Subjective norms

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Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 160–177, 2003  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/03/$30.00

doi:10.1016/S0160-7383(02)00047-6

SUBJECTIVE NORMS Effects on Job Satisfaction Terry Lam Ray Pine The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China Tom Baum The University of Strathclyde, UK Abstract: To investigate new employees’ socialization in a more structured manner, it is necessary to contextualize the process by considering moderators impacting upon the relationship between unmet expectations regarding workplace benefits and atmosphere. These considerations must also be related to the socialization outcomes, including job satisfaction and turnover intentions. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the impact of subjective norms as a potential moderator on these relationships. Results show that subjective norms interact on job satisfaction but not on turnover intentions. Unique Chinese cultural features are also considered. Good mentorship and family-contact events are recommended to enhance new employees’ job satisfaction. Keywords: unmet expectations, socialization, subjective norms, job satisfaction, turnover intentions.  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Re´sume´: Afin d’examiner la socialisation des nouveaux employe´s de fac¸on plus structure´e, il faut mettre en contexte le processus en tenant compte de l’impact des interme´diaires sur la relation entre les attentes insatisfaites de be´ne´fices de travail et l’ambiance. Ces conside´rations doivent aussi eˆtre mises en relation aux re´sultats de socialisation, y compris la satisfaction dans le travail et les intentions lie´es au renouvellement de personnel. Le but principal de cette e´tude est d’examiner l’impact des normes subjectives comme interme´diaire e´ventuel de ces relations. Les re´sultats montrent que les normes subjectives interagissent sur la satisfaction dans le travail mais pas sur les intentions lie´es au renouvellement de personnel. On tient compte aussi des facteurs culturels propres aux Chinois. On recommande un bon syste`me de mentors et des e´ve´nements de contact familial pour rehausser la satisfaction des nouveaux employe´s dans leur travail. Mots-cle´s: attentes insatisfaites, socialisation, normes subjectives, satisfaction dans le travail, intentions lie´es au renouvellement de personnel.  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION In Hong Kong, the tourism industry has been faced with high staff turnover, particularly among new employees who are dominantly Chinese. According to unpublished Hong Kong Hotels Association “Staff

Terry Lam is Assistant Professor and Ray Pine is Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hung Hom, HKSAR, China. Email ). Their research interests include human resource issues and hotel development in China. Tom Baum is Professor of International Hospitality Management at the University of Strathclyde. His academic expertise includes human resource management and education and training for hospitality and tourism. 160

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Turnover Statistics”, the average annual turnover rate of newcomers with less than 12 months employment in the hotel sector ranged from 27% to 41% between 1994 and 2000. Managers of travel agencies and the airlines estimated that theirs could be as high as 60%. This problem seems to be an inalienable facet of tourism (Woods 1992). Although there are both positive and negative consequences for those who remain in an organization when others leave (Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982), turnover is certainly costly and progressive operators are attempting to reduce it (Hinkin and Tracey 2000). To become an insider after being an outsider, a newcomer has to adapt to the new environment upon entry into an organization; he/she frequently experiences a certain extent of unmet expectations which result from the discrepancy between employment expectations before joining and later realistic experiences during the early stage of adaptation or socialization (Louis 1980). Many studies in the literature have shown that such unmet expectations are related to job satisfaction and turnover intentions (Dean 1983; Major, Kozlowski, Chao and Gardner 1995; Wanous, Poland, Premack and Davis 1992). However, only a few have addressed factors that may exhibit moderating impacts on the relationship between unmet expectations and job satisfaction and turnover intentions. According to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), the subjective norms refer to perceived pressures on a person to perform a given behavior and the person’s motivation to comply with those pressures; also a person’s behavioral intentions were found to be correlated with subjective norms. Several studies in social psychology have found that an individual’s behavioral intentions are predicted by subjective norms (Buttle and Bok 1996; Conner, Kirk, Cade and Barrett 2001). Fishbein and Ajzen further state that the perceived pressures are related to the expectations of a person’s family or friends, supervisors or the society at large. Such perceived pressure appears to be particularly significant in the context of the Chinese culture where employees were found to have more “listening-centeredness”, do what they are told, and have a higher degree of motivation to comply with others’ expectations (Zhuang 1990). Therefore, the objectives of this study were to explore the underlying factors as perceived by new employees that might affect their job satisfaction and turnover intentions; to determine the hypothesized moderating effects of subjective norms on the relationship between unmet expectations regarding these factors and respective job satisfaction and turnover intentions; and to suggest a number of practical implications of this research, particularly for organizations where Chinese employees are dominant and a crucial concern is the high rate of new employees leaving the organization. SUBJECTIVE NORMS AND SOCIALIZATION OUTCOMES Organizational socialization is important for new employees during their initial period of employment as it shapes subsequent attitudes and behavior (Wanous 1980). It is defined as the process by which a

