Socialization and organizational outcomes in large public accounting firms

Organizational socialization describes the preparation of individuals for service as participants in business enterprises. This process entails mastery of critical skills required for ef fective performance, as well as the assumption of the attitudes that must accompany these activities. The organization plays a vital part in the learning and adjustment made by the new member (see Fisher, 1986; Chao et al., 1994). Experienced organizational members selectively provide reinforcement, communicate the approved range for action, and serve as examples of achievement.

Public accounting organizations ultimately depend upon the caliber of the professional services their members can deliver. The importance of human resources partially explains public accounting's concern with recruiting high quality students (Collins, 1987; Holdeman et aL, 1996), and training them to act professionally (Bedford, 1988; Goetz, et al., 1991). The socialization issue also manifests itself as concerns with staff commitment (Shaub et al., 1993; Edelstein and Aird, 1988), performance (Hunt, 1995) and undesired turnover (Doll, 1983; Robson et al., 1992). While these issues have been studied as discrete topics, they relate, at least in part, to whether or not socialization has been adequate. Although socialization pertains most directly to training, it is also effected by the expectations held by recruits. Well-socialized firm members are more likely to be committed to the organization, willing and able to act effectively on its behalf, and less likely to initiate a departure. However, beyond the technical information that is communicated to new staff members, very little is known about socialization in public accounting.

Previous work in accountant socialization has either been nonempirical (e.g., Fogarty, 1992) or has ignored the critical role of the organization in shaping experience (e.g., Blank et al., 1993). This article develops specific hypotheses that link firm choices to the critical outcomes of socialization. An empirical study was designed using audit staff employed in the major international firms.

This article is organized into four subsequent sections. The first reviews the literature with the purpose of developing testable hypotheses. The second section describes a study of public accountants. The final two sections report the results and discuss them, respectively.

THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS AND ITS OUTCOMES

Upon entry into the firm, the recruit assumes a role that has explicit and implicit connections to other people in the organization....