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Effect of newcomer socialisationon organisational commitment,job satisfaction, and turnoverintention in the hotel industryJen-Te Yang aa Department of Hotel Management, NationalKaohsiung Hospitality College , Kaohsiung City, Taiwan,ROCPublished online: 26 Jun 2008.

To cite this article: Jen-Te Yang (2008) Effect of newcomer socialisationon organisational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intentionin the hotel industry, The Service Industries Journal, 28:4, 429-443, DOI:10.1080/02642060801917430

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Effect of newcomer socialisation on organisationalcommitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intention

in the hotel industry

Jen-Te Yang�

Department of Hotel Management, National Kaohsiung Hospitality College, Kaohsiung City,

Taiwan, ROC

The academic literature features organisational socialisation as playing a crucial role in the early stages

of newcomer employment. During this assimilation stage, newcomers adapt to a new workplace more

effectively if socialisation is encouraged. It has been found that socialisation minimises the negative

effects of unmet expectations on overall organisational effectiveness, including employee turnover –

an issue that has become a considerable problem for many hotels. Extending this logic, this study aims

to understand socialisation by specifically assessing whether turnover is determined by employees’

beliefs about job satisfaction and individual commitment to an organisation and the hotel profession in

general. The study of 428 respondents from 61 international tourist hotels in Taiwan implies that

social interaction enables organisations to gain, from an increase in commitment to the organisation,

job satisfaction and a decrease in newcomers’ intent to leave the hotel profession. Two major contri-

butions to the existing literature result (a) commitment to the organisation plays a dominant role in

employee turnover intent and (b) job satisfaction is a powerful method of reinforcing individual commit-

ment to the organisation.

Keywords: employee turnover; job satisfaction; organisational commitment; socialisation

Introduction

Background of the study

Employee turnover is a significant issue for many hotels and the focus of much academic interest

(Deery & Shaw, 1999; Griffeth & Hom, 1995; Iverson & Deery, 1997; Kennedy & Berger, 1994;

Lam, Lo, & Chan, 2002; Mok & Luk, 1995; Price & Mueller, 1986; Stalcup & Pearson, 2001).

Like other employers, hoteliers always attempt to recruit talented, capable, and suitable employ-

ees and then generate commitment to the organisation. However, the issue arises that there is an

apparent difficulty in retaining employees.

Turnover can exacerbate knowledge depreciation (Argote, 1999; Argote, Beckman, &

Epple, 1990). Argote (1999) describes knowledge depreciation as loss of value analogous to cur-

rency depreciation. Knowledge depreciation occurs in at least five ways: when employees leave

�Email: jenteyang@mail.nkhc.edu.tw

The Service Industries Journal

Vol. 28, No. 4, May 2008, 429–443

ISSN 0264-2069 print/1743-9507 online# 2008 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/02642060801917430http://www.informaworld.com

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without transferring their knowledge; when existing organisational knowledge becomes

obsolete (e.g. because the company temporarily loses competitiveness); when new creative

products and services are rendered sub-standard by a dated knowledge or unprofitable products;

when knowledge is incompletely or selectively transferred; and when organisational knowledge

becomes difficult to access. Such depreciation has negative impacts on organisational perform-

ance, including decreased productivity, a decay of customer satisfaction, unmet delivery

commitments, inappropriate managerial decision-making, and mistaken strategic behaviour

(Argote, 1999). Darr, Argote, and Epple (1995) investigated knowledge depreciation in 36

pizza stores and found that higher employee turnover rates are linked to decreased production

and a greater rate of knowledge depreciation.

Kennedy and Berger (1994, p. 58) highlighted the finding that, in the hospitality industry,

‘the highest turnover occurred during the first 4 weeks (in employment)’. The cause of turnover

is often poor human resource decisions and the unmet expectations of newcomers. A study by

Lam, Pine, and Baum (2003) concludes that employee turnover behaviour occurs in the initial

stage of employment for it is during the primary stages that newcomers experience the new

workplace and its expectations. Turnover may arise when a difference between the anticipation

and reality of the situation occurs. Literature (e.g. Lo & Lam, 2002; Louis, 1980) demonstrates

that this detrimental effect can be alleviated through a process of organisational socialisation.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test hypotheses related to the modality

that employee interaction rate, organisational socialisation, individual job satisfaction, and

organisational commitment affect employee turnover intention. By applying organisational

theory, managers in the hotel industry would find that implementing organisational socialisation

and its various costs in terms of time, effort, and money would be repaid via improved efficiency

in hotel operations.

