Augmentative Versus Compensatory? How Context Shapes the Impacts of General Socializing on Newcomer Engagement
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Informa UK Limited
Abstract
Newcomer relationship-building behaviors are usually considered beneficial. However, after closer inspection of past studies, the results were mixed. In this paper, we start to unpack these mixed effects by focusing on newcomer general socializing (i.e., building social connections by attending workplace events). Specifically, we investigate when newcomer general socializing is more or less beneficial for newcomer engagement by proposing two contrasting views: (1) applying conservation of resources theory, we argue general socializing increases engagement under high serial tactics, providing an augmentative effect; (2) utilizing attachment theory, we argue general socializing enhances engagement under low serial tactics, enabling a compensatory effect. Unexpectedly, neither an augmentative nor a compensatory effect was supported in Study 1 (China). To explain these results, we extend our investigation by including task interdependence as a boundary condition and test our predictions in Study 2 (Australia). The results of Study 2 support the compensatory effect: When newcomers experience low serial tactics under low task interdependence, general socializing enhances emotional engagement. However, general socializing is detrimental to cognitive engagement when newcomers experience high serial tactics under low task interdependence. Our research contributes to theory and provides insights to HR on how to tailor onboarding interventions to optimize newcomer engagement.Description
Keywords
5205 Social and Personality Psychology, 35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services, 52 Psychology, 1503 Business and Management, 1505 Marketing, 1605 Policy and Administration, Industrial Relations, 3505 Human resources and industrial relations, 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, Newcomer adjustment, organizational socialization, proactive behavior, general socializing, workplace events, engagement
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The International Journal of Human Resource Management, ISSN: 0958-5192 (Print); 1466-4399 (Online), Informa UK Limited, 36(16), 2847-2877. doi: 10.1080/09585192.2025.2572485
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© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.