Facing and Coping with Uncertainty During Organizational Encounter

Drawing from previous “encounter” work by several researchers, this investigation identifies the types of uncertainty new hires experience and documents newcomers' information-seeking strategy preferences and target reliance patterns for coping with different forms of uncertainty. Organizational newcomers' ( n = 200) uncertainty narratives reveal that new hires experience some uncertainty types more than others. Information-seeking strategy preference patterns reported in the article closely parallel those described by Miller. These patterns, although not affected by uncertainty type, are influenced by information-seeking strategy targets. New hire information target preferences were found to be influenced by type of uncertainty. Findings make a strong case for broadening the operationalization of information-seeking targets to include both intra- and extraorganizational sources. The final portion of the article discusses study limitations and directions for future research.