Organizational images help newcomers interpret their employment situations, aiding their socialization into organizations. Using Schwartz and Bilsky’s (1987) circumplex of basic human values, we developed a model to explain how newcomers’ initial images about their employers affect their psychological contract orientation as the employment relationship unfolds. In Study 1, we tested the model’s predictions using a single organization’s socialization of 798 newcomers at locations across the United States during one recruiting season. Results suggested that the images newcomers form by their second day of employment related to their psychological contract orientations after one month, which in turn predicted burnout and turnover intentions after three months. In Study 2, results from a policy-capturing study largely confirmed the linkages between initial organizational images and psychological contract orientations.