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new employee comes to appreciate values, abilities, expected behavior, and social knowledge, and the way he/she adjusts to a specific organizational role essential for participating as a member (Chao, O’LearyKelly, Wolf, Klein and Gardner 1994; Louis 1980; Van Maanen 1976; Van Maanen and Schein 1979). Various temporal criteria for identifying new employees in studies of socialization were found in the literature, and they ranged from four weeks (Major et al 1995) to six months (Saks 1995). Louis (1980) argued that coping with reality shock when a newcomer enters an organization may occupy him/her for the first 6 to 10 months at work. Rousseau (1990) states that an initial psychological contract is developed during the anticipatory socialization process. This contract is an overall set of expectations that a new employee holds with respect to his/her potential contribution to the organization and its promissory and reciprocal obligations to the employee’s contribution. These include relationship and transactional obligations (Robinson and Rousseau 1994). The former is to provide employment security while the latter is to offer high performance-based pay (Rousseau 1990). The initial psychological contract is developed before any formal organizational encounter, but is considerably modified as a result of the subsequent socialization stages. New employees may find job satisfaction if they consider the subsequent psychological contract fair and equitable; otherwise, they may initiate a change such as leaving the organization (Nelson 1990). A number of studies in the literature have highlighted the complexity of employee turnover that can be divided into two categories: voluntary and involuntary. Turnover is voluntary when an employee decides to take an initiative to end the relationship and involuntary when the employer terminates it (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin and Cardy 2001). There is a need to distinguish between the two types among newcomers (Mobley and Meglino 1979; Muchinsky and Tuttle 1979). First, voluntary turnover is attributed to unrealistic expectations that newcomers bring as they enter organizations (Wanous 1977). Second, involuntary turnover is attributed to differences between newcomers’ expectations and early experiences at work, called unmet expectations (Katzel 1968; Ross and Zander 1957). The second category was adopted in this study in light of the substantially different approaches to operationalization and action strategies that were found between them. Porter and Steers (1973) define the concept of “unmet expectations” as the discrepancy between what a person encounters at work in the way of positive and negative experience and what he expected to encounter. From a normative perspective, expectations are often likely to be unmet. McCleary and Weaver (1988) investigated expectations of fresh graduates from a hotel school with respect to the 16 variables relating to job selection such as chance for promotion and growth, interesting work, and responsibility. The results show that there were large discrepancies between expectations and perceptions among them. The literature has concentrated on the effects of met and unmet expectations on socialization outcomes (Major et al 1995; Porter and

