Looking Back and Moving Forward: Developments in Economic Stress Research

Abstract

The last few years have highlighted the intertwined nature of the coronavirus pandemic and economic stressors that many individuals face globally. Economic stressors refer to income- and employment-related sources of stress and include: economic instability (e.g., number and duration of periods of unemployment, downward mobility), economic deprivation (e.g., loss of income and financial resources), employment uncertainty (e.g., job insecurity), and economic strain (e.g., financial insecurity). As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, it was often the most economically vulnerable who lost their jobs, were forced to choose between protecting their health and protecting their livelihoods, and faced growing food and income insecurity. Unfortunately, much pre-pandemic research highlighted the numerous adverse negative effects that these stressors can have on workers and their families, including reduced physical and mental health, poorer long-term career outcomes, and impaired marital, family, and social relationships. The purpose of this symposium is to respond to the AOM 2022 call for research that can enable us to create a better world together; indeed, our presenters bring valuable perspectives from multiple countries (Canada, the Republic of Korea, Italy, and the United States) and continents (Asia, Europe, and North America).Topics include: the impact of technology-induced job insecurity and benefits of organizationally-provided training; the relationship between childhood economic stress and the experience of adulthood subjective economic stress; a textual statistics analysis of the past 40 years of job insecurity research; the impact of managerial listening quality on affective commitment trajectories in response to job insecurity; and, an examination of the cross-level effects of organizational financial strain climate on employee-level reactions to job insecurity. Our symposium’s theme of “Looking Back and Moving Forward” captures the thread underlying the session’s five presentations with the aim of understanding how we can leverage prior and current research on economic stressors to improve the well-being of today’s employees and what steps organizations might take moving forward to facilitate this. Technology Advancements and Employees’ Qualitative Job Insecurity: Moderating Effects of Training Presenter: Hyun Jung Lee; Washington State U. Vancouver Presenter: Andrea Bazzoli; Washington State U. Vancouver Presenter: Tahira M. Probst; Washington State U. Vancouver Presenter: Sunhee Lee; Chungnam National U. Childhood Economic Stress: How The Past Shapes The Present Presenter: Baylor Graham; Clemson U. Presenter: Robert R Sinclair; Clemson U. Synthesizing Forty Years Of Job Insecurity Research: A Textual Statistics Approach Presenter: Andrea Bazzoli; Washington State U. Vancouver Presenter: Tahira M. Probst; Washington State U. Vancouver Job Insecurity and Commitment Inconsistency: Listening as a Buffer Against Commitment Decline Presenter: Tiffany Kriz; MacEwan U. Presenter: Phillip M. Jolly; Pennsylvania State U. Presenter: Mindy Krischer Shoss; U. of Central Florida Job Insecurity and Job-related Affective Wellbeing: The Moderating Role of Financial Strain Climate Presenter: Laura Petitta; Sapienza U. of Rome Presenter: Valerio Ghezzi; Sapienza U. of Rome Presenter: Tahira M. Probst; Washington State U. Vancouver Presenter: Claudio Barbaranelli; Sapienza U. of Rome