On the same path? Profiles of proximal socialization outcomes among new police officers
2022 (English)In: Nordic Psychology, ISSN 1901-2276, E-ISSN 1904-0016, Vol. 74, no 4, p. 301-324Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Answering calls for an interactionist approach that would help clarify complex relationships among organizational socialization variables, this study applied a person-centered analytic approach aiming to examine the role of proximal socialization outcome profiles for distal outcomes. This approach is novel to organizational socialization research, contrasting the variable-centered approach dominating the field. Data from new police officers in Sweden (N = 430) were analyzed using latent profile analysis (LPA). Three proximal outcome profiles - a vulnerable (n = 151), a troublesome (n = 47), and a successful (n = 232) - were identified, with distinct patterns in the proximal outcome indicators role conflict, task mastery, and social integration. Complementary analysis showed subgroup differences in some antecedents and distal outcomes, which emphasized the role of personality and psychosocial working conditions. Thus, the findings show that proximal socialization outcome indicators may yield profiles characteristic of subgroups of newcomers who follow different socialization paths. Importantly, the findings show that a person-centered approach can add nuance to the understanding of how socialization processes differ among newcomers. While these results are promising, their generalizability to other professions and organizations remains to be investigated, which calls for continued person-centered research of organizational socialization processes.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022. Vol. 74, no 4, p. 301-324
Keywords [en]
latent profile analysis, organizational socialization, proximal outcome profiles, antecedents, distal outcomes, police
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Leadership and Command & Control
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-10770DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2014350ISI: 000768733100001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:fhs-10770DiVA, id: diva2:1647839
2022-03-292022-03-292023-01-10Bibliographically approved