Employees as customers: The role of social controls and employee socialization in developing patronage

Employees can be an important source of patronage. This article examines the role of social controls in fostering employee socialization and the role of socialization in influencing the preferences of employees to patronize their employer for goods and services. It is found that social controls lead to higher employee socialization, which results in higher patronage preferences for the goods and services of the organization that employs them. J BUSN RES 1996. 35.179-187.