Perceived superior support and newcomer adjustment:A longitudinal study of new employees beginning their career

Purpose-This paper aims to shed light on what and how perceived supervisor support influence newcomer adjustment(and specific aspects of it)in the context of China, which has a collective and high power distance culture. Design/methodology/approach-The paper conducted longitudinal research among front-line service employees in 31 companies in China, with 305 new employees completing questionnaires at four different time points. In total, 221 participants provided complete and usable responses across the multiple measurement periods of the study. Findings-The paper reveals that the perceived supervisor support of newcomers can influence their adjustment(role clarity, job mastery, and social integration)in the Chinese context and that the impacts on specific indicators are different. In addition, perceived supervisor support can promote newcomer adjustment through instrumental(information seeking)and affective(trust relationship)routes and affective routes can also influence the instrumental route. Finally, newcomers’individual human capital (occupational experience and education level) can moderate the relationship between perceived supervisor support and newcomer adjustment, and newcomers with higher education levels can better adjust when they perceive support from their direct supervisor. Originality/value-The paper contributes to socialization research by investigating the influence of perceived supervisor support on newcomer adjustment, explaining it via instrumental and affective routes. In addition, this study analyzes the moderating role of human capital, taking education level especially into consideration, which is rare in sensemaking literature in the socialization field.