Work socialization through part-time work: cultivating self-efficacy and engagement through care

ABSTRACT

This study provides insight into how work socialization occurs through part-time work in a Youth Employment Program. Drawing on in-depth interviews with youth employees and supervisors, we consider how the young people’s meanings of work were shaped through their early employment experiences. Participants report significant transformations in both their views of work – from seeing it primarily in terms of extrinsic rewards like a paycheck to developing more robust interpretations of work – and their level of self-efficacy. We argue that the organizational culture and supervisor relationships were crucial for the positive outcomes the youth experienced. This study demonstrates the formative impact that part-time work has on young people and the promise of studying work socialization in part-time work. Practically, our findings point to the importance of approaching the employment of young people as more than just an economic exchange. We suggest that those who employ young people should provide a work context marked by routine, supportive interactions with supervisors who provide and uphold clear expectations.

KEYWORDS:

• Work socialization
• part-time work
• meanings of work
• meaningful work
• socialization

Acknowledgements

This manuscript emerges from Katelyn Sandor’s master’s thesis, which she completed at Western Michigan University under the direction of the second author. We would like to thank Leigh Ford, Leah Omilion-Hodges, Bernadette Gailliard, Sarah Tracy, Janell Bauer, Kathy Miller, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful feedback at various stages of this project. The authors would like to thank ‘The Foundation’ for allowing them to conduct this study. Stacey Wieland is grateful to Calvin College and the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship for supporting her work on this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Calvin College (Calvin Research Fellowship [faculty course release]) and the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship (support to participate in the writing nook).