Effects of Organizational Socialization on Work Enthusiasm

8/18/2019 Effects of Organizational Socialization on Work Enthusiasm

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WORK ENTHUSIASM IN TWO CULTURES

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Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION AND WORK ENTHUSIASM

Effects of Organizational Socialization on Work Enthusiasm

in Two Chinese Cultures

Robert J. Taormina

Jennifer H. Gao

University of Macau

Paper Presented at the

65th

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Honolulu, Hawaii

8 August 2005

Keywords: Organizational Socialization, China, Work Enthusiasm, Culture.

Correspondence:

Robert J. Taormina, Ph.D.Invited Full ProfessorFaculty of Social Sciences and HumanitiesUniversity of MacauAv Padre Tomás Pereira SJ


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Abstract

Work enthusiasm and organizational socialization (Training, Understanding, Coworker

Support, and Future Prospects) were compared in two predominantly Chinese regions, i.e.,

Macau (a former Portuguese colony in China) and Zhuhai in the People’s Republic of China.

Data were collected from 276 (96 Macau and 180 Zhuhai) full-time, line-level ethnic Chinese

employees in the two regions. Results revealed the Zhuhai employees to be much more

enthusiastic at work. While no differences were found for Coworker Support, the Zhuhai

employees also evaluated Training, Understanding, and Future Prospects more highly than

did the Macau employees. Regression analyses revealed Future Prospects to be the strongest

predictor of work enthusiasm in Zhuhai, while education and years on the job explained most

of the variance for work enthusiasm in Macau. The results of the comparisons are discussed

in terms of the similarities and differences in the cultures and economic development of the

regions.


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In the last decade, China has gained a great deal of interest among international

researchers because of its steadily increasing importance to the world economy. Although

more than 3,300 scholarly theoretical and empirical papers have been published since 1978

(the beginning of China’s “Open Door” policy) on various aspects of business in China, only

45 studies on human resource management (HRM) factors in China have been published in

the same period (both numbers are from a search of the ABI database as of January 2005).

This lack of research on HRM in China tends to imply that there is a clear need to better

understand the work-related attitudes of Chinese employees. This idea is reinforced in

absolute terms by the 1.2 billion Chinese people who live in China, and the number of

Chinese people around the world who compose increasing portions of the world’s work force.

Given the number of Chinese people that live in China and that are dispersed

throughout Asia (and indeed throughout the rest of the world), one can raise the question as

regards the extent to which work attitudes differ or are similar among Chinese employees

who live and work in different regions. On one hand, the strong arguments in support of

people of Chinese ethnicity maintaining their cultural values wherever they go (Redding,

1990) and the confirmation that there have been significant numbers of Chinese who have

emigrated to many regions of the world, a concept that has come to be known as the Chinese

diaspora (McKeown, 1999), it could be argued that work attitudes that are culturally based

would not differ significantly among Chinese employees in different regions Alternately to


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national border for over 440 years. Macau was returned by Portugal to the Peoples Republic

of China (the PRC) in December 1999, but, today, Macau is a Special Administrative Region

while Zhuhai is a Special Economic Zone of the PRC, and the border separating Macau and

Zhuhai still exists.

In this paper, work enthusiasm is examined in relation to organizational socialization,

which is assumed to be related to people’s attitudes toward their work. Work attitudes can

take many forms, such as a favorable or unfavorable commitment to one’s organization, high

or low levels of job satisfaction, and a variety of other types of attitudes; including how

willing or enthusiastic an employee is to do their assigned tasks, and even to take on

additional responsibilities.

Work Enthusiasm

An early conceptualization by Katz (1964) categorized employee behavior as in-role

behavior (one’s job tasks) and extra-role behavior (work beyond what is in a job description).

