Abstract
The newcomer socialization literature frequently points to the importance of coworkers’ helping for newcomers’ effective onboarding. However, this literature has predominantly focused on newcomers, while overlooking the ramifications of engaging in helping for coworkers. Drawing on social exchange theory, we adopt a coworker-centric lens and investigate the implications of helping for the coworkers themselves. We tested our model with a field study (Study 1) and an online vignette study (Study 2), which provided good support for our study hypotheses. Specifically, we found that the reciprocity (or lack thereof) of social exchange between coworkers and newcomers, captured via the interaction effect between coworkers’ helping and newcomers’ task performance, may influence coworkers’ evaluations of whether their relationships with newcomers have met their expectations. In turn, met relationship expectations positively affect coworkers’ evaluations of newcomers’ work competence, which are then associated with lower levels of coworkers’ stress when interacting with newcomers and higher levels of coworkers’ acceptance of newcomers as legitimate organizational members. Based on these findings, we discuss the implications for newcomer socialization research and practice.