A Social Exchange Perspective on Attentiveness as a Resource in Newcomer Relationship Development and Assimilation

My dissertation investigates the role of social relationships in newcomer socialization within organizations, emphasizing the importance of extra-role conversations in building affective trust and facilitating integration. I hypothesize that while attention to work-related tasks is crucial, engaging in extra-role conversations with supervisors and co-workers fosters affective trust, a key factor in socialization. I integrate social exchange theory, proposing that attention acts as a socioemotional resource exchanged in social interactions, leading to stronger affective trust and ultimately socialization outcomes. These informal interactions help newcomers adopt organizational values and integrate into social groups. I test my hypotheses using longitudinal archival data collected at three time points that measure perceived attentiveness in newcomers and the frequency of extra-role conversations as predictors of key socialization outcomes (adoption of organizational goals and values, and social integration), with affective trust as the mediating mechanism. This moderated mediation model was tested with both supervisors and co-workers as important, distinct social connections for newcomers. Results indicated that attentiveness predicted stronger affective trust, which in turn promoted value adoption with supervisors and social integration with co-workers. Moreover, the frequency of extra-role conversations amplified these effects, though the patterns differed across relational roles. This research offers practical insights for organizations to encourage informal interactions to support newcomer adjustment and emphasizes the need to further explore the mechanisms through which attention influences socialization.