From employee socialization to co‐evolution: A lifespan multidisciplinary conceptualization

Abstract Various theories have highlighted how employees evolve in their organization and how organizations influence this process, but only portray part of the complex relations among these interacting social entities. We thus propose a meta‐theory to unify these multiple theories, including symbolic interactionism, employee/organizational socialization theory, human resource management (HRM) systems theory, cultural consensus theory, and self‐determination theory. This integration seeks to increase our understanding of the co‐evolution process unfolding over time between individuals and the organizations to which they belong. We first propose a multilevel expansion of the symbolic interactionist framework typically used to described employee socialization. In doing so, we integrate organizational culture, climate, identity, image, reputation, and HRM systems as distinct meso‐social phenomena that can be simultaneously considered in the co‐evolution process and themselves be influenced by macro‐social processes. We then outline how this proposed framework can explain the dynamic co‐evolution occurring between employees and the organization, hoping to spur research on the improvement of social entities through psychological means.