High Levels Of Job Insecurity Research Articles

More personal values, better soft skills: An explorative study with a group of Italian university students

We live in a complex social world characterized by high levels of job insecurity and ever-changing work trends. In this context, hard skills alone are not enough to be hired and promoted, and soft skills have become a "musthave" for students and job seekers. Several research highlighted the positive role of some active learning methods in developing soft skills such as servicelearning.However, personal characteristics might make people prone to be more skilled in specific areas than others. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the association between personal values and soft skills in a group of Italian university students. Two hundred forty-eight university students (women = 79.0%; Mage = 22.96, SD = 3.23) took part in the study. Participants completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the ERASMUS+K2 eLene4work Scale. Path analysis findings show several associations between the study's variables. Personal-focused values are mainly associated with intrapersonal soft skills, while social-focused values are primarily related to interpersonal soft skills. Further significant relationships between values and soft skills emerge, especially in the case of openness to change and self-transcendence values. Limitations of the study, future research developments, and practical implications of the results are discussed.

The Effect of Job Insecurity on Turnover Intention through Job Satisfaction as a Mediating Variable: A Case Study in the Hospital of Nahdlatul Ulama Jombang

This research aims to ascertain, analyze, and elucidate the influence of job insecurity and job satisfaction on turnover intention, the impact of job insecurity on job satisfaction, and the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between job insecurity and turnover intention. The study adopts a quantitative approach and focuses on a population of 222 employees, with a sample size of 70 individuals from Nahdlatul Ulama Hospital in Jombang. Data were collected through the distribution of questionnaires employing a Likert scale. Data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) with the assistance of the SmartPLS software. The findings of this research indicate that the perception of high job insecurity among employees can potentially trigger an increase in turnover intention. Concurrently, high levels of job insecurity may lead to a decline in job satisfaction. Furthermore, low job satisfaction can also contribute to an increase in turnover intention among employees. Additionally, it is observed that job satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between job insecurity and turnover intention. This study contributes valuable insights into the complex dynamics of job insecurity, job satisfaction, and turnover intention in the context of healthcare organizations. The implications of these findings extend to the broader field of human resource management and offer practical guidance for mitigating turnover intention among healthcare professionals.

Measuring the satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs in the workplace

Researchers have been looking at the issue of psychological need satisfaction in the workplace since the 1930s. Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a concept that emerged in the 1980s, stands out from other theories by uniquely capturing basic psychological needs as (1) innate and (2) promoting psychological growth, internalization, and well-being. Allowing basic psychological needs to be met at work is essential for autonomous work motivation, positive attitudes, good behaviors, and employee well-being, while frustration of basic psychological needs at work is associated with higher levels of job insecurity, engaging in unproductive behavior at work, and higher stress related to work, which in turn predicts higher levels of somatic symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and absenteeism from work due to illness. Therefore, it is crucial to measure basic need satisfaction and frustration at work and adjust management to improve on these dimensions. The purpose of the research is to review the research tools used to measure the satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs at work within the SDT framework. To achieve the research objective, the review of scientific literature available in the EBSCOhost database: APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles on the keyword “basic psychological needs” AND “self-determination theory” AND “scale” was done along with reviewing the research tools available on the Center for Self-Determination Theory website. The collection obtained was completed using the snowball technique. A comprehensive and up-to-date review of tools used to measure satisfaction (and frustration) of basic psychological needs in the workplace was established within the framework of Deci and Ryan’s SDT.

An Investigation of the Moderating Effects of National Culture Values on the Interaction Between Job Insecurity and Employability on Employee Outcomes

This study investigated the combined effects of national culture and perceptions of employability on relationships between job insecurity and work and non-work outcomes for individual employees. Data from 28,674 participants in 35 nations were obtained from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey. Results showed that nation-level differences in individualism/collectivism (I/C), uncertainty avoidance (UA), and masculinity/femininity (M/F) accounted for variation in the degree to which perceptions of employability buffered the negative effects of job insecurity on job satisfaction, work engagement, and subjective well-being. Among more collectivist cultures, employability did less to minimize the effects of job insecurity on job satisfaction than in more individualistic cultures. Employability also had a weaker effect on buffering the consequences of job insecurity for job satisfaction and work engagement when cultural uncertainty avoidance was higher. And across all three outcome measures, higher levels of job insecurity combined with lower perceptions of employability were consistently more detrimental to individuals in more masculine cultures. Results support the prevailing theory regarding the mechanisms underlying the effects of job insecurity on individuals and suggest several important practical implications for managing a global workforce.

