Could social media help in newcomers’ socialization? The moderating effect of newcomers’ utilitarian motivation

Organizational turnover is often highest among newcomers. Thus, exploring how to help newcomers integrate into an organization is critical to both practice and theory. Social media is a popular tool used by employees to communicate and establish relationships with their colleagues and leaders to achieve rapid socialization. However, the influence of social media usage intensity on newcomer socialization has been neglected in the literature. Using a sample of 238 newcomers and taking WeChat as an example, this study examines the impact of the intensity of social media usage on newcomers’ socialization and its boundary conditions. The results show that the intensity of social media usage has significant and positive effects on the two dimensions of newcomer socialization (performance proficiency and interpersonal relationships) and that the effect of the intensity of social media usage on performance proficiency is mediated by interpersonal relationships. In addition, the intensity of social media usage has a stronger impact on the two dimensions of newcomer socialization when newcomers’ utilitarian motivation is high than when it is low.