Differentiating Newcomers and Transitioning Incumbents: The Dynamic Evolution of Organizational Trust During Role Transitions

ABSTRACT Despite theoretical advances highlighting the pivotal role of organizational trust in shaping newcomer outcomes, its dynamic evolution during role transitions has yet to receive sustained longitudinal attention. Drawing on sensemaking theory and staged socialization models, we find that, among role‐transitioning employees, organizational trust follows a U‐shaped trajectory—declining initially before recovering over time. This curvilinear pattern also varied as a function of the nature of the transition—entering the organization from outside versus moving into a new role from within (i.e., distinguishing newcomers from internal transferees). Specifically, using five waves of longitudinal data collected over a yearlong onboarding period within an IT firm, we found that newcomers and transferees (compared to veterans) experienced a subtle U‐shaped curvilinear trajectory of organizational trust, with this pattern being more pronounced for newcomers than for transferees. This trajectory was further attenuated by leader–member exchange for newcomers and by social integration for both newcomers and transferees. Finally, it had implications for changes in employee turnover intentions over time. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.