The anticipatory organizational socialization of people far from employment: The Social Responsibility of Territories or the role of socialization agents external to the organization[La socialisation organisationnelle anticipée des personnes éloignées de l’emploi : La Responsabilité Sociale des Territoires ou le rôle des agents de socialisation externes à l’organisation]

Getting the low-skilled into work is a major challenge for the people concerned, employers and local authorities alike. Over the past decades, a wide range of employment and vocational training policies have been deployed and regularly renewed. Recently, while the economic recovery has resulted in many new hires, low-skilled people are still far from employment, resulting in a coexistence of unemployment and tensions on the labor market. The aim of this research is to determine whether the many players involved in efforts to integrate these ‘publics' play the role of external socialization agents. Using concepts derived from organizational socialization, we complement the work on this process by identifying the domains of socialization in which external agents intervene, the practices implemented, the messages transmitted and any interference with those of internal socialization agents after organizational entry. This exploratory research is being conducted in the Bouches du Rhône region through 16 semi-structured interviews with local social integration players. After identifying these actors, their role and the messages transmitted during the initial stages of organizational socialization were identified. One of the major contributions of this research is to bring out the importance of socialization players from outside the organization. Managerial implications and future avenues of research are also proposed.