Impact of organizational socialization tactics on newcomer job satisfaction and engagement: Core self-evaluations as moderators

•Organizational socialization tactics relate positively to newcomer job satisfaction.•This relationship is moderated by core self-evaluations (CSE).•The same relationship is much stronger when CSE is high than when it is low.•Organizational socialization tactics relate positively to newcomer work engagement.•Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in managing hotel human resources.

This study proposes and tests a new model in which newcomer core self-evaluations (CSE) moderate the effects of organizational socialization tactics (OST) on job satisfaction and work engagement. Data were collected in nine luxury hotels in China and a total of 161 parent respondents with 5000 bootstraps were analyzed using structural equation modeling technique. The results from this study indicate that newcomer job satisfaction and work engagement each is predicted by institutionalized OST directly and positively. They also indicate that CSE moderates the relationship between OST and job satisfaction, but not the one between OST and work engagement. In particular, hotel newcomers high on CSE are much more adept, than their low CSE counterparts, at translating their organizational advantages of institutionalized OST into job satisfaction. These findings as well as their theoretical and practical implications are discussed within the contexts of organizational socialization research and hotel human resource development practices.