According to Katz, for organizations to operate successfully, employees must be willing to do

more work than their jobs technically specified. Such additional work typically includes extra

job assignments and responsibilities that are not included in job descriptions, but that still

need to be done. Evidence has been accumulating that human resource outcomes are related

to business outcomes (Koys, 2001). For example, studies have shown significant

relationships between HR strategies (e.g., high performance and high commitment work

systems) and organizational performance (Authur, 1994; Huselid, 1995). Conceptually, a

highly enthusiastic workforce should lead to better performance for the organization


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composed of five items regarding employee acceptance of overtime work, new job

assignments, and extra responsibilities, as well as being self-confident, and open to new ideas.

The latter two items were based on previous research, which indicated that some people are

more enthusiastic than others and that enthusiastic employees are more self-confident (e.g.,

Linnehan, 1998) and open to new ideas (e.g., Paulik, 2001). Gao and Taormina (2003) found

that the Work Enthusiasm variable was highly correlated with employee acceptance of

performance appraisal criteria, and with related factors, such as team work (r = .57), work

communications (r = .60), and work dedication (r = .81) (all p-values < .001). Work

Enthusiasm was also found to be a significant predictor of work dedication (∆ R2 = 31%, p

< .001). Using the Work Enthusiasm measure, the present study explores possible antecedents

to Work Enthusiasm that might be useful in identifying management practices that could

engender work enthusiasm among employees.

Organizational Socialization and Work Enthusiasm

One objective of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational

socialization and work enthusiasm in two Chinese cultures. One theoretical conceptualization

of organizational socialization defines it as “the process by which a person secures relevant

job skills, acquires a functional level of organizational understanding, attains supportive

social interactions with coworkers, and generally accepts the established ways of a particular

organization” (Taormina, 1997, p. 29). This model also posits that organizational socialization

is composed of four content domains, each of which is continually ongoing and evolving

thro gho t an emplo ee’s career The fo r domains are: (1) training offered b organi ation;


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development are important parts of the HRM process. Their model of the HRM system

demonstrates that through selection, training, development, placement, and motivation, an

organization could achieve effectiveness and efficiency among its human resources. Ideally,

organizational training programs should allow employees to acquire the skills necessary for

superior performance. Also, employees with superior performance should be more

enthusiastic to undertake more demanding or difficult tasks. In addition, an investment in

training could be perceived by employees as their employer’s commitment to them. These

perceptions of employer commitment may generate feelings of reciprocity on the employees’

part and increase their work commitment to the organization (Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel,

Lynch, & Rhoades, 2001). Therefore, the following hypothesis is set:

H (1): The more highly employees evaluate the Training offered by their companies, the

more enthusiastic they will be at work.

For the understanding component of Taormina’s (1997) organizational socialization

model, there is an extensive literature. Past research has referred to this domain by various

names, such as “learning” or “information-seeking” (for reviews, see Bauer, Morrison, &

Callister, 1988; Fisher, 1986). Some researchers stress that such behaviors are indispensable

to the socialization process (e.g., Ostroff & Kozlowski, 1992) because that is how employees

learn about an organization’s culture, mission, goals, etc. Reio and Wiswell (2000) assessed

the relationships among adult curiosity, workplace learning, and job performance. They found

that curiosity-induced behavior, such as information seeking, played a major role in

workplace learning and job performance In order to take on new job assignments extra


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made, however, with the caveat that the organizations in question actually function in an

ethical manner. If so, the following hypothesis can be offered:

H (2): The more highly employees evaluate their own Understanding of their companies,

the more enthusiastic they will be at work.

Regarding coworker support, theoretical propositions for a positive relationship

between coworker support and favorable work outcomes are many (see the discussion by

Taormina, 1997). Generally, it is expected that favorable interpersonal relationships among

coworkers will induce positive affect toward the work environment and concomitant positive

outcomes, including increased productivity (Wolf, 1989), improved performance (Eisenberger,

Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro, 1990), and favorable supervisor evaluations (Staw, Sutton, &

Pelled, 1994). More recent evidence has been supplied by Randall, Cropanzano, Bormann,

and Birjulin (1999), who found that support was positively related to job performance. Using

a field sample of 128 participants, the researchers found a significant regression coefficient

for support as a predictor of performance. Additionally, Eisenberger, et al. (2001) surveyed