Literature review

This literature review provides a comprehensive understanding of organisational socialisation and

explores the elements contributing to overall organisational effectiveness. Organisational effective-

ness is examined in terms of the interrelation between organisational socialisation and the various

components identified in the literature, namely: job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and

employee turnover intention.

Organisational socialisation

In terms of organisational socialisation, the prominent scholars are Louis, Jones, Van Maanen,

and Schein. Based on the literature review, organisational socialisation can be defined from three

perspectives: role transition, learning content, and adjustment to new settings. Van Maanen and

Schein (1979, p. 230) define organisational socialisation as a process ‘in which the experiences

of individuals in transition from one role to another are structured for them by others in the

organisations’. Second, and more specifically, Louis (1980, pp. 229–230) terms socialisation

as ‘a process by which an individual comes to appreciate the values, abilities, expected beha-

viours, and social knowledge essential for assuming an organisational role, and for participating

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as an organisational member’. Third, Chao, Leary-Kelly, Wolf, Klein, and Gander (1994, p. 730)

define socialisation as ‘the learning content and process by which an individual adjusts to a

special role in an organisation’.

The main purpose of organisational socialisation is to alleviate emotional vulnerability (e.g.

job uncertainty, ambiguity, anxiety, and stress), to strengthen social interaction amongst new

employees and colleagues, and to accelerate newcomer’s learning and adjustment to a new

environment (Kennedy & Berger, 1994).

Reichers (1987) outlines, from an interactionist perspective, the two ways to examine socia-

lisation: symbolic and person-by-situation. Symbolic interactionism is ‘a philosophical school of

thought that deals with the genesis of identity and meaning in general. It is . . . the process

through which newcomers establish situational identities and come to understand the meaning

of organisational realities in particular’ (Reichers, p. 279).

During the first encounter with an organisation, newcomers are involved in acquiring new infor-

mation, clarifying their roles, and adjusting their behaviour to that expectedby the organisation. This

involvement allows newcomers to interact with organisational members and settings and ensures

that a commonmeaning and understanding is developed between the organisation and newcomers.

Reichers (1987) outlines the three strategies to accelerate socialisation: inviting performance feed-

back, asking questions and attending formal and informal social activities.

Second, person-by-situation interactionism is ‘a function of proaction and interaction fre-

quency on the part of newcomers and insiders’ (Reichers, p. 282). This frequent interaction is

determined by the newcomer, ‘insiders’, and situational characteristics. The first two inter-

actions depend on individual’s motivation, abilities, skills, tolerance for ambiguity, and need

for affiliation. Situational characteristics rely on clients, customers, task technology, operational

systems, and other work settings.

Two pieces of empirical research have been found relevant to the above explanation.

Anakwe and Greenhaus (1999) conclude that experienced organisational members and supervi-

sors play an important role in organisational socialisation. Filstad’s (2004) research highlights

that organisational socialisation must emphasise the development of: (a) the social and cultural

learning process and (b) a social community for newcomers. Through frequent social interactive

activities, tacit knowledge can be developed.

A substantial body of quantitative research on the aspects of socialisation and information-

seeking behaviour has accumulated in management and organisational literature. Filstad (2004)

shows that newcomers normally acquire job-related information and knowledge from personal

sources (i.e. supervisors and co-workers), and utilise observation, interaction, and communi-

cation to a lesser degree. This finding echoes the studies of Jones (1983) and Major, Kozlowski,

Chao, and Gardner (1995), demonstrating that interaction among organisational members

determines the effectiveness of a newcomer’s adjustment to work settings and other socialisation

outcomes. On the other hand, Ostroff and Kozlowski (1992) suggested that personal sources,

observation, and written materials are equally important.

Socialisation outcomes

Anakwe and Greenhaus (1999) define socialisation outcomes as the effectiveness of organis-

ational socialisation programmes, in which newcomers clarify job roles, learn job-related

skills from their colleagues and superiors, experience organisational culture, and evaluate

their adaption to the organisation setting. It has been found that the greater the degree of

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effective socialisation, the higher the success with which newcomers modify their behaviours in

organisational settings.