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Steers 1973; Wanous et al 1992). According to theories of organizational socialization, newcomer expectations are formed prior to their entry. During the recruitment and selection processes, newcomers form impressions regarding working life in the organization (anticipatory socialization) while they are still outsiders (Merton 1957). When beginning work, the newcomers move from being outsiders, and enter the encounter stage, during which their anticipations are tested against the reality of the new work experiences. Differences between anticipation and experience become apparent and contribute to reality shock (Hughes 1958; Van Maanen 1976). Theories of organizational socialization have indicated that reality shock is a critical problem inhibiting successful newcomer assimilation (Hughes 1959). Other research demonstrated that unmet expectations are negatively related to job satisfaction (Greenhaus, Seidel and Marinis 1983; Wanous et al 1992) and positively related to turnover intentions (Porter and Steers 1973; Wanous et al 1992), and job satisfaction and turnover intentions are negatively correlated with each other (Major et al 1995). Other studies on new employee socialization also identified similar results, although their samples were chosen from a range of industries (Chao et al 1994; Major et al 1995). Young and Lundberg (1996) state that in hospitality firms new employees if not satisfied will leave within the first few months of employment. Such a situation accentuates the need to better understand the new employee socialization process within the context of a psychological contract. Fishbein and Ajzen developed the “Theory of Reasoned Action” (TRA) model over a number of publications (Ajzen and Fishbein 1972, 1980; Fishbein and Ajzen 1975). This model has been utilized by researchers to investigate human behavior in the disciplines of marketing and social psychology (Armitage and Conner 1999; Buttle and Bok 1996; Conner et al 2001). Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaw (1988) investigated the effectiveness of the TRA model by conducting metaanalyses and concluded that it has strong predictive utility, even when it is used to investigate situations and activities that do not fall within the boundary conditions originally specified for the model. This model describes an individual’s behavioral intentions where he/she has a high degree of volitional control and makes reasoned choices among alternatives. According to Fishbein (1967), an individual’s (behavioral) intention to perform a specific act with respect to a given stimulus object and situation, is a function of the individual’s attitudes towards the behavior and subjective norms. Attitudes, in this context, represent overall evaluations of the behavior as positive or negative for the individual. Thus, individuals are more likely to intend to perform a behavior if they have a positive attitude towards it. Subjective norms assess the perceived social pressures to perform or not perform a particular behavior, and consist of two components which are multiplicatively combined. The first component is an estimate of the opinion of people who are most important to the individual as to whether he/she should perform the behavior or not (normative beliefs); and the second component is the desire to comply with these beliefs (motivation to comply). Individuals are,

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therefore, more likely to intend to perform a behavior if they perceive social pressure from most referent(s) to perform the behavior. The TRA model has been used to predict an employee’s behavior in hotel marketing and social psychology research (Buttle and Bok 1996; Conner et al 2001), but probably never in social science research related to new socialization, particularly within the Chinese context in hotel and tourism settings. In this study, the role of subjective norms was investigated in the relationship between unmet expectations and job satisfaction and turnover intentions among new Chinese employees in this industry. In Chinese society, the motivation to comply with the most important reference group(s) is high and seems to be related to cultural influences. It can be explained by the collectivistic culture of Chinese who are more concerned with “face saving” and the significance of personal relationships (Yang 1992) than people in individualistic cultures (Ting-Toomey 1988). Face saving, in the context of conflict management in Chinese societies, requires one not to argue or disagree. To the Chinese, when one is involved in an argument with a close friend, it becomes difficult for the two people to remain friends (Gao, Toomey and Gudykunst 1996). In order to maintain face-saving and good relationships with people, especially those who are considered most important, Chinese are willing to comply with the opinion of the reference group(s). Traditionally they teach their children to stick to a pattern of obedience and piety (King and Bond 1985; Lin and Fu 1990) and when they grow up, they embrace strong beliefs in this pattern of behavior. Therefore, it may be predicted that behavioral intentions are affected by the opinions of the reference group(s) and the degree of willingness to comply with them.

Hypotheses and Research Design A framework of the model for this study is based on previous research (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975; Major et al 1995; Wanous et al 1992). Studies regarding organizational newcomers’ unmet expectations (Greenhaus, Seidel and Marinis 1983; Porter and Steers 1973; Wanous et al 1992), and TRA (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980; Conner et al 2001; Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaw 1988) have shown that unmet expectations are negatively related to job satisfaction and positively related to turnover intentions during the early stage of new employees’ socialization while subjective norms are related to behavioral intentions to act. In light of these findings, it is reasonable to develop the following two hypotheses: H1 : Subjective norms positively moderate the relationship between unmet expectations and job satisfaction. H2 : Subjective norms negatively moderate the relationship between unmet expectations and turnover intentions.

