The Double-edged Sword Effects of Job Insecurity on Supervisor-rated Performance

Abstract

Research evidences show that job insecurity has incongruent predictions on employees’ performance. We suggest that the relationship between employees’ subjective job insecurity and supervisor-rated performance is more complex than previously assumed. By integrating social exchange and proactive preservation mechanisms of job insecurity with the perceived workplace control contingency, this study investigates when and why job insecurity influences supervisor-rated performance via two opposing pathways. Specifically, we propose that the effects of employees’ subjective job insecurity on impression management and workplace deviance are contingent on their leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships. In a three-wave survey using data collected from 69 supervisors and their 314 subordinates in China, we found that job insecurity exerted paradoxical effects on supervisor-rated performance via two opposing mechanisms. Specifically, job insecurity had a positive indirect effect on performance via more impression management when LMX was high, whereas job insecurity had a negative indirect effect on performance via more workplace deviance when LMX was low. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.