Antecedents of New Recruit's Adjustment: An Empirical Study on Indian IT Industry

Literature Review

In the past, the term ‘new recruit’ has been used for employees based on their tenure after joining the organization. Also, new recruits are newly hired employees of the organization who have completed less than one year in the organization (Rollag, 2007). One of the prominent studies, conducted by Bauer et al. (2007) on new recruits, has considered tenure of less than 13 months to define the new recruits.

When it comes to transition, the newly hired employees joining the organization just after completion of their education face more challenges as compared to those who switch jobs from one organization to another (Ashford and Black, 1996). Bauer et al. (2007) defined new recruit adjustment through three factors: role clarity, task mastery, and social adjustment. The newly joined employees are expected to adjust in the organization and start their assigned work within three months (Nifadkar, Tsui, and Ashforth, 2012). Newly hired employees experience reality shocks that lead to tension and increased levels of stress, which lead to behavioral withdrawal (Halbesleben and Buckley, 2004), interpersonal conflict, lack of engagement, lack of productivity (Ganster and Rosen, 2013), dissatisfaction, and turnover (Kammeyer-Mueller et al., 2005).