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Sampling Procedures and Study Instrument Drawing on the literature to define new employees (Louis 1980; Major et al 1995; Saks 1995), all those who had been employed by the chosen hotel, travel agent, and airline companies for at least three months but not more than six were invited to participate in the survey. For the hotel sector, the sampling frame consisted of a list of 83 member properties of The Hong Kong Hotels Association. A systematic random sampling method was used to choose hotels from the list; every fifth one was identified after the first was randomly selected. Fourteen properties accepted the invitation and participated in the survey. The travel agents were identified through the Travel Agents Registry (1999), which is a statutory body of the Hong Kong government that manages and regulates them. Among them, five were chosen by a judgmental sampling method, on the basis that each had more than 200 employees. This method was used based on the researchers’ judgment of the sampling population (Babbie 1995), that the chosen agents could have a higher opportunity of hiring new recruits than the others. However, only two consented to allow their newly hired employees to participate. A similar approach was used for the airline sector, and only one based in Hong Kong with over 11,000 staff was chosen to participate in the survey conducted in early 1999. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all new employees through the human resources managers of the selected sample units. Those managers helped to collect the completed surveys and returned them to the authors. A comprehensive briefing session regarding objectives of the study, data collection procedures, and the questionnaire was conducted with responsible persons of the human resources departments to help increase the response rate and reduce non-response error. The first sample consisted of 143 new employees from the chosen hotels, and 119 (83.2%) questionnaires were returned. The second sample consisted of 213 new personnel from the two travel agents, and 170 (79.8%) usable questionnaires were returned. Respondents in the last sample, numbering 165, were from the airline company, and 128 (77.6%) usable questionnaires were obtained. Altogether 521 questionnaires were distributed, with 417 usable responses (80%) received. The whole sample consisted of 43.41% male and 56.59% female respondents; 78.18% were in the age group between 21 to 30 and 10.31% were between 31 to 40. The great majority of respondents (99.28%) were educated to secondary school level or above. In terms of marital status, 88.2% of the respondents were single. The questionnaire consisted of four sections. The first determined new employees’ expectations and perceptions of work; the second measured the degree of subjective norms; the third investigated overall job satisfaction and turnover intentions; and the fourth gathered demographic data. As the target sample was Chinese, the survey instrument was translated into Chinese using a blind translation-back-translation method as described by Brislin (1976). A pilot survey was conducted with 21 new employees in hotels. The

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reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) for the questionnaire constructs ranged from .67 to .89, which were close to or exceeded the recommended significance level of .70 (Nunnally and Bernstein 1994). For Hackman and Oldham’s “Job Diagnostic Survey”, Lee-Ross (1998) found satisfactory internal consistency of the scales among a sample of hotel workers. Similar scales for measuring the subjective norms and socialization outcomes were found reliable in other social science studies. Examples include studies by Conner et al (2001) for the subjective norm (α=.81), and by Major et al (1995) for the socialization outcomes (α ranged from .87 to .90). Variable Measurement and Analytical Method Job expectations and job perceptions constructs were measured using the Job Diagnostic Survey instrument developed by Hackman and Oldham (1980). This instrument has been used extensively in research projects, and its validity was supported in those projects (Hackman and Oldham 1980). Some items, including chance for promotion and growth, interesting work, and responsibility, were also adapted from McCleary and Weaver (1988). The first part of the measure focused on the pre-entry psychological contract regarding expectations; the second asked about post-entry perceptions. There were 17 attributes on the measuring scales of job expectations and perceptions. A representative item of the scale regarding expectations is: “I expected that my work would be interesting.” The coefficient alpha obtained for expectations in this study was .86. An example of a job perception item is: “I found that my work is interesting.” A coefficient alpha reliability estimate of .87 was obtained for this measure. Since it was a cross-sectional survey, the respondents were asked to recall their expectations. The response format for each measure was a five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Scores reflecting the extent to which expectations were unmet, met, or exceeded were derived by computing difference scores between the two measures. In this case, the measure taken in expectations was subtracted from the measure obtained in perceptions. Similar tabulations of unmet expectations were found in a study by Major et al (1995). Subject norms were determined based on the measuring scales developed by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975). One was for measuring normative beliefs and the other for motivation to comply. A two-item scale was used to measure respondents’ normative beliefs. Attribute evaluations were phrased as: “Most people who are important to me think that I should not quit my current job”, and “Most people who are important to me think that I should be satisfied with my present job”. Motivation to comply was measured by asking respondents to indicate the extent to which they agreed with the statement: “In general, I do what most people who are important to me think I should do”. Respondents provided their answers on a 5-point Likert scale ranging between strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The coefficient alpha obtained for the subject norms in this study was .66. As to job satisfaction, previous research suggests that a single-item

