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The background to the study and discussion of socialisation in the small firm context, as well as certain gaps identified in the socialisation research, have highlighted the need for a multidimensional approach towards studying the OS process in small firms. This approach is

characterised by inclusion of the mechanisms underpinning the key socialisation factors influencing newcomer learning and adjustment and resultant outcomes and addresses the need for socialisation research that examines the antecedent-adjustment and adjustment-outcomes relationships during the socialisation process (Bauer et al., 2007).

A first contribution of this study is to examine the socialisation process and associated socialisation variables relevant to this study in the small firm context. The majority of socialisation research has been conducted in large firms and the small body of research conducted on socialisation in small firms indicates that important differences exist in approaches to socialisation between small and large firms (Cardon & Stevens, 2004). For example, the little research undertaken that compared socialisation approaches between small and large firms found that small firms’ approaches to socialisation are likely to be more informal, while the approaches favoured by large firms are more formal (Rollag & Cardon, 2004). Notwithstanding the results of this research, an acute shortage of socialisation research in small firms exists and many questions remained unanswered in relation to socialisation in the small firm context.

A common criticism of the socialisation literature is that it remains fragmented and suffers from a lack of integration (Bauer et al., 2007). In response to calls to unify and integrate the socialisation literature, the second contribution of this study that investigates socialisation in small firms is to explore the role of social networks as a core mechanism underpinning socialisation factors influencing newcomer learning and adjustment and resultant socialisation outcomes. Very little is known about the role of social networks as a mechanism underpinning socialisation factors during the socialisation process. This is especially so in small firms. According to Morrison (2002) and Fang et al. (2011) socialisation provides the appropriate context to explore the role of social networks during the socialisation process. Morrison’s (2002) large firm study is one of the few known to date that has examined the socialisation process from a social network perspective. As an area of future research, Morrison (2002) highlighted the need to include the specific variables of socialisation tactics, newcomer proactivity and work experience as important socialisation factors to be considered when investigating the relationship between social networks and socialisation.

A third contribution of this study is to explore and understand how specific types of social networks ties influence newcomer learning and adjustment as they progress and transition through the pre- encounter and encounter phase of the socialisation process in small firms. In addition, a further contribution is to explore this progression through the pre-encounter and encounter phases, together with the role of social networks, from a newcomer and socialisation agent perspective. Although

most newcomer socialisation occurs during the pre-encounter and encounter phase of socialisation and it is argued that social network factors are likely to play a significant role in the successful transition of newcomers during these phases (Fang et al., 2011), to the best of this researcher’s knowledge, no previous research has explored the role of social networks during both the pre- encounter and encounter phases of the socialisation process in small firms from both a newcomer and socialisation agent perspective. Exploring the socialisation factors influencing newcomer learning and adjustment during the pre-encounter an encounter phases of socialisation from this perspective will contribute to understanding the relationship between antecedent and learning and adjustment factors of the socialisation process.

As a fourth contribution, this study examines the effects of the individual socialisation factor of newcomer proactivity, together with the social networks underpinning this factor, on proximal outcomes of newcomer adjustment and the resultant distal outcome. This answers increasing calls for socialisation research to examine the effects of newcomer proactivity on socialisation outcomes. In addition, although the socialisation literature has recently highlighted the need to differentiate more between proximal and distal outcomes, the primary focus of most socialisation research continues to be on the distal outcomes to the neglect of the proximal outcomes. Focusing on the proximal and distal outcomes will contribute to calls in the socialisation literature to examine both types of outcomes (Ashforth, Sluss & Harrison, 2007).

A final contribution is the employment of a mixed methods research design in this study that combines qualitative and quantitative research using an exploratory and descriptive approach. The specific research questions and research objectives guiding this study focus on seeking answers to

the “how” (exploratory) and “what” (descriptive) of the socialisation process. A further contribution

to the mixed methods research design is to collect data from both newcomers and socialisation agents during the qualitative phase of the study. The primary focus of most socialisation studies is the collection of data from newcomers only using quantitative methods and a need exists to obtain data from both newcomers and socialisation agents.

In summary, this study extends previous research and contributes to the socialisation literature by examining the socialisation process in small firms from an integrated perspective that examines the relationship between pre-encounter and encounter antecedents (i.e. organisational factors and individual factors, as well as social networks underpinning these socialisation factors) and the proximal and distal outcomes of newcomer learning and adjustment during the socialisation process. Thus, the overall research question this study seeks to answer is: how do social networks

underpin the socialisation factors influencing newcomer learning and adjustment and resultant outcomes during the socialisation process in small firms?