Transmitting affective job insecurity (AJI) within teams: Layoff effects of AJI convergence on intrateam power struggles and team outcomes

Abstract

SummaryExtant research on job insecurity (JI) largely focuses on the individual level, rather than considering the process of JI at collective, team levels. But employees' worries and anxiety about potential job losses create affective job insecurity (AJI), which can converge over time in teams, especially following dramatic changes such as layoffs. Drawing on a multilevel theory of emergence in teams and uncertainty reduction theory, this study offers theoretical predictions of AJI convergence, as well as its potential influences on team functioning and outcomes. A four‐wave, post‐layoff survey of 468 employees and 91 supervisors confirms two major predictions. First, AJI convergence exists within teams over time, as established by a consensus emergence model. Second, teams with members who converge at a high level of AJI experience intrateam power struggles that impair both team performance and team proactivity. By theorizing about the phenomenon of AJI convergence, this study not only expands the notion of JI from the individual to the team level, noting its harmful effects on teams, but also highlights the need for both team members and team leaders to pay close attention to such convergence and its potentially detrimental effects following layoffs.