Beyond Organizational Socialization – or the Difference That a Department Makes. the Case of the European Commission

In addressing whether and how individuals assume norms, values and beliefs from their environment scholarship has tended to direct analyses at the level of the organization. This paper goes beyond the existing literature to investigate what difference, if any, departmental experience makes. Drawing on an original database of 5,545 responses to an online survey conducted by a team led by the authors, this paper examines this question. It finds not only that department experience has an effect, but that individuals continue to be influenced by the departments in which they have previously served even when they have moved on. The finding has important implications both for the organizations concerned and for existing scholarship on socializing processes in international administrations and, potentially, in public bureaucracies more broadly.