L'Information, Facteur D'Integration Dans Le Secteur Des Services

Organizations striving to design loyalty programs to prevent turnover need to better understand the process experienced by newcomers during their first months on a job. Building on the organizational socialization literature, we explore the active roles played by newcomers on their socialization process. Our contribution to the growing field of newcomer's proactivity extend beyond mere "information seeking". A qualitative longitudinal study is conducted to identify the evolution of newcomers' proactivity during the three first months on the job. Two service industries, mass retailing and fast-food industry, faced with high employee turnover, are selected for the research. Twenty customer contact workers are interviewed three times during their three first months on the job. Content analysis revealed seven individual integration tactics impacting on four socialization domains. Correspondence analysis shows that information seeking tactics (monitoring, asking, experimenting) and cognitive activities (remembering, cognitive mapping) are predominantly used during the first month on the job which is a phase of intense learning. During the second month, newcomers pursue their learning and try to find some psychological comfort in the job by rationalizing and making sense of their new situation. Newcomers are perceived as more autonomous at the third month when they engage in self-management activities. Efforts to develop relationships with organizational members are consistent over the first three months. Organizations can foster newcomer's adaptation by designing procedures taking place over time and easing access to information while providing social support.