On the same path? Profiles of proximal socialization outcomes among new police officers

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• latent profile analysis
• organizational socialization
• proximal outcome profiles
• antecedents
• distal outcomes
• police

Declaration of interest statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Stefan Annell, upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a grant from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), to Stefan Annell (Ref. No. 2016-00132). Stockholm Stress Center, a FORTE center of excellence, provided additional financial support for Petra Lindfors. The study used data from a project financed by the Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency (SDRA) and the National Police Board in Sweden.