413 postal employees to investigate the role of reciprocation in the relationships between

perceived support received in an organization and the employees’ affective organizational

commitment and job performance. Their results suggested that perceived organizational

support enhances in-role performance. Based on such research, which generally indicates a

positive relationship between coworker support and employee affect, the following

hypothesis can be proposed:

H (3): The more highly employees evaluate the Coworker Support in their companies the


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are rewarded are continued. Conceptually, rewards, benefits, and opportunities for promotion

would increase job satisfaction (e.g., Wright, 1990) as well as job performance (Schleicher,

Greguras, & Watt, 2004). Reward theory also posits that unrewarded behaviors are

discontinued. Consequently, if good job performance is not rewarded, employee motivation is

likely to lag and they might even leave their companies (O’Connell, 2001). Fairburn and

Malcomson (2001) suggested that organizations use promotions and monetary bonuses to

motivate employees, thus helping them to grow professionally, which should increase

productivity.

Further, if employees perceive that their organization provides a rewarding future,

employees might be more committed (Taormina, 1999). Such favorable perceptions and

attitudes should also lead to a greater willingness to take on more demanding work (i.e.,

encourage greater enthusiasm for the work). Consequently, it can be expected that:

H (4): The more highly employees evaluate the Future Prospects offered by their

companies, the more enthusiastic they will be at work.

In summary of the above discussion, all four organizational socialization domains

should be positively related to work enthusiasm. That is, the more favorably an employee is

socialized into an organization, the more enthusiastic he or she would be about the work.

Since all the socialization variables were expected to be related to work enthusiasm, multiple

regressions were also planned to determine their effects in the two regions.

Differences between Two Chinese Cultures

Another objective of this study is to examine whether work enthusiasm will differ


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toward work.

Two cities in China, Macau and Zhuhai, share a border, but have different cultures.

Macau was discovered by the Portuguese and founded as a colony in 1557. As the only

European possession in China, Portuguese Macau enjoyed a trading monopoly for the first

300 years until Britain occupied Hong Kong in 1841, after which Macau became little more

than a resort town for European and Cantonese traders. Macau was returned to Chinese rule

in 1999, now has a population of 437,000 people, and became a “Special Administrative

Region” (similar to that in Hong Kong) under the formula of “one country, two systems”

(Cheng, 1999). Of the two systems, the one in Macau is capitalist since gambling and tourism

make up the main economy of Macau, and Macau is the only place in all of China where

casinos are legal. The other economic system, namely, that of Zhuhai, is socialist as it has

always been a part of Mainland China.

Zhuhai is a Mainland Chinese city that borders Macau on the north and west, and (like

Macau) is a geographical neighbor of Hong Kong, which lies to the east across the Pearl

River Delta on the South China Sea. Zhuhai used to be a small fishing village until 1979,

when it was designated as one of the first “Special Economic Zones” under Deng Xiaoping’s

“Open Door Policy.” Zhuhai now has a population of 1.15 million people and, according to

the Zhuhai Municipal Government (2003), has become one of the most rapidly developing

cities in China.

The majority of residents in both regions are of Chinese ethnicity. Among the majority

Chinese they speak the same Cantonese dialect and share the same Cantonese customs and


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employees might have been influenced by the Portuguese culture, which has been described

as a Hispanic culture, which has been suggested to be characterized by “sympatia,” i.e., to

expect positive social behaviors to predominate social interactions (Triandis, Marin, Lisansky,

& Betancourt, 1984). If positive social behaviors include being agreeable in the workplace,

such as agreeing to take on extra responsibilities, then the following hypothesis can be

examined:

H(5A): Macau employees will be more enthusiastic than Zhuhai employees at work.

On the other hand, the Zhuhai Chinese might be more likely to reflect the strong work

ethic that is based in deeply-rooted Confucian values (Tsui, Wang, Xin, Zhang, & Fu, 2004).

