Leadership influence and newcomer socialization: a dual-process model of servant leadership, directive leadership and newcomer job performance

Purpose While past research has shown how organizational and individual efforts boost the successful socialization of newly hired employees (i.e. newcomers), the role of leaders and their leadership behaviors in relation to the socialization process and newcomer performance has been insufficiently examined. To extend our knowledge, this study explores how and when servant leadership and directive leadership affect newcomers’ job performance. Design/methodology/approach This study used a field survey and collected multi-wave, multi-source data from 369 newcomers. Path models were analyzed in Mplus 8.4. Findings The results show that (1) servant leadership and directive leadership are positively related with newcomers’ job performance through a social exchange mechanism – leader–member exchange – and a social cognitive mechanism – self-efficacy, respectively and (2) these mediation effects were stronger for newcomers with a shorter (vs longer) length of socialization – those who had a shorter organizational tenure since their entry. Originality/value This study not only enriches our understanding of the leadership influence in the process of newcomer socialization but also provides more insight and nuance into how and when relationship-focused (i.e. servant leadership) and task-focused (i.e. directive leadership) leadership styles affect newcomers and their job performance.