There is a large quantity of research concerning this concept, as a consequence of other

work-related variables of interest. Socialisation effectiveness has been linked to several personal

variables: employee turnover intention, feelings about job competences, interpersonal quality,

job satisfaction, motivation and achievement, newcomers’ adjustment, and organisational com-

mitment. This study will focus on organisational commitment, job satisfaction, and employee

turnover intention. Porter, Steers, Mowday, and Boulian (1974) and Major et al. (1995) highlight

that job satisfaction and organisational commitment is more attitudinal antecedent oriented,

whereas employee turnover intention is characterised as a behavioural consequence.

Organisational commitment

Three common categories of organisational commitment studied are: affective, continuance (or a

so-called behavioural), and normative commitment. Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1982, p. 27)

define affective commitment as ‘the relative strength of an individual’s identification with and

involvement in a particular organisation’. Hrebiniak and Alutto (1972, p. 556) define continuance

commitment as ‘a structural phenomenon which occurs as a result of individual-organisational

transactions and alterations in side-bets or investments over time’. Meyer and Allen (1997) and

Mathieu and Zajac (1990) describe normative commitments as emphasis on strong social ties,

obligations and individual pre-dispositions (e.g. person–organisation value congruence).

A rich literature (e.g. Bartol, 1979; Blau & Boai, 1987; Chang, 1999; Fogarty, 2000) suggests

that employee turnover intention is affected by organisational commitment. For their part, Jones

(1986), Allen and Meyer (1990), Baker and Feldman (1990), and Baker (1992) find that organis-

ational socialisation is positively associated with job satisfaction and organisational commitment.

Additionally, Allen and Meyer (1990), Cropanzano, Howes, Grandey, and Toth (1997), and

Fogarty (2000) indicate that organisational socialisation has a significant correlation with and con-

tribution to organisational commitment. Finally, Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) found that norma-

tive commitment is positively correlated with continuance commitment. Conversely, in their

empirical study, a negative relationship between continuance and affective commitment is found.

Job satisfaction

Williams and Hazer (1986) define job satisfaction as employee emotion and affection responses

to his/her job characteristics.

Findings by several studies include: (a) a significant correlation between job satisfaction and

organisational commitment (e.g. Lo & Lam, 2002; Steers, 1977) and (b) this job satisfaction

could be predicted by pre-employment expectations, perceived job characteristics, leadership

consideration, and age (Williams & Hazer, 1986). Job satisfaction significantly and positively

contributes to the outcomes of organisational commitment, reduces employee intention to

leave, and subsequently results in a decreased turnover.

Lam, Zhang, and Baum (2001) state that the relationship between job satisfaction and ‘age’

group can be illustrated with a U-shaped model. When people enter an organisation and/or job,job satisfaction decreases as job expectations are unmet; reality shock may also occur. After-

wards, they adjust their expectations according to the reality of the job. Once the job expectation

is reached, job satisfaction will increase. In another study, Lam et al. (2002) conducted research

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in the hotel industry in Hong Kong and concluded that mentorship and job satisfaction can

predict organisational commitment, and this employee turnover intention can be predicted by

training. Lastly, Lam and Zhang (2003) show that job characteristics and ‘training and develop-

ment’ can predict both job satisfaction and organisational commitment.

Employee turnover intention. Tett and Meyer (1993, p. 262) define turnover intention as ‘the

last in a sequence of withdrawal cognitions, a set to which thinking of quitting and intent to

search for alternative employment also belong’.

Mobley and Meglino (1979), Muchinsky and Tuttle (1979), and Stovel and Bontis (2002)

differentiate voluntary employee turnover from involuntary turnover. The former occurs when

employees choose to transfer to other departments or resign, while involuntary is the dismissal

of employees. When job leaving occurs, organisations incur a loss of not only human capital and

the departing employee’s knowledge, but the costs of replacing the employee. Replacement

costs include recruitment and training expenses, the potential detriment to customer services

in the early stages of employment, and a decline in productivity due to psychological

factors as the newcomer strives to understand the job. In addition to these costs, the departing

employee’s assets may automatically be transferred to the other company they now work for,

advantaging the competing organisation (Stovel & Bontis, 2002). In the worst-case scenario,

good performers depart and poor performers occupy their positions; this dysfunctional turnover

decreases the overall organisational competitiveness and success through reduced knowledge

creation, poorer service, knowledge depreciation, low participation in new systems, policies

or programmes, and decreased productivity.

