Abstract:
Acculturation begins when people find themselves in a cultural setting other than
theirs, and to demonstrate acceptable behaviors, one of two strategies is adopted:
adapting to the new environment or retain one’s own culture. On the basis of these
two, four strategies have been proposed. The current article examined the moderation
effect of two of these acculturation strategies, integration and separation, on the
relationship between newcomer adjustment, and work-related anxiety and turnover
intentions. The study was in two folds, the first explored the moderation effect among
new employees in general, notwithstanding their immediate past working experience;
and the second part separated the sample based on two criteria: those prior to their
current role were working in another firm (work-to-work employees) and those who
just come directly from school (school-to-work employees). The sample was made
up of 250 employees who had spent not less than 6 months and not more than
12 months in their current role, drawn from the private banking and insurance firms
in Ghana. The PROCESS analysis of the data revealed that integration moderated
the relationship between newcomer adjustment and work-related anxiety and turnover
intentions among all samples. Separation moderated the relationships in all cases, but
for the relationship between newcomer adjustment and turnover intentions in study 1
and among school-to-work employees. The evidence from this article points to the fact
that the acculturation strategy that newcomers adopt has an effect on the relationship
between their level of adjustment and some organizational outcomes; however, a slight
difference exists if their immediate past engagement is considered.