Specifically, Confucius elaborated five hierarchical relationships that described appropriate

codes of conduct. The first was “Righteousness between ruler and subject,” meaning that

fealty and service was to be given to the ruler/leader by the subject/follower and was to be

returned by the more powerful ruler with protection and sustenance for the less powerful

subject. This portrays a paternalistic relationship in which the sovereign behaves with

benevolence and the subjects are respectful and obedient. The other four relationships (i.e.,

between father and son, husband and wife, older brother and younger brother, and among

friends) were prescribed to follow the same hierarchical model of sustenance and support as

that between ruler and subject. In describing these relationships, what Confucius composed

was a code of moral social behavior throughout society, which can be assumed to extend to

relationships at work.

Consequently it can be inferred that Confucian values could influence the Zhuhai


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Method

Respondents

Data were collected from 276 full-time, line-level employees (134 males and 142

females) in Macau (n = 96) and Zhuhai (n = 180). All the employees were ethnic Chinese,

aged from 18 to 56 years (M = 26.55, SD = 6.08). Most respondents (73.60%) had completed

their secondary school education, with the remainder (26.40%) having completed at least a

tertiary education. The respondents had spent an average of 3.30 years (SD = 2.97) in their

current jobs. As for industry, 60.10% of the respondents were employed in manufacturing or

construction, 23.60% in services, 14.10% in sales, and 2.20% in an unspecified “other”

industry.

Two-tailed t -tests conducted on the respondents’ age, education, and years on their

current jobs revealed no significant differences on these demographics across regions. Also,

Chi-square (Mann-Whitney) tests on the variables of gender and industry type showed no

significant dissimilarities in the proportions of respondents in these categories across regions.

Materials

The questionnaire was designed to assess three topic areas, namely: (1) the

employee’s demographics; (2) work enthusiasm; and (3) organizational socialization. The

demographics section asked for information about respondents’ gender, age, education level,

industry in which employed, number of years at their current job, ethnicity, and job status

(ethnicity was included to ascertain that the respondents were Chinese, and job status was

included to ensure that they were line level employees)


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were derived from research that showed enthusiastic employees to be more self-confident

(e.g., Linnehan, 1998) and open to new ideas (e.g., Paulik, 2001). Respondents were asked

the extent to which they agreed to be evaluated on these items in a performance appraisal.

This approach was used because it was thought that employees who would agree to be

evaluated on such extra-role behaviors (e.g., to take on extra work) would be more

enthusiastic about their work. The response format for these items was a 7-point Likert scale

ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The original reliability for this

variable was .80 (Gao & Taormina, 2003), and in the current study was .82.

Organizational Socialization. Organizational socialization was assessed with

Taormina’s (2004) 20-item Organizational Socialization Inventory (OSI), which is an updated

version of Taormina’s (1994) measure. The OSI assesses respondents’ evaluations of the four

domains of the socialization construct, namely: (1) Training received; (2) Understanding of

the job and organization; (3) Coworker Support; and (4) Future Prospects in the employing

organization. Each of the four domains has five items, e.g., “This organization has provided

excellent job training for me” (for Training) and “I know very well how to get things done in

this organization” (for Understanding). The reliability scores on the original OSI were .76 for

Training, .79 for Understating, .81 for Coworker support, and .76 for Future prospects

(Taormina, 1994). The response format for these items was also a 7-point Likert scale ranging

from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Language of the Questionnaire. All the items (apart from the OSI) were translated

from the original English into traditional Chinese by a bilingual professor at the Guangdong


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undergone a similar, rigorous translation procedure by professional translators (see Taormina,

2004), that version was used for the OSI. Also, since English is used somewhat in both

Zhuhai and Macau, both the English and Chinese phrases were used on the questionnaire to

optimize understanding of the items.

Procedure

Over a period of several weeks, the questionnaires were handed to employees in

several large, Chinese organizations, with 550 going to employees in Macau and 550 to

employees in Zhuhai, as they were leaving their workplace after finishing work in the late

afternoon. The employees were approached individually, told the general purpose of the study

(i.e., to assess employees’ attitudes about their work), and asked to complete the

questionnaire. Respondents were assured that the study was being conducted independently

of the companies in which they worked and that their answers would be kept anonymous.

