only need to learn the technical requirements of the job to become proficient and effective in the performance of their work, they must also learn the social behaviors and attitudes that are acceptable and required for becoming a functioning member of the organization. The dissertation wants to answer the following general questions balancing theoretical and practical approaches:
1) What are the relationships between organizational support (POS) and socialization outcomes (engagement, stress, SW satisfaction)? And what is its impacts for the newcomers in a remote working environment?
2) How can Socialization Resources Theory helped supporting the engagement of a new hire in a remote working environment?
Specifically, the thesis work has a twofold objective:
Objective 1: To help fill the gap in the literature about the impact of perceived organizational support on the outcomes of the newcomers organizational socialization practices in the context of remote work.
Objective 2: To enrich the Onboarding practices for newcomers in the context of remote work through solid theoretical perspectives.
The description of the 3 studies.: the first study 1 wants to explain the impact of the main variable POS and Organizational Seniority, as Organizational Socialization proxi, on the Engagement, Stress and SmartWorking Job Satisfaction (3 organizational socialization outcomes). Study 2 aims to analyze the relationship between POS, socialization, and well-being indicators using the organizational socialization outcomes from Socialization Resources Theory. To examine this type of relationship within a specific target group characterized by workers who, at the time of the survey, not only conducted at least one day of remote work but were also in the midst of the organizational socialization process (i.e., organizational seniority of less than two years). Study 2, therefore, is divided into two studies: Study 2a is conducted on a sample of Italian remote workers and, in continuity with Study 1, it includes remote work satisfaction as the dependent variable. Study 2b, on the other hand, is focused on a comparable sample of Anglo-American workers, investigating the relationships between the variables and a negative outcome—turnover intentions. This outcome was specifically included to align with the ongoing trend, at the time of the study, in the Anglo-American workforce known as the "Great Resignation," a post-pandemic phenomenon that has significantly increased resignation rates, first in the United States and subsequently across the globe. The final session describes a longitudinal study realized following a group of newcomers in SIT GROUP SPA, a leading industrial multinational company that designed a new Onboarding process shaping it on the SRT. The study has a double aims of:
1) Confirming the effectiveness of onboarding practices based on the 17 steps outlined in Socialization Resources Theory (SRT), enhancing organizational socialization for newcomers in remote work settings compared to traditional and unstructured onboarding methods.
2) Monitoring the long-term effectiveness of onboarding practices, following the 17 steps of SRT, in preventing the "hangover effect" among a group of remote-working newcomers over the course of one year.