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measure is stable and reproducible and may reflect this more accurately than many facet measures (Scarpello and Campbell 1983). In the current study, job satisfaction was measured using a single-item instrument developed by Van de Ven and Ferry (1980) on a 10-point scale ranging from very dissatisfied (1) to very satisfied (10). Turnover intentions were measured using a single-item instrument developed by Ostroff and Kozlowski (1989). The statement was: “I often think about quitting my current job”. The respondents were asked to indicate the extent of agreement using a 10-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (10). Scale reliability analysis was used to measure internal consistency of each construct and the Cronbach’s alpha was set at .70 (Robinson, Shaver and Wrightsman 1991). To test for homogeneity of the sampled population, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted using sex, age, marital status, type of company, and tenure as independent variables, with subjective norms, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions as dependent variables. Similar tests were found in the literature when the samples were from different industries (Major et al 1995). Principal components analysis with VARIMAX rotation was used to extract the factors. As the factor analysis attempted to reduce the number of original variables to a smaller set of uncorrelated ones for subsequent use in hierarchical multiple regression analyses, an orthogonal solution appeared to be the most appropriate, and the VARIMAX proved very successful as an analytical approach to obtaining an orthogonal rotation of factors (Hair, Anderson, Tatham and Black 1998). Factor loadings greater than .50 were considered significant in the study. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess interactions involving composite variables (Evans 1991). According to Cohen and Cohen (1983:305), the two variables, u and v, are said to exert a moderation effect in their accounting for variance in criterion Y when a non-zero u×v interaction occurs. For example, u becomes a moderator when it interacts with v to enhance predictability of Y. The statistically significant difference was set with P at <.05 based on conventional guidelines (Hair et al 1998). In the study, the equation of hierarchical multiple regression for a given potential moderator X2 is: Yi = b1X1 + b2X1X2 + C where Yi:socialization outcome; bi:partial regression coefficient; X1:job factor; X2:potential moderator; X1X2:interaction term between X1 and X2; and C:constant number. Data Analysis The results of the MANOVA were found to be nonsignificant, indicating that the samples’ respondents did not differ demographically. It was also found that there were strong and significant correlations among the job expectations difference scores (unmet expectations),

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subjective norms, and socialization outcomes, and turnover intentions were negatively correlated with all other variables. Table 1 shows that three factors were extracted from the 17 job attributes by factor analysis with Eigenvalues over 1, and with factor loadings greater than .50. The three factors are defined by the original variables that load most heavily on them. The first factor, job benefits, is composed of six original variables which had high loadings on that dimension: reasonable work hours, competitive salary, convenient location, favorable working conditions, employment security, and competitive fringe benefits. The loadings of these six variables on the job factor are .73, .67, .67, .61, .62, and .69, respectively, representing one abstract, homogeneous underlying dimension that accounts for 35.7% of the variance. The rest of the factors and their associated variables are: job prospects and nature (11.4%), and work atmosphere (6.7%). The cumulative percentage of the total variance extracted by the three factors achieved 53.8%. Table 2 summarizes the findings for the two hypotheses in this study. Job benefits explained a significant amount of the variance in job satisfaction (R2=.12, P<.01) and turnover intentions (R2=.05, P<.01) in the respective step one analysis. In respective step two, subjective norms explained a significant amount of incremental variance accounted for Table 1. Principal Component and VARIMAX Factor Analysis for Job Attributes Item

