Traditionally, organizational scholars examining the socialization process new organizational members experience have done so from a post-hire viewpoint. Generally, these studies examined traditional, post-hire corporate contexts with full-time employees who have already gone through some level of organizational socialization. While technology in relation to socialization is also discussed, it is often done as part of posthire, organizationally-driven socialization tactics and many studies investigating the impact of technology rarely venture outside of this boundary.
This study examined the pre-hire socialization process and the impact of the virtual world, specifically virtual communities, on the process. Qualitative interviews grounded in two research questions explored the use of virtual communities by teachers of English as a Foreign Language classes in Thailand. The resulting themes include developing a process, how to live abroad, how to work abroad, the (mis)match, left to their own devices, and individual-within-community. Taken together, these themes provided the foundation to build a better understanding of organizational anticipatory socialization processes of English as a Foreign Language teachers in Thailand and the ways in which virtual community interaction and participation relate to the socialization and training efforts by educational institutions in Thailand.
The teachers descriptions of their organizational anticipatory socialization processes gave rise to three different implications regarding the use of virtual communities in the organizational anticipatory socialization process. First, is the need to re-conceptualize virtual communities as realistic job previews. Second, traditional definitions of socialization as a linear process are challenged by this study. Finally, the themes raised career development and vocational organizational socialization issues as a result of the teachers interactions with the virtual communities.