Everyone who agreed to participate in the study was given the questionnaire with an attached,

stamped, return-addressed envelope to encourage reply. The cover page briefly explained the

purpose of this study and guaranteed confidentiality. A total of 348 completed questionnaires

(110 from Macau, and 238 from Zhuhai) were returned, yielding an overall return rate of

32.82% (20.91% for Macau, and 44.73% for Zhuhai). As this study targeted only ethnic

Chinese, line-level employees, respondents who claimed an ethnic background other than

Chinese were not included, as were respondent who claimed to be supervisors. This left a

total of 276 questionnaires for data analysis.

Results


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Prospects; and .82 for Work Enthusiasm.

To assess the correlations among the main variables, the data for both regions were

combined. The data in the analysis included the four organizational socialization variables,

Work Enthusiasm, and the demographics with increasing functions (i.e., age, education, and

years on the job). In addition, the demographics of gender and region (coded as dummy

variable) were also entered into the analysis. The means, standard deviations,

intercorrelations, and scale reliabilities for all the variables are shown in Table 1.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Table 1

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As shown in the table, the correlations between the four organizational socialization

variables and Work Enthusiasm were all highly significant and in the predicted direction.

Training was highly and significantly correlated with Work Enthusiasm (r = .35), and the

same held true for Understanding (r = .31), Coworker Support (r = .36), and Future Prospects

(r = .64), with all p-values < .001. These results lent strong support to H(1) through H(4).

Tests for Cultural Comparisons

To test for differences across the Macau and Zhuhai regions, an independent sample,

two-tailed t -test was run on the means for Work Enthusiasm. The test yielded a highly

significant difference, with the Zhuhai mean significantly higher than the Macau mean ( p

< .001). This result led to the rejection of H(5A), but lent strong support for the acceptance of

its alternate hypothesis H(5B) indicating that the Zhuhai (PRC) employees were


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all significantly higher than the Macau means. For Training and Future Prospects, the Zhuhai

means were higher than the Macau means to a very significant extent (both ps < .001). For

Understanding, the Zhuhai mean again significantly surpassed the Macau mean ( p < .005).

The mean scores for the cultural comparisons on Work Enthusiasm and all four of the

organizational socialization variables are shown in Table 2.

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Table 2

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Test for Multicollinearity

Given the significant correlations among the variables, tests for multicollinearity were

run on the socialization and demographic variables as they were to be assessed as possible

predictors in the planned regression using Work Enthusiasm as the criterion variable. The test

requires the intended criterion to be excluded while each potential predictor is regressed on

the remaining predictors, such that a tolerance (1- R2

) value of less than .10 for any of the

regressions would be considered problematic (see Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998,

p.193). In the eight regressions that were run (for the four demographic and the four

socialization variables), the tolerance values ranged from .48 to 1.00. Since all the values

were well above the .10 cutoff, multicollinearity did not appear to be a problem.

Regressions

Three multivariate regressions were run to determine the effects of organizational

socialization on Work Enthusiasm while controlling for the effects of the four demographics


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variance (∆ R2 = 34%), after controlling for the demographics (with a combined ∆ R

2 = 16%),

F (3,263) = 184.71, p < .001.

In the second analysis, for the Zhuhai sample (n = 180), a total of 40% of the variance

was explained, once again with Future Prospects accounting for the majority of the explained

variance (∆ R2 = 34%), after controlling for the effects of the demographics (with a ∆ R

2 = 6%),

F (2,171) = 58.14, p < .001.

In the third analysis, for the Macau sample (n = 96), a total of 61% of the variance

was explained, with Future Prospects accounting for a lesser amount of explained variance

(∆ R2 = 10%), and Coworker Support accounting for a small amount as well (∆ R

2 = 2%), after

controlling for the demographics (with a combined ∆ R2 = 49%), F (4,88) = 36.70, p < .001.