Mueller and Price (1990) investigated the antecedents of turnover intention of nurses and

determined that job satisfaction is less strongly correlated with turnover intention than organis-

ational commitment. In addition, path analysis indicates that job satisfaction does not directly

influence the turnover intention.

Research design

Research hypotheses

The extant literature suggests that socialisation enables organisations to benefit from increases in

organisational effectiveness, including an increase in organisational commitment and job satis-

faction, and a decrease in turnover intent. Five testable hypotheses were identified and developed

to guide the direction of our research.

H1: Employee social interaction positively influences organisational socialisation.

H2: Organisational socialisation positively influences job satisfaction.

H3: Job satisfaction negatively influences employee turnover intent.

H4: Job satisfaction positively influences individual commitment to the organisation.

H5: Organisational commitment negatively influences employee turnover intention.

Sampling

The Tourism Bureau (Taiwan, ROC) has classified all hotels in Taiwan into three levels: inter-

national tourist, local tourist, and ordinary hotels (ref. www.taiwan.net.tw). In 2005, there were

2630 licensed hotels within these three categories. With respect to the sampling frame, the focus

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of this investigation was thus limited to international tourist hotels. In this category, 9 of 61 inter-

national tourist hotels are globally managed or franchised by international companies of hotels

and resorts, encompassing The Grand Hyatt, Shangri-La, Westin, Four Seasons and Regent,

Sheraton, Nikko, Holiday Inn, and Prince. With a large number of properties in the hotel industry

in Taiwan, the elements of this study need to be narrowed; the focus of this investigation was

thus limited to nine globally chained, international tourist hotels in Taiwan. This sample pro-

vides above-average access to information concerning organisational socialisation, which the

author perceived to be scrupulously important in their operations. According to Cooper and

Schindler (1998), the validity of a sample must be statistically tested and will be determined

by two criteria: accuracy and precision. The sampling of all hierarchies of staff should reduce

bias sampling, with respect to these two criteria.

The researcher was not able to contact respondents directly, as the human resource (HR)

managers were unable to distribute mailing lists to the researcher. The survey was distributed

to 1380 participants by HR managers; the HR managers provided assurance to the researcher

that respondents would be randomly drawn and that the questionnaire would be returned with

anonymity.

This study invited those employees who had worked in their current hotels for between 3 and

6 months. Previous studies define newcomers as ranging from 1 to 2 months (Chao et al., 1994;

Major et al., 1995), 3 to 4 months (Ashforth & Sak, 1996; Major et al., 1995), and 6 months

(Saks, 1995) of entering into employment. As Kennedy and Berger (1994) claim that, in the hos-

pitality industry, ‘the highest turnover occur[s] during the first 4 weeks on the job (pp. 58–59)’,

it is interesting to assess newcomers’ job expectations and expected issues within their first four

weeks. In addition, previous research indicates that 6 months is a meaningful time interval from

which to obtain results (Feldman, 1976; Morrison, 1993).

All levels of employees were invited to participate in this study so as to gather information

from a wide range of perspectives and enhance the statistical efficiency of the sample.

In order to minimise random sampling error, the following procedures for data collection were

followed: HRmanagers of all hotels in the sampling frame were contacted for permission to distri-

bute thequestionnaires, and all questionnaireswere then sent to theHRmanagers.TheHRmanagers

then passed on the questionnaires to all departmental managers, before the questionnaires were ran-

domly distributed to potential respondents. The completed questionnaires were returned to the HR

department andwere sent back to the researcher. Through this procedure, the sample elementswere

randomly selected; thus, every attempt was made to avoid distortion of the survey results through

systematic variance and sampling errors/random fluctuations.

Instrument

The questionnaire was devised from existing instruments. These instruments are widely

employed in the research of organisational behaviour and socialisation fields and have demon-

strated validity and reliability. The original questionnaire was written in English and translated

into Mandarin by applying back translation (Brislin, 1976).

The following procedures were adopted in order to ensure the reliability, credibility, and val-

idity of the translation. First, a five-person focus group was organised for the translation of the

original questionnaire. These participants each have a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of a

3-year supervisory experience in the hotel industry. Second, the questionnaire was pre-tested

with respondents from lower and middle-level management positions and front-line employees

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of international tourist hotels in Taiwan. This process was performed to detect weaknesses in

design and measurement and to discover the potentially significant issues which had inadver-

tently been ignored. The researcher then ran two interviews as he distributed the pilot question-

naires, in order to determine whether respondents understood the questions in terms of both

wording and meaning. The survey questions were revised in light of the interviews and the

results of the preliminary data analysis.

