Orientation Training and Job Satisfaction: A Sector and Gender Analysis

• Author: Yannis Georgellis,Vurain Tabvuma,Thomas Lange
• Published date: 01 March 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21650
• Date: 01 March 2015

Human Resource Management, March–April 2015, Vol. 54, No. 2. Pp. 303–321

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21650

Correspondence to: Yannis Georgellis, Kent Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7PE,

UnitedKingdom, Phone: (+44) 01227 827726, E-mail: y.georgellis@kent.ac.uk

support is not so compelling. Most of the exist-

ing job training evaluation studies focus on the

impact of training schemes on pecuniary work-

place outcomes, such as earnings, productivity,

and turnover. Huselid (1995) finds, for example,

that job training and other high-performance

work practices (HPWP) have a statistically signifi-

cant impact on reducing employee turnover and

increasing productivity, and a wider, longer-term

effect on organizational performance. In a simi-

lar vein, Delaney and Huselid (1996) document

a positive association between HRM practices,

including job training and staff selection, and pos-

itive perceptions of organizational performance.

Studies placing more emphasis on nonpecuniary

workplace outcomes tend to find that job training

exerts a positive effect on employees’ job satisfac-

tion and organizational commitment (Aguinis &

Kraiger, 2009; Georgellis & Lange, 2007; Santos

A

growing body of research explores the

relationship between orientation train-

ing and important workplace attitudes

and behaviors. This literature links

orientation training to organizational

commitment, job performance, and quitting

intentions, highlighting also the mitigating role

of organizational socialization in this relationship

(Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo, & Tucker, 2007;

Klein & Weaver, 2000; Saks, Uggerslev, & Fassina,

2007).

Orientation training involves familiarizing

new employees with various aspects of work in the

organization, such as organizational procedures,

health and safety, social behavioral expectations,

and task responsibilities. While theoretical argu-

ments persuasively establish a causal relation-

ship between orientation training and employees’

work-related attitudes and behaviors, empirical

ORIENTATION TRAINING AND

JOB SATISFACTION: A SECTOR

ANDGENDER ANALYSIS

VURAIN TABVUMA, YANNIS GEORGELLIS,

ANDTHOMAS LANGE

Using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), we investigate how

various types of job training impact upon employees’ job satisfaction and its

domains. We fi nd that orientation training exerts a signifi cant positive effect on

newcomer male employees’ job satisfaction in both the private and public sec-

tors, but it increases the job satisfaction of newcomer female employees only

in the public sector. Other types of job training have only a weak effect on job

satisfaction. We attribute the predominance of orientation training as a strong

predictor of job satisfaction to its important function of facilitating the workplace

socialization of new employees by reducing the uncertainty about aspects of the

job that are not always easily contractible. ©2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: job training, orientation training, organizational socialization,

jobsatisfaction

304 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, MARCH–APRIL 2015

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

impact of training location, finance, and inten-

sity. Our findings have potentially important

implications for human resource management

policy and practice. To the extent that the impact

of orientation training on job satisfaction is more

prevalent than the impact of other types of job

training, a redirection of resources towards orien-

tation training could increase the effectiveness of

human resource strategies for creating an engaged

and motivated workforce.

Theoretical Background and Hypotheses

Research into organizational socialization has

taken on several different approaches. First,

research has investigated the stages that newcom-

ers progress through (Feldman, 1981). Second,

studies have focused on disentangling how

newcomers learn and gain an understanding of

their new workplace (Morrison, 1993; Ostroff &

Kozlowski, 1992). Third, there has been a focus

on the various tactics used to facilitate organi-

zational socialization (Klein & Weaver, 2000;

Posner & Powell, 1985). The final approach has

focused on analyzing the content of organiza-

tional socialization (Chao, O’Leary-Kelly, Wolf,

Klein, & Gardner, 1994; Feldman, 1981; Klein &

Weaver, 2000). Despite extensive research endeav-

ors into organizational socialization, gaps in the

literature remain. In particular, research exploring

whether employment sector and gender moderate

the impact of orientation training and socializa-

tion on workplace attitudes and beliefs, such as

job satisfaction, has not yet been examined. This

is important because it will give us a better under-

standing of how these organizational and individ-

ual factors impact upon the relationship between

socialization and job satisfaction.

Organizational socialization refers to the

process through which newcomers to an organi-

zation make the change from being outsiders to

being insiders (Bauer et al., 2007). Socialization

helps new employees to develop a sense of task

competence by reducing the uncertainty about

the various aspects of work in their organization

or work group context. It introduces clarity about

work tasks, it establishes realistic expectations

about a job, and it facilitates the development of

interpersonal relationships between newcomers

and other work colleagues (Adkins, 1995; Bauer et

al., 2007; Dean & Wanous, 1984; Feldman, 1981;

Fisher, 1985; Morrison, 1993; Saks et al., 2007).

To promote new employee socialization, organi-

zations use a variety of socialization tactics that

differ in terms of their formality, delivery patterns,

variability, collectiveness, disjunctiveness, and

investiture (Saks & Ashforth, 1997). Orientation

training is one such tactic. It facilitates important

& Stuart, 2003), although some studies fail to

find any statistically significant relationship

between training and job satisfaction (e.g., Shore

& Barksdale, 1998).

Most of the existing empirical examina-

tions have not differentiated between different

types of training nor have they distinguished

between domain satisfaction measures and atti-

tudes. Noticeably, there has been relatively little

evidence on how different types of training, and

especially orientation training, affect employees’

satisfaction with different aspects of work. One of

the few notable exceptions is the study by Klein

and Weaver (2000), who use a cross-sectional

sample of 116 new employees to demonstrate

that those employees who attended orientation

training were significantly more socialized than

employees who did not participate in this type of

orientation. What is more, the authors report that

orientation trainees also display “significantly

higher levels of affective organizational commit-

ment than non-attendees” (Klein & Weaver, 2000,

p. 47). More recently, Boswell, Shipp, Payne, and

Culbertson (2009) report that newcomers’ job sat-

isfaction reaches a peak following organizational

entry, and decreases thereafter. Such a pattern is

more pronounced for employees with a higher

degree of socialization and more positive initial

experiences on the new job.

Research Objectives

The present study investigates how orientation

training affects overall job satisfaction and its

domains, paying particular attention to gender

and sector differences. We posit that gender differ-

ences in labor market attachment, work-life con-

flict, and workplace values are well documented

in the literature (Duxbury & Higgins, 1991; Lange,

2008; Lefkowitz, 1994; Mottazl, 1986) and are

likely to be an important moderating factor dur-

ing the orientation process. We also argue that

differences between private and public sector

remuneration, motivation, work-related attitudes,

and working conditions could influence how ori-

entation training affects employee socialization

and job satisfaction.

The empirical analysis is based on data from

the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) cov-

ering the period 1999 to 2008. The BHPS allows

us to identify orientation and other types of job

training, the location where training took place,

the sources of training finance, the intensity of

training, and whether qualifications were attained

at the end of the training period. Such informa-

tion allows us to isolate the impact of orienta-

tion training on job satisfaction from the impact

of other types of training, and to control for the