The results of these regressions are presented in Table 3.

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Table 3

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Discussion

The results showed that significant differences exist between the Chinese regions on

their evaluations of socialization in their organizations, on their enthusiasm at work, and on

certain variables that influence their work enthusiasm. The results also revealed that the

organizational socialization domain of Future Prospects was a significant predictor of Work

Enthusiasm in both regions.


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mean scores were significantly higher than those for Macau on Training, Understanding, and

Future Prospects. The only socialization variable not to show a mean difference was

Coworker Support. A possible explanation for this could be the deeply rooted Confucian

value of social harmony, which could be the most fundamental of all such values (see Chai,

1965), which could include the idea of social harmony in the workplace (Withane, 1991). In

fact, a previous study of three other Chinese cultures (i.e., Singapore, Hong Kong, and the

PRC) also found no difference in coworker support (Taormina, 1998).

The significant differences on the other three socialization variables of Training,

Understanding, and Future Prospects, however, suggest meaningful differences in the way

Chinese employees in the two regions view their organizations. Clearly, the Zhuhai

employees see their companies as offering them more useful training, a better understanding,

and more opportunities for advancement than do the Macau employees. Beside the cultural

dissimilarities, the differences on these socialization variables may reflect economic

differences between Zhuhai and Macau.

Specifically, Zhuhai (with a population of 1.15 million people and a geographical

territory of 7,649 square kilometers) has had an economic focus since it was designated as

one of the four earliest Special Economic Zones in China in 1980. Since that time, the fixed

assets investment there reached US$13.5 billion by the year 2002 (Zhuhai Municipal

Government, 2003). Consequently, Zhuhai has become an attractive place to work for people

from all over China because business opportunities are increasing as more enterprises are

setting up offices there With the large amount of financial investment in the Zhuhai region


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from 1996 to 1999, and has averaged a positive growth of less than 5% between 2000 and

2002 (World Trade Center Macau, 2002).

Differences in Work Enthusiasm. As with the organizational socialization variables,

the mean Work Enthusiasm score for Zhuhai was also significantly higher than that for

Macau, lending strong support to H(5B). This outcome could be due to a stronger Confucian

culture among the Mainland Chinese workers, as hypothesized. Alternately, it could be

argued that there is a greater enthusiasm among workers in Zhuhai because the stronger and

growing economy there provides incentives to pursue the more abundant opportunities for

advancement than are found in Macau. Given the very high mean differences on both Work

Enthusiasm and Future Prospects between the two regions, these results might also reflect a

combined effect of both the stronger economy and stronger Confucian values in Zhuhai.

Determining which of these two factors, or perhaps a combination of the two factors, is the

cause of these differences could be a topic for future research.

Organizational Socialization and Work Enthusiasm

The theoretical notion that organizational socialization plays a significant role in

Work Enthusiasm (Hypotheses 1-4) was supported by the strong correlations found in the

data. All four socialization dimensions had highly significant, positive correlations with Work

Enthusiasm. These results suggest that companies can engender higher levels of work

enthusiasm by providing their employees with good training, endeavoring to improve their

employees’ understanding of the organization and how it operates, offering supportive

working environments and allowing opportunities for rewards and advancement The last of


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the combined data from both regions to determine the overall effects. In the analysis, 34% of

the variance for Work Enthusiasm was explained. After controlling for the demographics

(wherein Education accounted for 13% and Years on the Job accounted for 3%), Future

Prospects accounted for 34% of the variance, indicating that socialization does play a major

role in engendering work enthusiasm.

When the data were broken down by region, a notable pattern emerged. In Zhuhai,

where 40% of the total variance was explained by only two variables, the strongest predictor

of Work Enthusiasm was again the socialization variable of Future Prospects (which

accounted for 34%), followed by Education (which accounted for the remaining 6%).

