Socialization and Identification in Work Isolation - A qualitative study of how newcomers' organizational identities are affected by completely digital work.

Abstract: Abstract: This study investigates how completely digital work affects new members in an organization in terms of organizational identity (OI) and how they become a part of the organization's culture. With the spike of completely digital work practices induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an increasing need to better understand this phenomenon in light of the surge of new empirical data constellations. The study is conducted in the interpretivist paradigm and uses qualitative data in the form of 22 deep interviews (excluding one pilot-interview) conducted in a semi-structured format. The data is analysed through a theoretical framework focused on identity, identification and socialization of newcomers in a digital context. The main findings highlight that interactions in relationships form a crucial aspect of socialization. Due to the limited interactions in the completely digital work context, relationship development is inhibited. This results in less clear and frequent feedback, which contributes to the identification process not converging to an organizational identity to the same extent. It can also be concluded that the organization can induce socialization aspects for newcomers such as through assigning mentors in order to enable the identification process to align with a greater degree of organizational identity.