Abstract
Job insecurity is a predominant work stressor that has negative effects for individuals and organizations. The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of the effect of organizational management, more specifically of production- and employee-oriented leadership, on job insecurity. Moreover, two potential mediators of leadership—goal clarity and trust—are investigated. Cross-sectional questionnaire data (n = 1329) from an acute care hospital in Sweden was used. Both leadership styles were negatively associated with job insecurity. In addition, production-oriented and employee-oriented leadership had indirect effects on job insecurity. More specifically, we found goal clarity to be the prominent mediator of the relation between production-oriented leadership and job insecurity. Organizational actions such as leadership are important for working preventively with job insecurity. It is the mechanisms of leadership that may reduce job insecurity. This is the first study to show how leadership styles may influence employees’ perceptions of job insecurity.
Highlights
Job insecurity is a predominant work stressor that has negative effects for individuals and organizations
Production-oriented leadership was positively correlated with goal clarity (r = .39, p < .001) and trust (r = .46, p < .001)
Given that experiences of job insecurity arise in an organizational context and partly depend on organizational practices, we investigated how production- and employee-oriented leadership styles relate to job insecurity
Summary
Job insecurity is a predominant work stressor that has negative effects for individuals and organizations. The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of the effect of organizational management, of production- and employee-oriented leadership, on job insecurity. We found goal clarity to be the prominent mediator of the relation between production-oriented leadership and job insecurity. Organizational actions such as leadership are important for working preventively with job insecurity. In addition to investigating the role of these two leadership types, we investigate the specific mechanisms through which the leadership styles may affect job insecurity, that is, why production- and employee-oriented leadership may be related to job insecurity. Job insecurity has often been associated with employees feeling powerless about their employment situation (Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt, 1984)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