Apparently, the greater opportunities in the Zhuhai economy were reflected in the strong

effect that Future Prospects had in predicting Work Enthusiasm. The presence of Education as

a predictor might reflect the value that Chinese culture places on education.

In Macau, where 61% of the variance was explained, the two main predictors were

both demographic variables, namely, Education (which accounted for 26% of the variance)

and Years on the Job (which accounted for 23%). The remaining variance was explained by

the two socialization variables of Future Prospects (10%) and Coworker Support (2%).

The rather dissimilar outcomes between the regions may be explained by the cultural

and economic differences in the two regions. Macau, with a population of 437,000 people,

and a relatively small and limited geographical territory (a promontory with two small islands

that together cover a territory of only 21 square kilometers), has been a tourist and gambling

enclave for hundreds of years It therefore has a culture that can be described as a relaxing


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Table 1. Means, standard deviations, and correlations among Work Enthusiasm, organizational socialization scales, and demographic variables

for the Macau and Zhuhai respondents (N = 276).

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Work Enthusiasm 4.83 1.05 (.82)

2. Training 4.50 1.50 .35 (.95)

3. Understanding 5.35 0.83 .31 .64 (.81)

4. Coworker Support 5.16 0.97 .36 .44 .49 (.87)

5. Future Prospects 4.06 1.25 .64 .64 .53 .51 (.86)

6. Gender 0.51 0.50 -.03 .07 .07 -.02 .01 ---

7. Age 26.55 6.08 .12 .10 .19 -.16 .11 .04 ---

8. Chinese Region 1.65 0.48 .38 .27 .20 .11 .40 .07 -.09 ---

9. Education 2.26 0.44 .35 -.17 -.13 .02 .11 .03 .10 .18 ---

10. Years on the Job 3.34 2.97 .15 .05 .10 -.11 .06 .01 .65 -.09 .08 ---

Note: Gender was coded: Female = 0, Male = 1. Region was coded: Macau = 1, Zhuhai = 2. Significance levels for the correlations (r ) were:

For r > .12, p < .05; for r > .16, p < .01; for r > .17, p < .005; and for r > .20, p < .001.



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Table 2. Comparison of Macau and Zhuhai mean scores for Work Enthusiasm and for the

organizational socialization variables (N = 276).

Macau Zhuhai

(N = 96) (N = 180) df t

Work Enthusiasm 4.28 (1.04) 5.12 (0.94) 1,274 6.82**

Organizational Socialization

Training 3.95 (1.46) 4.79 (1.45) 1,274 4.60**

Understanding 5.12 (0.80) 5.48 (0.82) 1,274 3.40*

Coworker Support 5.01 (1.01) 5.24 (0.95) 1,274 1.90

Future Prospects 3.38 (1.09) 4.42 (1.17) 1,274 7.14**

Note. The scores for all variables ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Standard deviations are in parentheses. The denominator degrees of freedom differ because

of unequal variances.

* p < .005

** p < .001


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Table 3. Stepwise multiple regression analyses on Work Enthusiasm using the organizational socialization (OS) variables as predictors after

controlling for the demographic (Control) variables for the Macau data (N = 96), the Zhuhai data (N = 180), and the combined data (N = 276).

Macau Zhuhai Combined

Variables Beta ∆R 2 Beta ∆R

2 Beta ∆R

2

Age (Control) -.02 -.02 -.11

Education (Control) .54**** .26 .22**** .06 .28**** .13

Gender (Control) -.05 -.03 -.04

Years on the Job (Control) .36**** .23 .10 .13*** .03

Training (OS) .01 .01 .01

Understanding (OS) .07 -.05 .22

Coworker Support (OS) .15* .02 .11 .08

Future Prospects (OS) .28**** .10 .59**** .34 .60**** .34

Total∆R 2 .61 .40 .50

F (df) 36.70**** (4,88) 58.14**** (2,171) 184.71**** (3,263)

Note: The total df do not always add to N-1 due to listwise deletion of cases with missing data.

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .005; **** p < .001.

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Effects of Organizational Socialization on Work Enthusiasm