Loading

Factor 1: Job Benefits 4 0.73 5 0.67 8 0.67 10 0.61 13 0.62 14 0.69

Factors

I had reasonable work hours I found that my salary is competitive My work location from home is convenient to me My working conditions are favorable I have a sense of job security with this organization I found that my fringe benefits (eg, medical insurance, holidays, duty meals) are competitive Factor 2: Job Prospects and Nature 1 0.68 I found that my work is interesting 3 0.62 I had a chance for increasing job responsibilities 6 0.61 I felt that I have an opportunity for promotion 9 0.54 I received training programs to help me perform my duties effectively 16 0.53 I received appreciation from supervisors for the work I performed 17 0.71 I felt that I have an opportunity for growth Factor 3: Work Atmosphere 2 0.80 I could get access to my supervisor most of the time 7 0.59 I felt part of the team with my colleagues 11 0.70 I found that my supervisors provided sympathetic help with my personal (not work) problems other than work 12 0.63 I have a sense of loyalty to this organization 15 0.70 I found that there are nice people to work with

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in job satisfaction (⌬R2=.13, P<.01), and turnover intentions (⌬R2=.07, P<.01). The results of regression analysis in this step show that the variable of subjective norms was a significant factor in predicting job satisfaction positively (that is, significant and positive partial correlation β of subjective norms emerged in the regression models), and turnover intentions negatively (significant but negative partial correlation β of subjective norms was found). With respect to step three, the interaction term between benefits and subjective norms produces only significant additional variance in job satisfaction (⌬R2=.01, P<.05), Table 2. Hierarchical Regression for Job Factor and Subjective Norms (SN) Variable Job Satisfaction: Step 1—Job benefits (JB) Step 2—Subjective Norms (SN) Step 3—JB×SN Turnover Intentions: Step 1—Job benefits (JB) Step 2—Subjective Norms (SN) Step 3—JB×SN Job Satisfaction: Step 1—Job Prospects and Nature (JPN) Step 2—Subjective Norms (SN) Step 3—JPN×SN Turnover Intentions: Step 1—Job Prospects and Nature (JPN) Step 2—Subjective Norms (SN) Step 3—JPN×SN Job Satisfaction: Step 1—Work Atmosphere (WA) Step 2—Subjective Norms (SN) Step 3—WA×SN Turnover Intentions: Step 1—Work Atmosphere (WA) Step 2—Subjective Norms (SN) Step 3—WA×SN

R

R2

⌬R2

.34 .49

.12 .24

.12 .13

.50

.25

.01

F (df)

⌬F

45.70b(3, 413) 54.22b 67.97b 4.91a 18.67b(3, 413) .22 .35

.05 .12

.05 .07

.35

.12

.00

21.42b 32.96b .10 60.75b(3, 413)

.45

.21

.21

107.60b

.55

.31

.10

59.11b

.55

.31

.00

.62 20.99b(3, 413)

.26

.07

.07

30.87b

.36

.13

.06

29.49b

.36

.13

.00

.55 47.37b(3, 413)

.32

.11

.11

48.68b

.50

.25

.14

78.44b

.51

.26

.01

4.68a b

17.81 (3, 413) .18

.03

.03

14.26b

.34

.11

.08

37.79b

.34

.11

.00

.21

Note: The F value for each variable is for the whole equation. a p<.05. b p<.01.