Work stress, technological changes, and job insecurity in the retail organization context.

The study intends to investigate the relationship between work stress and job insecurity, as well as technological changes and job insecurity, with job satisfaction acting as a mediator. The study was conducted among Pakistani retail industry employees using survey questionnaires distributed online and in stores. The sample was composed of 262 retail workers from the FMCG and shopping mall industries. The responses were screened using the statistical software tool SPSS, and hypotheses were examined through SMART-PLS. The findings show that work stress has a strong relationship with job insecurity; additionally, the relationship appears to be statistically significant (β = 55.7%, p < 0.05), indicating that there is an increased level of job insecurity if work stress is increased. However, technological advancements showed less influence on job insecurity and had statistically insignificant results (β = 5.9%, p > 0.05). This demonstrates that many technological changes cause high levels of job insecurity because employees fear that they will be unable to cope with the changing environment. Furthermore, the mediating mechanism of job satisfaction was found to be significant, as employees with lower levels of satisfaction reported higher levels of insecurity, aiding in the narrowing of the gap in this section of the study. The study also has practical implications because the results show that the retail industry needs to act quickly to make sure workers do not worry about losing their jobs, especially now that COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire.

Positive Humor and Work Withdrawal Behaviors: The Role of Stress Coping Styles in the Hotel Industry Amid COVID-19 Pandemic.

Working in the hospitality industry is stressful due to the intensive workload and extended work hours; this stress has increased after the COVID-19 pandemic due to high levels of job insecurity, downsizing, and laying off procedures. Employees in the hotel industry can deal with stress positively by utilizing task-coping styles or negatively by emotion- and avoidance-coping styles. Building on the transactional theory of stress and coping, and the benign violation theory of humor, the current study explores the relationships between positive humor and work withdrawal behaviors with the mediating effects of coping styles. A total of 407 hotel employees participated, and the obtained data were analyzed by structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS). The results asserted that affiliative humor is able to reduce coping with stresses via the negative styles and to increase coping with stresses via the positive style. The results also demonstrated the ability of task-coping in reducing work withdrawal behavior. Significant insights into theoretical and practical implications are further discussed.

The role of job insecurity and work-family conflict on mental health evolution during COVID-19 lockdown

ABSTRACT The aim of this intensive longitudinal study was (1) to explore the temporal evolution of two mental health indicators (anxiety and depressive symptoms, and insomnia) throughout COVID-19 lockdown in Spain, and (2) to examine its association with two work-related stressors (job insecurity and work-family conflict). A sample of 1519 participants responded to several questionnaires during the lockdown (between 16 March and 29 April 2020). Results of latent growth modelling showed a curvilinear increase of our two mental health indicators over time (a logarithmic growth for anxiety and depression, accentuated during the first part of the lockdown, and a quadratic growth for insomnia, accentuated during the second part). Regarding its association with work-related stressors, we found that higher levels of job insecurity and work-family conflict were related to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Additionally, we found a significant interaction between time and the two forms of work-family conflict (work-to-home and home-to-work), showing that people with more work-family conflict experienced stronger growth in all mental-health indicators. Overall, this study contributes to the description of the temporal dynamics of mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain, as well as its association with two key work-related stressors.

COVID-19 moral disengagement and prevention behaviors: The impact of perceived workplace COVID-19 safety climate and employee job insecurity

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed recommendations for individual COVID-19 prevention behaviors, as well as guidance for the safe reopening of businesses. Drawing from previous research on occupational safety, business ethics, and economic stressors, we tested the hypothesis that more positive perceptions of the workplace COVID-19 safety climate would be associated with lower employee COVID-19 related moral disengagement. In turn, we predicted that higher COVID-19 moral disengagement would be associated with lower enactment of preventive behaviors both at work and in nonwork settings (i.e., a spillover effect). Further, we investigated whether employee job insecurity would impact organizational socialization processes, such that the relationship between the perceived COVID-19 safety climate and moral disengagement would be weaker at higher levels of job insecurity. By analyzing a three-wave lagged dataset of U.S. employees working on-site during the pandemic using a Bayesian multilevel framework, we found empirical support for the hypothesized moderated mediation model. We discuss the relevance of these findings (i.e., the spillover effect and the role of job insecurity) in light of the extant safety climate literature and outline how our findings have several implications for the scope and conceptualization of safety climate in light of the surge of new working arrangements, infectious diseases, and continuing employment instability.

