INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION PRACTICES ON NEWCOMER ENGAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN KENYA: A CASE OF ORGANIZATIONS IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

The aim of this study was to establish the influence of organizational socialization practices on newcomer engagement in the public sector with special reference to organizations in the Energy sector. The target respondents comprised of the 271 staffs drawn from various departments at the Ministry of Energy (MoE), Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and Kenya transmission Company (KENTRACO). The study revealed that the organizational socialization practices under study cause 72.4% variation in newcomer engagement. The study also conclude that newcomers go through common learning experiences, designed to produce uniform responses to situations that permit a variety of responses as, newcomers receive clear guidelines regarding the sequence of activities and experiences they will encounter. Further, the study concludes that in the organizations under study superiors care about newcomer well-being, value their contributions, and are generally supportive, additionally strong supervisor support in their organization help newcomers in reducing burnout and intentions to quit. It would however be useful to carry out a similar study across heterogeneous sectors such as construction, banking among others.