The Journal of applied psychology
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The preponderance of organizational socialization research has focused on the perceptions and interests of newcomers. Yet, insiders-particularly immediate supervisors-are central to newcomers' adjustment, primarily in providing newcomers help. To facilitate such behavior, however, it is necessary to understand supervisors' helping motivations. ⋯ Newcomers reported receiving greater help from supervisors who described themselves as being motivated by self-oriented tangible gains and other-orientation, whereas supervisors who described themselves as being motivated by self-oriented enhancement were seen as less helpful. Further, when newcomers perceived that supervisors were more motivated by other-orientation and less by self-oriented tangible gains, newcomers reciprocated more help to the supervisor later on. Our results advance theory about the role of interpersonal helping during socialization, revealing that not all provided help is interpreted similarly by newcomers, and that differing supervisor motivations should also be factored into account. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).