The final questionnaire contained three sections: informants’ perceptions of job-related

issues, present socialisation practices in a hotel, and demographics. Most items in the question-

naire were measured by a 7-point Likert scale with anchors ranging from ‘1: strongly disagree’

to ‘7: strongly agree’; the response format for ‘individual information-seeking behaviour’ and

‘work stress’ measures was a 7-point scale ranging from ‘1: never’, ‘2: very low’ to ‘7: always’.

Section 1 sought the perceptions of respondents on role conflict, ambiguity, social inter-

action, and socialisation domains. The measurement of Rizzo, House and Lirtzman (1970)

was applied to role conflict and ambiguity; several representative questions are ‘I have to do

things that should be done differently’, ‘I know that I have divided my time properly’, ‘I feel

certain about how much authority I have’, and ‘I know what my responsibilities are’.

Social interaction was measured via an adaptation from Allen and Meyer (1990). Informants

responded to items emphasising relationships with co-workers; representative questions of the

10-item scale include: ‘I have received little guidance from experienced employees as to how

I should perform my job’; ‘I have generally been left alone to discover what my role should

be’; and ‘My colleagues have gone out of their way to help me adjust to working’.

Socialisation domains consisting of company history, language, politics, people and goals, and

values were measured by 34 items adapted from Chao et al. (1994). The following are several

representative questions: ‘I know the organisation’s long-held traditions’; ‘I have not mastered

this organisation’s slang and special jargon’; ‘I know who the most influential people are in my

organisation’; ‘I believe most of my co-workers like me’; and ‘the goals of my organisation are

also my goals’. Lastly, the measure of socialisation outcomes used a five-item scale previously

developed by Chao et al. (1994). Examples include: ‘I have learned how to successfully perform

my job in an efficient manner’ and ‘I understand what all the duties of my job entail’.

Section 2 examined the participants’ experiences in information-seeking, work group auton-

omy, and work stress in an organisation. The measure ‘information-seeking behaviour’ was bor-

rowed from Morrison (1993). Examples include: ‘I ask my direct supervisor’; ‘I pay attention to

how others behave’; and ‘I observe what behaviours are rewarded and use this as a clue to what

is desirable or expected’. The construct of autonomy was measured by Breaugh’s eight-item

scale (1989) and work stress by the application of Maslach and Jackson (1981).

Section 3 sought the respondents’ demographic details, including gender, age, duration of

employment with the current hotel, current position, and employment status.

Results

Demographic information

Of the 1380 questionnaires distributed across 61 international tourist hotels in Taiwan, 503 were

returned. Of these, 75 were incomplete and therefore unusable, leaving 428 for data analysis. As

for demographics, over three-quarters (77.3%) of respondents were female, with 22.7% male.

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Age groups range from 18 to 55 years old, with a majority in the groups 18–20 and 21–25 years

(30.6% and 48.9%, respectively). A minority were aged 46–55 (6.3% from the usable surveys).

The ratio of the sample of top, middle, and lower rank-and-file levels was 14:34:52. Of the

respondents, almost half (42.2%) had worked with the current employers for 3–4 months and

4–5 and 5–6 months (27.5% and 30.3%, respectively). A majority (41.8%) of the respondents

worked in a service-providing area of the food and beverage division and 3.0% in kitchens, as

well 31.4% and 17.7% in the front office and housekeeping.

The demographic variables suggest that the sample reflects the population and represented a

relatively informed group of respondents. The demographic data indicate that the sample com-

prised a reasonably even mix of top-level, mid-level, and front-line staff, closely matching the

expected research design.

Newcomer information-seeking

Table 1 lists the modes in which newcomers acquired information in their first few months of

employment; the preferred methods of collecting technical information (such as standard oper-

ating procedures and skills, guests requests, and complaints) and company’s policies and rules

were ‘conversation with more experienced staff members’, followed by ‘paying attention to how

others behave’. Socialisation in the organisation was moderately used for collecting technical

information and company policies (means ¼ 5.1 and 4.97, respectively).

