The Relationship between Job Insecurity and Safety Behavior: The Buffering Role of Leadership Ethics

Abstract

While numerous studies have delved into the ramifications of job insecurity for organizational outcomes, past endeavors have not adequately unveiled the mediating and moderating factors in the connection between job insecurity and safety behavior, especially from a positive psychology standpoint. Furthermore, the interaction between organizational leadership and job insecurity has been underexplored, despite the critical role of leaders during periods of job insecurity. Addressing these research gaps, we have devised a theoretical framework suggesting that meaningfulness of work might act as an intermediary in the link between job insecurity and safety behavior. We also hypothesize that ethical leadership might mitigate the adverse effects of job insecurity on the meaningfulness of work. Data were collected three separate times from 235 employees in the Republic of Korea. Our empirical evidence substantiates that meaningfulness of work indeed serves as a bridge between job insecurity and safety behavior. Additionally, the presence of ethical leadership moderates the interrelation between job insecurity and meaningfulness of work positively, attenuating the detrimental influence of job insecurity. These insights emphasize the fundamental roles of both meaningfulness of work (as a mediator) and ethical leadership (as a moderator) in defining the nexus between job insecurity and safety behavior.