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The Impact of New Employee Demographic Characteristics on Implicit Followership: An Empirical Exploration Based on Analysis of Variance

Author(s)

Wei Zhang*

Affiliation(s)

School of Management, Guangdong University of Science and Technology, Dongguan, Guangdong, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

Implicit followership, as employees' psychological representation of the follower role, significantly influences new employees' behavioral adaptation and role identification during organizational socialization. This study focuses on new employee cohorts to explore the mechanisms by which demographic characteristics-including gender, educational attainment, and employment experience-affect their perception of implicit followership. Based on questionnaire data from 429 newly hired employees, variance analysis was employed to test for differences. Results indicate that: On the gender dimension, new male employees demonstrated significantly higher perceptions than females across dimensions including “Diligence,” “Good Citizenship,” “Loyalty,” and “Positive Implicit Followership,” suggesting a stronger tendency to identify with traditional positive follower archetypes. Regarding educational attainment, significant differences emerged across the dimensions of “good citizenship,” “loyalty,” “incompetence,” and “disobedience.” Employees with associate degrees or lower scored higher on “loyalty” and ‘incompetence’ than those with bachelor's degrees, while postgraduate degree holders demonstrated more pronounced tendencies toward “disobedience”; Regarding employment experience, new employees in their first full-time role scored significantly higher on “conformity” and “disobedience” dimensions than non-first-time workers, reflecting a dual tendency toward compliance and latent resistance during role adaptation. The study reveals the differential shaping effect of demographic variables on new employees' implicit followership cognition, expanding the application boundaries of follower theory in organizational early stages. It also provides empirical support for differentiated guidance and leadership matching strategies in human resource management.

Keywords

Implicit Followership; New Employees; Demographic Characteristics; Organizational Socialization

References

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