Informal socialization in public organizations: Exploring the impact of informal socialization on enforcement behaviour of Dutch veterinary inspectors
| Author | Carina Schott,Daphne Van Kleef,Trui Steen |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12375 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
SYMPOSIUM ARTICLE
Informal socialization in public organizations:
Exploring the impact of informal socialization on
enforcement behaviour of Dutch veterinary
inspectors
Daphne Van Kleef
1
| Trui Steen
2
| Carina Schott
3
1
Institute of Political Science, Leiden
University, Leiden, The Netherlands
2
Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven,
Leuven, Belgium
3
Kompetenzzentrum für Public Management,
Universität Bern, Bern, Switzerland and
Utrecht University School of Governance,
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Correspondence
Daphne van Kleef, Institute of Political
Science, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg
52, Leiden 2333 AK, The Netherlands.
Email: d.d.van.kleef@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Funding information
Nederlandse Organisatie voor
Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Grant/Award
number: 452-10-001; Netherlands
Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
Vidi-grant
Organizations try to socialize employees' behaviour through formal
practices such as training programmes and selection procedures.
This article focuses on how times of informal socialization, outside
the organization's direct sphere of influence, impact the behaviour
of employees. The research is based on data from 67 semi-
structured interviews with Dutch veterinary inspectors in a cross-
sectional and a longitudinal panel. Their work is characterized by
intensive and at times adverse contact with inspectees, yet limited
interaction with their colleagues. The results show that informal
socialization has an important impact on the organizational sociali-
zation of inspectors, and provides further insights into the dynamic
interplay between formal socialization practices and informal
socialization. In addition, the research provides empirical evidence
for the role of emotional processes in organizational socialization.
1|INTRODUCTION
How to manage employee behaviour is a prominent question in any organization. This may be especially true for
public organizations where civil servants' trade-offs between contradictory values have an impact on the legitimacy
and accountability of the organization (Wilson 1989; Rainey 2003; De Graaf and Van der Wal 2010; Thomann
et al. 2017). One obvious way in which organizations manage their employees is through rules and regulations or by
applying instruments such as checklists and procedures (Tuijn et al. 2011). However, as not every situation can be
regulated, much discretion remains with the street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky 1980). Public organizations try to man-
age the use of this discretionary power by communicating expectations of appropriate behaviour through formal
practices such as training programmes, internships or mentorships (Kaufman 1960; Oberfield 2014). In the organiza-
tional socialization literature these formal practices are labelled institutionalized or formal socialization. They help
Received: 9 November 2016 Revised: 24 July 2017 Accepted: 28 August 2017
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12375
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedand is not used for commercial purposes.
© 2017 The Authors. Public Administration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Public Administration. 2019;97:81–96. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm 81
shape the organizational socialization process of employees (Jones 1986); the process through which ‘individuals
acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required to adapt to a work role’(Wanberg 2012, p. 17). Suc-
cessful socialization processes contribute to the organization's continuity and performance since they stimulate
employees to internalize the organizational values, mission, and visions (Saks and Ashforth 1997; Ashforth
et al. 2007; Bauer et al. 2007; Wanberg 2012).
The process of organization socialization includes more than just the formal (institutionalized) practices (Van
Maanen and Schein 1979). The contact with colleagues, which is an important prerequisite for socialization to take
place (Reichers 1987), can also be the result of day-to-day contact with colleagues and work floor experiences
instead of just formal practices. These forms of informal socialization are spontaneous in nature and are uncon-
trolled by the organization's management. Informal socialization can take place inside (e.g., interaction with col-
leagues) as well as outside the organization (e.g., contact with clients) (Jones 1986; Rollag 2012).
1
Informal
socialization that happens outside the organization creates the risk of employees being ‘captured’by their clients'
interests (Kaufman 1960). This is problematic as capture negates the perceptions and behaviour that formal prac-
tices have tried to establish (Kaufman 1960; Lipsky 1980; Maynard-Moody and Musheno 2003). Little research has
been carried out into the impact of informal socialization on employees' adoption of organizationally desired behav-
iour (Ashforth et al. 2007; Rollag 2012). In this research we aim to increase our understanding of the organizational
socialization process by addressing the question: How does informal socialization impact on organizational socializa-
tion outcomes (employee behaviour as desired by the organization)?
Inspection services provide a critical case in studying the impact of informal socialization since inspectors often
have little contact with their colleagues, yet frequent contact with their clients. These street-level bureaucrats ‘per-
form their work in a micro-network or “web”of multiple, both vertical and horizontal, relations’(Hupe and Hill
2007, p. 284). In contrast to other street-level workers such as social workers (Evans 2010) or police officers
(Oberfield 2014), inspectors' contact with colleagues is limited (Reichers 1987). Yet, an effective socialization pro-
cess in the case of inspection services is especially important as ‘capture’by the client's economic interests can
jeopardize public values such as the quality of healthcare (healthcare inspectorate), quality of education (educational
inspection) or food safety (food safety services) that the inspectors are required to uphold.
In this research we study Dutch veterinary inspectors who monitor the food production chain where living ani-
mals are involved. The process they inspect is characterized by conflicts between the economic interests of inspec-
tees (e.g., slaughterhouses) and the values of food safety, animal health, and animal welfare that the inspectors are
expected to uphold. These tensions put a strain on the relationship between inspectors and inspectees to such an
extent that they sometimes result in aggressive behaviours (Van Kleef 2016). Our research takes a qualitative, in-
depth approach, thereby adding a different type of knowledge to the mainly quantitative field of organizational
socialization studies (Vancouver and Warren 2012). First, we introduce our theoretical framework, which builds on
the organizational socialization literature. Next, we present our case selection and research design. An analysis of
the veterinary inspectors' socialization process is followed by a discussion of the main findings and a conclusion.
Our findings show that informal socialization can influence the enforcement attitude of inspectors.
2|THEORY
2.1 |The process of organizational socialization and its effects
Distinct fields of study such as organizational behaviour, human resource management, organizational theory and
industrial-organizational psychology have focused on different aspects of the process of organizational socialization
1
To prevent confusion with the concept of institutions as used in the public administration literature, we have chosen to use the
formal–informal distinction instead of the institutionalized–individualized distinction that is commonly used in the organizational
socialization literature
82 VAN KLEEF ET AL.
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