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but not in relation to turnover intentions. Similarly, the interaction term between subjective norms and work atmosphere provides a significant amount of incremental variance accounted for only in job satisfaction (⌬R2=.01, P<.05). The interacting effects of career prospects and nature and subjective norms on respective job satisfaction and turnover intentions were not found to be significant in this study. Therefore, the first hypothesis receives some support in that subjective norms produced moderating effects on the relationship between certain factors and job satisfaction. That is, they interacted with respective employment benefits and work atmosphere to influence the level of job satisfaction. However, the second hypothesis that subjective norms negatively moderate the relationship between unmet expectations and turnover intentions does not receive any support in this study. Figure 1 shows the plot-chart of the nature of the significant moderating effects by subjective norms on the relationship between benefits and satisfaction. It was found that high subjective norms produced a higher level of satisfaction than low ones did in unmet expectations. Yet the amelioration effect diminished significantly when exceeded expectations of job benefits emerged. Figure 2 shows that high subjective norms result in a higher level of satisfaction in unmet expectations of work atmosphere. For job benefits, similar results emerge which show that the satisfaction levels with respect to high- and low-levels of subjective norms converged and exceeded expectations of work atmosphere. Study Findings Subjective norms were found to be a significant factor in predicting job satisfaction positively, and turnover intentions negatively. This implies that if people who are important to the respondents think that they should feel satisfied in their present position, the respondents are

Figure 1. Moderation between Subjective Norms and Job Benefits/Satisfaction

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likely to do so. Further, their intentions to leave were reduced when those important to them thought that they should not quit. It appears that the respondents’ behavioral intentions were influenced by their most important “significant others” during the early stage of socialization, as they are particularly prone to comply with what those important people think. On the other hand, subjective norms interacted with unmet expectations of work benefits and atmosphere. This produced moderating effects on job satisfaction, but not on turnover intentions. However, the role of subjective norms as moderators was not overwhelmingly supported. Having said that, their main effects on the outcomes of socialization did receive strong support in this study. For example, in terms of job satisfaction and turnover intentions, the gap factor of benefits explained a significant amount of the variance in job satisfaction (R2=.12) and turnover intentions (R2=.05). The amounts of variance in both increased by .13 and .07, respectively, when subjective norms were introduced into the regression. Thus, high subjective norms were likely to be able to ameliorate the respective negative effects of unmet expectations regarding job benefits, and work atmosphere on job satisfaction. These results can possibly be explained by the uniqueness of the Chinese culture in hotel and tourism businesses in Hong Kong. First, according to Snyder (1974), self-monitoring is in fact a personality construct that describes differences in the degree to which people adjust their behavior to the situation. A high self-monitor is highly attuned and responsive to the cues of other people and uses those interpersonal and social signals to determine how best to manage his or her own presentation (McCann and Higgins 1988). In contrast to this, low self-monitors exhibit behavior that is relatively stable from situation to situation. They are less concerned with the social conse-

