Sponsor
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: this study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (project no. 71701074; 72132001).
Published In
Human relations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2023
Subjects
Organizational behavior -- Management
Abstract
During organizational entry, newcomers often draw upon internal resources like coworkers and supervisors to navigate their roles. Could external interactions with customers or patients hold the key to newcomer adjustment in certain job contexts? Our study, rooted in the conservation of resources theory, identifies a critical link between mistreatment from external parties and newcomer adjustment—a connection that is explained by rumination and work engagement. Through two studies involving new nurses in China (Study 1: four-wave cross-lagged panel design, N = 181; Study 2: four-wave time-lagged design, N = 198), we uncover that mistreatment from patients results in rumination among newcomers, leading to diminished task mastery and role clarity, as mediated by reduced work engagement. This ripple effect of external mistreatment persists even when accounting for internal mistreatment (abusive supervision and coworker incivility). Our results illustrate how negative interactions with external entities can hinder newcomer adjustment—a revelation with far-reaching implications for practitioners and future research.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1177/00187267231211847
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41035
Citation Details
Wang, H. J., Li, P., Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. (2023). Patient mistreatment and new nurse adjustment: The role of rumination and work engagement. human relations, 00187267231211847.