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Management Communication Quarterly
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Notes

Organizational Newc(ust)omers: Applying Organizational Newcomer Assimilation Concepts to Customer Information Seeking and Service Outcomes

Kathryn L. Fonner

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

C. Erik Timmerman

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The process through which customers resolve uncertainty regarding their participative role in service transactions may be similar to the process that organizational newcomers experience as they gain role clarity and assimilate into organizations.This study applies organizational socialization literature to examine customer socialization, information seeking, role clarity, and service outcomes. Results (N = 328) indicate that (a) customers’ perceived social costs have a stronger association with information seeking than does felt need for information, (b) overt and indirect information seeking is related to role clarity, and (c) role clarity mediates relationships between overt and third-party information seeking tactics and service outcomes.The report concludes with discussion of the benefits of applying organizational socialization frameworks to service contexts.

Key Words: information seeking • customer service • organizational socialization • role clarity

This version was published on November 1, 2009

Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 2, 244-271 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0893318909341411
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