No one is safe! But who\u2019s more susceptible? Locus of control moderates pandemic perceptions\u2019 effects on job insecurity and psychosocial factors amongst MENA hospitality frontliners: a PLS-SEM approach

BackgroundThe research aimed to formulate and test a model concerning COVID-19 perceptions effects on job insecurity and a set of psychosocial factors comprising anxiety, depression, job burnout and job alienation in the Middle East and North African (hereafter, MENA) regional context. Also, the study attempted to examine whether locus of control can moderate these hypothesised linkages amongst customer service employees working in MENA hospitality organisations.MethodsThe study is based on a sample of 885 responses to an online survey and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM).ResultsThe main findings show the existence of a significant correlation between COVID perceptions and job insecurity and all psychosocial factors, i.e., more intense COVID-19 perceptions accompany higher levels of job insecurity, anxiety, depression, job burnout and job alienation. Furthermore, our results revealed that, in pandemic time, hospitality customer service employees with external locus of control are more likely to suffer higher alienation, anxiety and depression than those with internal locus of control.ConclusionsThe research originality centres on the establishment that COVID-19 has a severe negative impact within the hospitality customer service labour force (in the MENA region). These effects were more profound for participants who claimed external locus of control than those with internal locus of control.

Attack of the Robots: The Threat of Automation on Workplace Attitudes.

Workers are increasingly confronted with the prospect that millions of jobs will be lost to automation in the near future. This leads to a question: How do automation threats affect workplace attitudes? The current research examines this question, through the use of archival and experimental samples. In our archival study (N = 4,199), analyses indicated that individuals working in sectors with high automation potential reported lower levels of job satisfaction, and these effects were mediated by higher levels of job insecurity. We then used a highly powered experimental study (N = 547) to examine which affective components of job insecurity may be responsible for these findings. Given the past literature on sadness and situational control, we hypothesized that this emotion may play a role in reducing job attitudes. Analyses supported our hypothesis; threat-evoked (vs. control) sadness led to reduced levels of job satisfaction. In contrast, fear tended to increase support for job satisfaction and affective commitment. These findings provide a key insight to a particular type of emerging job insecurity (automation), with emphasis on further understanding the link between workplace threat, job insecurity, and the affective consequences of such feeling states.

Platform work, social protection and flexicurity in Denmark

AbstractAre online platform “workers” in Denmark effectively and adequately protected against social and labour market risks? This article discusses this fundamental issue in the context of the Danish labour market, which is known for having high levels of job insecurity but a rather generous social security system. The article finds that the Danish statutory social security system provides a necessary cushion against risk, but also identifies gaps in protection, which brings into question the system’s effective coverage and the adequacy of benefits.

The relationship between stressors of temporary work and counterproductive work behaviour.

Recent research on temporary work has suggested that temporary work experiences vary greatly in quality. In light of concerns about diminished quality of some temporary work experiences, we suggest that temporary workers may experience a variety of stressful work situations that could precipitate detrimental outcomes not only for these workers, but also for their co-workers and organizations. Using a multi-wave survey of temporary workers, this study examines the relationship between economic, interpersonal, and organizational stressors and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). Specifically, we hypothesize that economic stressors (operationalized as economic hardship and job insecurity), interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints will predict the extent to which temporary workers perform CWB via emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement pathways. Three waves of data show that temporary workers experiencing higher levels of economic hardship, interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints reported greater emotional exhaustion, which was linked to increased frequency of CWBs. Additionally, higher levels of job insecurity and interpersonal conflict were related to higher levels of moral disengagement, which related to increased frequency of CWBs. These findings highlight relationships of different stressors with emotional and cognitive reactions that may trigger CWB in temporary workers.

