Police recruits' predicted and felt emotions during organizational socialization

Abstract

Research on the honeymoon-hangover effect suggests that newcomers experience an initial upward increase in job attitudes and motivation upon beginning a new job, followed by a subsequent decline. However, little empirical work has been done to investigate how newcomers feel during this period of adjustment. Despite its relevance, the affective forecasting literature has also not been incorporated in the context of newcomers. In this study, we examined fluctuations in police recruits' predicted and felt emotions (i.e., happiness, anxiety, and anger) during organizational socialization (i.e., 6-month police academy training). Our results indicated that while their felt happiness did not change significantly, their anxiety and anger levels increased over time, which indicates that their felt affect exhibited a different pattern from that of the honeymoon-hangover effect. We also found that police recruits' forecasts about their future emotions during the socialization period were generally inaccurate, which is in line with the general affective forecasting literature. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.