Figure 2. Moderation between Subjective Norms and Work Atmosphere

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quences of their actions (Berger and Roloff 1982) and may rely on a schema which says that they will do something only if they feel like doing it (Kruglanski and Klar 1985). Research has demonstrated that Chinese people who rate high in self-monitoring strive to change their behavior in accordance with the situation and those surrounding them (Yang 1992). In China, behavioral norms exist that reinforce the avoidance of criticism and winning of approval by fitting in with the situation. Second, close friendship, kinship, and family in the Chinese culture are important in the context of behavioural norms. The term “close friend” is highly intimate (Hui and Villareal 1989; Wheeler, Reis and Bond 1989), and refers to the most important persons for someone in life. Chinese are prone to comply with expectations of their close friends and family members. Such behavior can be explained in terms of the concept “face”. Conflict management styles are linked to one’s concern for face saving. Concern for other-face often leads to a nonconfrontational style of conflict management, such as avoiding, obliging, and compromising (Gao et al 1996). Therefore, to “give other face” helps both to maintain harmony and to affirm the relational identity of the self (Bond 1993). Third, in the Chinese culture, children are traditionally taught inhibition of expression and a general pattern of obedience and piety (Ho 1996; King and Bond 1985). For example, respect for parents is emphasized, and that may involve a continual display of obedience throughout life. Taking parents’ advice is an indication of obedience and respect that cannot be undermined. When children grow up, the pattern of obedience and respect to senior people will become inherent factors of their behavior. As such, it appears that listening to senior people or mentors in an organization and taking their advice are an individual’s expressions of respect, obedience, and piety that are encouraged in the context of the culture. It is important to note that the factor of turnover intentions was not moderated by subjective norms in the study. A possible explanation is new employees’ awareness of the poor economic situation in Hong Kong at the time of the survey in early 1999. Realization that the unemployment rate had increased significantly in the tourism industry and that it would not be easy for them to secure another position if they left their jobs might induce them to stay despite other factors. Thus, new employees might not be motivated to think about leaving their work with or without the influence of the subjective norms. CONCLUSION Previous studies used the unmet expectations model to investigate new employee socialization and its outcomes (Major et al 1995). Others employed the framework of TRA to assess behavioral intentions in marketing research (Buttle and Bok 1996). This study takes a further step to combine the unmet expectation model and TRA. Subjective norms, the major component of the latter, was hypothesized to produce moderating effects on the relationship between unmet expec-

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tations and job satisfaction and turnover intentions among new employees in the tourism industry. The results of the study were statistically significant, and the findings indicate that new employees’ affective evaluation of jobs and behavioral intentions are influenced by the Chinese cultural characteristics in Hong Kong, rooted from traditional beliefs, values, and norms. Based on the findings and discussion of the results, some suggestions and recommendations are made in an attempt to enhance new employees’ job satisfaction. Particularly, companies where Chinese employees are dominant should find the suggestions and recommendations to be of practical value. One, supervisors are likely to play the role of leaders as well as close friends to new employees, and may have influence on their behavioral intentions and subsequent behavior. Therefore, a departmental mentor should be appointed to take care of newcomers. This person will probably be one of most important persons in the working life of newcomers. Such mentors should be people-oriented; willing to teach, assist, counsel, and support newcomers; and capable of guiding and leading new employees to think about work positively. Two, normatively speaking, most important persons to a new employee are probably his/her family members or close friends. If they are provided with an appropriate perspective of what the new employee is doing at work, they are likely to be able to provide moral support and encouragement for him/her. Thus, it is suggested to arrange for family-contact events such as a “Family Day” or “Sharing with Your Family Day”. Family members can be invited to visit their relative’s workplace, and to get to know the supervisors and managers during such social gatherings. The more they know about the perspective of the business enterprise and their relative’s work, the more they can provide support. There are several limitations in the study that may have biased the conclusions drawn from the findings. First, the survey was conducted early in 1999, relatively soon after the Asian financial crisis hit the region in late 1997. The unemployment rate reached 4.2% at that time compared to around 2.0% before the crisis. The poor economic situation at the time of the survey might have influenced newcomers’ affective evaluation of their expectations and perceptions of work, level of satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Second, the study was crosssectional and respondents were asked to recall their job expectations after hire. Their poor memory might have biased the results (Dunnette, Arvey and Banas 1973; Steers 1977). In future research, a longitudinal study of new employees’ socialization process is suggested in order to avoid potential bias in the retrospective account of expectations. In addition, a similar research study could be conducted again in Hong Kong when the economy has recovered. Comparison of the results could then be made to determine the impacts of economic conditions on respondents’ affective evaluation of tourism jobs, and the possible biases of economic factors could be identified. Future research could also focus on a cross-cultural study of subjective norms on new employees’ behavioral intentions, given

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the fact that their perceived social pressures to perform or not perform A a particular behavior seem to be driven by individual cultural values.왎

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Submitted 8 March 2001. Resubmitted 28 August 2001. Resubmitted 11 February 2002. Resubmitted 27 March 2002. Accepted 2 April 2002. Final version 7 May 2002. Refereed anonymously. Coordinating Editor: Abraham Pizam