SummaryPrevious studies have demonstrated that the psychological contract is largely shaped during socialization. This study adopts a complementary perspective and analyzes how the psychological contract at the start of employment shapes the subsequent socialization process. Drawing upon social exchange theory, we propose that newcomers with a higher sense of their personal obligations at entry will perceive orientation training as more useful and develop better relationships with their supervisors and peers, which in turn will facilitate their work adjustment. Results of a longitudinal survey on a sample of 144 recruits from a European Army show that newcomers with a higher initial sense of their employee obligations toward their employer report higher perceived training utility, higher leader-member exchange (LMX) with their instructors, and higher team-member exchange (TMX) with their platoon peers. Moreover, perceived training utility and LMX predict the fulfillment of employers' obligations; and training utility predicts the level of newcomers' employee obligations. Finally, training utility, LMX, and TMX predict some of three indicators of newcomers' adjustment, namely, role clarity (training utility and LMX), group integration (TMX), and organizational values understanding (training utility). These results highlight how newcomers' obligations at the start of employment contribute to the social exchange dynamic underlying organizational socialization. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Keywords: organizational socialization; psychological contract; leader-member exchange; team-member exchange; trainingThe first few months in a new organizational environment constitutes a critical period both for the employer and for the newcomer (De Vos & Freese, 2011;Thomas & Anderson, 1998). Through socialization processes, the newcomer learns the ropes of his or her new role and becomes an effective member of the organization. In particular, this period is considered to be crucial in shaping and stabilizing the psychological contract, defined as the individual's perception of the reciprocal obligations which underlie the exchange relationship between the employee and the employer (Rousseau, 1990). To date, research on the psychological contract during the socialization process has mainly documented the newcomer's unfavorable reactions to the employer's failure to fulfill perceived obligations (Dulac, Coyle-Shapiro, Henderson, & Wayne, 2008;Lapointe, Vandenberghe, & Boudrias, 2013;Robinson, Kraatz, & Rousseau, 1994;Tekleab, Orvis, & Taylor, 2013).Researchers have also analyzed how psychological contracts develop during socialization either as a result of active information-seeking behaviors and knowledge acquisition by the newcomer or in response to perceived employer inducements and employee contributions (De Vos, Buyens, & Schalk, 2003;De Vos & Freese, 2011;Thomas & Anderson, 1998
Research ArticleInstead of considering the psychological contract as a result of the socialization process, Payne, Culbertson, Boswell,...