Helping Newcomers Regulate Negative Emotions: Effects on Socialization, Workplace Conflict, and Spillover to Veterans

Abstract: Organizational entry inevitably involves negative emotional experiences for newcomers that can hinder adjustment and fuel conflict with coworkers, yet research rarely addresses how organizations can help newcomers manage these emotions. Guided by a pilot longitudinal study documenting increasing negative emotions after newcomer entry and their links to poorer socialization and greater conflict, we conducted a preregistered, randomized field experiment in a large utility company in which newcomer cohorts (N = 690) received an LLM-assisted training in self and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. At 1.5 months after job entry, treated newcomers reported lower negative emotions, which, in turn, led to better socialization outcomes, as well as lower perceived task and relationship conflict in their teams. Benefits also spilled over to incumbents: veterans (N = 691) working with treated newcomers reported lower negative emotions and fewer perceived conflicts. These findings position emotion regulation training as a scalable lever for improving socialization and conflict management in organizations.

Keywords: emotion regulation, newcomer socialization, workplace conflict, spillover effect