Testing hypothesised relationships

The correlation matrix in Table 2 indicates that: (a) social interaction is slightly correlated to the

level of job satisfaction; (b) job satisfaction is moderately correlated to newcomers’ intentions to

leave the hotel profession and present hotel; (c) intention to leave the industry was influenced

more by affective commitment than by organisational socialisation, job satisfaction, and con-

tinuance commitment; (d) intention to leave the hotel was strongly influenced by affective com-

mitment and job satisfaction, but not organisational socialisation and continuance commitment;

and (e) there is a significant, positive relationship between the level of job satisfaction and

affective commitment.

Table 1. Newcomer approaches to seeking information.

Technical information Company policy and rules

Approaches Mean Standard deviation Mean Standard deviation

Ask direct supervisor 5.39 1.39 5.31 1.44Ask more experienced staff 5.87 1.06 5.75 1.07Ask other new staff members 3.90 1.70 3.63 1.75Pay attention to how others behave 5.81 1.07 5.4 1.16Socialise with colleagues 5.19 1.38 4.97 1.38Observe what behaviours are rewarded 5.38 1.18 5.20 1.22Consult written materials 5.31 1.37 5.16 1.40

Seven-point scale was used with ‘never (1)’, ‘very low (2)’, ‘low (3)’, ‘moderate (4)’, ‘high (5)’, ‘very high (6)’, and‘extremely high (7)’.

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The influence of socialisation on the outcomes of organisational socialisation was

examined with regression analysis. The model explained 20.2% of variance in the dependent

variable, ‘organisational socialisation’ (b ¼ 0.52, t ¼ 10.10, p , 0.001). Thus, Hypothesis 1

is confirmed.

Hypothesis 2 stated that organisational socialisation positively influences ‘job satisfaction’

and was supported by the regression (b ¼ 0.61, t ¼ 10.69, p , 0.001), indicating that the out-

comes of organisational socialisation is significantly related to employee job satisfaction.

The regression indicates that job satisfaction has a high relationship with the intention to leave

(a) the industry (adjusted R 2 ¼ 21.6%, b ¼ 20.46, t ¼ 210.72, p , 0.001) and (b) the hotel

(adjusted R 2 ¼ 33.1%, b ¼ 20.71, t ¼ 214.39, p , 0.001), thus supporting Hypothesis 3.

Hypothesis 4 predicted that job satisfaction positively influences both individual affective

and continuance commitments to the organisation and was confirmed by the regression model

(adjusted R 2 ¼ 49.1%, b ¼ 0.73, t ¼ 20.0, p , 0.001; adjusted R 2 ¼ 4.4%, b ¼ 0.19,

t ¼ 4.51, p , 0.001, respectively). It is interesting to discover, from the regression model

explaining almost 50% of variation, that newcomers’ satisfaction is directly and significantly

affected by their participation in the organisation, i.e. affective commitment. The strength of

the relationship between job satisfaction and affective commitment indicated a stronger corre-

lation than ‘continuance commitment’, as shown in Table 2.

Hypothesis 5 stated that organisational commitment negatively influences employee turnover

intention and was supported by the correlation matrix (Table 2). The regression model shows that

first the continuance commitment has a weak effect on the intention to ‘leave the industry’ and

‘leave the hotel’ (adjusted R 2 ¼ 1.4%, b ¼ 20.14, t ¼ 20.65, p , 0.001; adjusted R 2 ¼ 8.0%,

b ¼ 20.40, t ¼ 26.09, p , 0.001, respectively). Secondly, ‘affective commitment’ significantly

and negatively influenced ‘intention to leave the industry’ and the ‘intention to leave the hotel’

(adjusted R 2 ¼ 25.9%, b ¼ 20.50, t ¼ 212.01, p , 0.001; adjusted R 2 ¼ 42.0%, b ¼ 20.78,

t ¼ 217.32, p , 0.001, respectively). These tests indicate that although individual continuance

commitment to the organisation does not significantly contribute to newcomers’ intention to

leave the hotel profession and current organisation, affective commitment does.

Table 3 illustrates the effect organisational socialisation, job satisfaction, affective commit-

ment, and continuance commitment has on the intention to leave the hotel. A multiple regression

Table 2. Pearson correlation coefficients.

