Nineteenth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Existent research supports a link between occupational culture and member behavior, cognitions, perceptions, and performance. Research suggests occupational culture may have a greater influence on behavior and performance than organizational culture. Research further acknowledges the importance of socialization within occupational cultures. However, research is without substantive exploration of occupational culture indoctrination and socialization methods and occurrences. This paper discusses the preliminary results of a study aimed to integrate qualitative occupational culture research findings to explore and conceptualize member indoctrination and socialization within occupational cultures. Within the interpretive framework of pragmatism, the study applies qualitative metasummary and metasynthesis techniques to meet the following objectives: Describe occupational culture indoctrination methods; Describe occupational culture socialization methods; Explore the occurrences of member indoctrination and socialization into occupational cultures; and Explore the environment of member indoctrination and socialization within occupational cultures. The study’s practice contributions include performance improvement practitioners gaining a greater understanding of occupational culture influences on performance and the potential for proactive interventions in advance of or counter to occupational culture indoctrination and socialization. Furthermore, the study’s qualitative synthesis methodologies expand occupational culture to include practical applications of the results within evidence-based practice disciplines oriented towards organizational performance improvement.