Abstract
The worldwide economic crisis initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic certainly altered the perception of regular job insecurity dimensions and brought these to the ultimate level. When employees feel insecure, they may decide to participate in unethical behavior in the name of the company to avoid layoff and become retained employees. This study investigated the relationship between job insecurity and unethical organizational behavior through the mediating role of job embeddedness and turnover intention. A total of 685 employees working in five- and four-star hotels and category A travel agents participated in this study. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Job embeddedness and turnover intention were found to be partially mediated by the impact of job insecurity on unethical organizational behavior. Theoretical and practical implications were identified and discussed.
Highlights
The worldwide economic crisis initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic certainly altered the perception of regular job insecurity dimensions and brought these to the ultimate level
The power of the tested structural model is further proven by the significant coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.42 percent of the variance in unethical organizational behavior can be explained through job insecurity, job embeddedness, and turnover intention
Because employees in developing countries (i.e., Egypt) may be more exposed to job insecurity as a result of inadequate employment protection laws or poor economic environments [66,67], the current study has an exceptional context by testing the impacts of job insecurity on unethical organization behavior among hospitality employees in a developing country (i.e., Egypt) amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Job insecurity is a ‘perceptual phenomenon’ that focuses on the threat to an individual’s current job stability [22]. Organizational restructure, according to [27], increases employees’ job insecurity. An employees’ stress response frequently stimulates employees to participate in unethical behaviors that help to cope with the perceived threat [28]. Employees can participate in unethical organizational behavior by acting in their self-interest or the best interests of the organization. As proposed by the self-regulation theory [29,30], exercising self-control necessitates the application of a limited number of self-regulatory resources. When employees’ self-regulatory resources are depleted, employees may decide to participate in unethical behavior that benefits the organization or themselves. Job insecurity has a positive significant impact on unethical organizational behavior. The high risk of losing a job threatens the employees’ feelings of embeddedness and fit with the organization. Job insecurity has a positive significant impact on turnover intention
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