Stepping Into Newcomers’ Shoes : The Beneficial Effects of Leader’s Perspective-Taking and Gratitude

Authors:

Abstract: Although extant research on organizational socialization has advanced our understanding of how newcomers adjust upon their entry to an organization, less is known about the struggles that newcomers experience and how they can be managed. We propose perspective-taking and gratitude intervention will increase the direct supervisor’s prosocial behaviors towards newcomers. Drawing upon the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson, 1998, 2001), we suggest that the two interventions will increase supervisors’ mentoring behaviors and decrease their undermining behaviors. In addition, we assume that the efficacy of the two interventions is accentuated when the supervisor-newcomer dyad shares a little surface- and deep-level similarities. The results provided partial yet meaningful support for our theoretical model as the two interventions decreased supervisors’ undermining behavior when they share little deep-level similarities. Moreover, the gratitude intervention increased their mentoring behavior when they share little surface-level similarities. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Track: ORG

Keywords: Socialization, relationship conflict, expressive writing