Variables Mean SD SI OS JS ILI ILH AC CC

Socialisation interaction (SI) 4.97 0.74 —Organisational socialisation (OS) 5.59 0.85 0.45�� —Job satisfaction (JS) 5.22 1.13 0.61�� 0.46�� —Intention to leave the industry (ILI) 3.22 1.13 20.34�� 20.34�� 20.46�� —Intention to leave the hotel (ILH) 4.36 1.40 20.36�� 20.22�� 20.58�� 0.51�� —Affective commitment (AC) 4.84 1.16 0.54�� 0.32�� 0.70�� 20.51�� 20.65�� —Continuance commitment (CC) 3.51 1.01 0.02 20.05�� 0.21�� 20.13�� 20.29�� 0.36�� —

SD: standard deviation.Seven-point scale was used with 1 ¼ strongly disagree, 2 ¼ disagree, 3 ¼ slightly disagree, 4 ¼ moderate, 5 ¼ slightlyagree, 6 ¼ agree, 7 ¼ extremely high.��Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed tests).

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analysis with forward entry of variables was applied. Affective commitment was added to the

regression model and explained 43% of the variance. Overall, 45% of the variance was

explained by the independent variables. The correlation matrix (Table 2) shows that affective

commitment was higher than that from job satisfaction. Both variables displayed a negative

correlation, indicating that higher levels of commitment and job satis faction reduce turnover

intention. Two variables were excluded from the equation of intention to leave the hotel: organ-

isational socialisation and continuance commitment (b ¼ 0.29, t ¼ 0.68, p ¼ 0.50; b ¼ 20.67,

t ¼ 21.67, p ¼ 0.10, respectively).

In Table 4, a regression utilising the forward entry of variables was conducted to explore the

relationship between the dependent variable ‘intention to leave the industry’ and the independent

variables ‘organisational socialisation’, ‘job satisfaction’, and ‘organisational commitment’.

Affective commitment was the first to enter the model and explained 25.5% of variance in

the dependent variable; the addition of organisational socialisation then increased this to

28.7%. This model shows a weak relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

Continuance commitment was not a significant predictor of ‘intention to leave the industry’

(b ¼ 0.02, t ¼ 0.41, p ¼ 0.68).

Table 3. Regression of the variables on intention to leave the hotel.

Unstandardised coefficient

Std. coefficientModel Beta Std. error Beta t

Constant 7.88 0.26 30.86���

Affective commitment 20.61 0.06 20.52 29.88���

Job satisfaction 20.25 0.07 20.20 23.82���

R 0.67R 2 0.45Adjusted R 2 0.45F statistics 102.49���

��� p , 0.001.

Table 4. Regression of the variables on intention to leave the industry.

Unstandardised coefficient

Std. coefficientModel Beta Std. error Beta t

Constant 6.81 0.34 20.29���

Affective commitment 20.35 0.06 20.36 26.08���

Job satisfaction 20.21 0.06 20.16 23.28���

Organisational socialisation 20.14 0.06 20.14 22.18���

R 0.55R 2 0.30Adjusted R 2 0.29F statistics 56.56���

��� p , 0.001.

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Discussion and implications

It appeared to be crucial to seek information within the first few months of employment, through

both conversation with experienced persons and by watching colleagues’ behaviour; however, it

did not appear necessary to be involved in social activities. This finding echoes the study of

Filstad (2004), indicating that newcomers seek and collect information from personal sources

more than by socialisation. However, it is contrary to the findings of previous studies

(e.g. Argote & Ingram, 2000; Tsai & Ghoshal, 1998), which determined that social encounters

supported information collecting. This unexpected finding indicates that the social nature of

activities is less important than conversation. It may be said that for this population, social activi-

ties were not seen as enjoyable, did not happen regularly enough for effective information

seeking and collecting, that the nature of interaction did not facilitate the collection of task infor-

mation, or that employees may not have felt comfortable to ask serious, job-related questions in

social activities. According to Yang (2004), this may be because information collection and

transfer would spoil the enjoyment of socialisation.

The regression models indicate that affective (but not continuance) commitment, job

satisfaction, and organisational socialisation contribute moderately to newcomers’ intention to

leave the hotel industry. They also demonstrate that affective commitment was crucial, and

job satisfaction and socialisation make minor contributions to the intention to leave the

present company. These findings are fairly plausible when considering the study of Lam

et al. (2001), who proposed a U-shaped relationship between job satisfaction and age. Moreover,

the majority of surveyed respondents were under the age of 25, and so their unclear career goals

may have contributed to a lack of concern with job satisfaction. Essentially, these results

reinforce and provide new empirical evidence for findings and predictions from previous studies.

In these two models, a strong relationship between ‘affective commitment’ and ‘job satis-

faction’ and ‘employee turnover intention’ was determined. Affective commitment was

entered into both of the above regression models and explained the highest variability; it can

therefore be seen as a significant source of sustainable competitive advantage in organisational

management.

A strong relationship between organisational commitment and employee turnover intention

has been hypothesised by many authors (Chang, 1999; Fogarty, 2000; Michaels & Spector,

1982). However, previous studies did not provide sufficient evidence to link organisational affec-

tive commitment and employee turnover to the intention to leave the present hotel. Our results

contribute to the existing literature in this regard.

Job satisfaction and affective commitment display the strongest correlation, a finding

consistent with that of Baker (1992) and Lo and Lam (2002) who found that job satisfaction

reinforces organisational commitment. These results reiterate affective commitment being a

broader and higher-level construct than job satisfaction. It is important that researchers

examine the various constructs that support job satisfaction, and consider whether differences

in hotel, restaurant and tourism industry practices, and national cultures may account for

perceived differences.

Despite illustrating organisational socialisation’s low correlation to the level of job satisfac-

tion and employee turnover intention, employee socialisation must be encouraged and arranged,

as many authors (e.g. Tsai & Ghoshal, 1998) indicate that social interaction can be a means of

transferring information and developing trust among individuals.

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Conclusions and further study

This study, concerning the influence of social interaction on organisational socialisation,

investigated whether job satisfaction and organisational commitment affects newcomer turnover

intention. Three significant results supplement previous studies. First, affective commitment

plays a dominant role in employee turnover intention. Second, job satisfaction can be seen as a

powerful source of competitive advantage, contributinghighly to affective commitment.Third, con-

tinuance commitment did not significantly affect employee turnover intention; this implies that the

hotel industry should find ways other than continuance commitment to reduce turnover intention.

The study implied that individuals’ commitment to an organisation is largely dependent on their atti-

tudes, feelings, and involvement in the organisation. One precursor of commitment is the level of

satisfaction newcomers’ gain during organisational assimilation.

This study suggests that organisations must still facilitate social interactions and activities

aiming at strengthening interpersonal relationships; even though our findings revealed that

social interaction is not a favourable means of information-seeking. Other tactics, including

orientation programmes and mentoring systems should also be developed. Consequently, an

organisation can use relationships as facilitation towards the highest level of information-

seeking and collection behaviours in social encounters.

In the light of our research on organisational socialisation, academics must concentrate as

much on antecedents and their consequences as on process. Therefore, when considering organ-

isational socialisation, how academics incorporate antecedents and consequences into strategic

management becomes important. In particular, when considering strategic human resource man-

agement and organisation theory, how the person–organisation fit, forms of power, and work

stress can be integrated into socialisation is an empirical, perhaps a critical, research question.

In addition, affective commitment and job satisfaction are intertwined, and further research is

needed to find what components contribute to employee job satisfaction (due to the weak link

between job satisfaction and socialisation found in this study). Consequently, it is important

to build a framework for organisational socialisation strategic tactics; this in turn enables

practitioners to effectively perform these.

Limitations to the study

This study has necessarily involved a number of compromises, which may have resulted in limit-

ations in the research methods. First, systematic variance may be associated with the differences

in administration methods between hotels; the smaller the number of departments, the lower the

chance of a truly random sample.

Second, the sample frame of this study focused on international tourist hotels in global

chains. The generalisability of this study to the same chain hotels in other countries, or localised

chain hotels or independent hotels in Taiwan, is unknown. International chain hotels may not be

homogeneous throughout the world and localised chain and independent hotels may or may not

have similar work patterns, organisational systems, cultures, and employees.

Third, achieving a satisfactory survey response rate was challenging and was partly due to

the seasonal nature of the hotel business. The timing of data collection for the pilot took place

during the peak season, and there were some interruptions during interviews. Some

questionnaires were collected during the high season and many during the shoulder season,

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thus slowing their return. The issue of timing may have influenced some responses and caused

some interviewees to not complete questionnaires. Nonetheless, the findings are both congruent

with and complement existing literature while raising issues for future research as indicated

above.

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