Impact of Job Insecurity on Psychological Well- and Ill-Being among High Performance Coaches.

Background: The evaluative nature of high performance (HP) sport fosters performance expectations that can be associated with harsh scrutiny, criticism, and job insecurity. In this context, (HP) sport is described as a highly competitive, complex, and turbulent work environment. The aim of this longitudinal, quantitative study was to explore whether HP coaches’ perceptions of job insecurity and job value incongruence in relation to work would predict their psychological well- and ill-being over time. Methods: HP coaches (n = 299) responded to an electronic questionnaire at the start, middle, and end of a competitive season, designed to measure the following: job insecurity, values, psychological well-being (vitality and satisfaction with work), and psychological ill-being (exhaustion and cynicism). Structural equation model analyses were conducted using Mplus. Results: Experiencing higher levels of job insecurity during the middle of the season significantly predicted an increase in coaches’ psychological ill-being, and a decrease in their psychological well-being at the end of the season. However, value incongruence did not have a significant longitudinal impact. Conclusions: These findings cumulatively indicate that coaches’ perceptions of job insecurity matter to their psychological health at work. Consequently, it is recommended that coaches and organizations acknowledge and discuss how to handle job security within the HP sport context.

Leader humility as a predictor of employees’ feedback-seeking behavior: The intervening role of psychological safety and job insecurity

Drawing on social learning theory, this study theorizes how leader humility can promote employees’ feedback-seeking behavior by enhancing their psychological safety, and tests employees’ job insecurity as an important boundary. This moderated mediation model was tested by matched reports from 241 Chinese employees and their immediate leaders from various organizations. Results revealed that leader humility had a positive indirect effect on employees’ feedback-seeking behavior through increasing their psychological safety. We further found that the effect of leader humility on employees’ feedback-seeking behavior was stronger for employees in higher levels of job insecurity. These findings highlight the importance of leader characteristic and employees’ uncertainty perception in the process of seeking feedback, providing theoretical and practical implications for leadership and employees’ proactive behavior management.

Unemployment, Temporary Work, and Subjective Well-Being: The Gendered Effect of Spousal Labor Market Insecurity

The negative impact of unemployment on individuals and its spillover to spouses is widely documented. However, we have a gap in our knowledge when it comes to the similar consequences of temporary employment. This is problematic, because although temporary jobs are often considered better alternatives to unemployment for endowing individuals with income and opportunities to connect to employers, they are also associated with stressors such as high levels of job insecurity and poor quality work, the effects of which might spill over to spouses. Using matched data from the British Household Panel Study, I show that temporary work is at least as detrimental as unemployment for spouses’ subjective well-being, although there are differences. When experienced by husbands, temporary work, like unemployment, has a negative effect on wives’ psychological well-being and life satisfaction. Yet, as opposed to unemployment, wives’ temporary employment also spills over and negatively affects husbands’ psychological well-being. Furthermore, coupled individuals’ well-being is most affected when men are either unemployed or temporarily employed and their wives have permanent jobs, suggesting that the effect is related to gender deviation. The effects are robust after controlling for fixed individual characteristics that can influence both employment status and well-being outcomes.

한국 근로자의 일중독 : 일중독 척도 타당화 및 고용불안정성과 가족관계만족도와의 관계

The purposes of this study are to validate the Workaholism Analysis Questionnaire among Korean employees and to examine longitudinal associations among job insecurity, satisfaction with family relationships, and workaholism in Korea. Using a subset of the data from the 17th (2014) wave Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), we found that the Workaholism Analysis Questionnaire was an adequate measure of workaholism among Korean employees after excluding one item and restructuring the dimensions of workaholism into four factors instead of five. Next, using the 15th (2012), 16th (2013), 17th (2014), and 18th (2015) wave KLIPS data, we analysed the associations among job insecurity, satisfaction with family relationships, and workaholism using structural equation modeling after controlling for employees’ sex, age, education, and income. The results are as follows. First, perceiving higher levels of job insecurity caused lower levels of satisfaction with family relationships and higher levels of workaholism. Second, having lower satisfaction with family relationships led to higher workaholism the following year and lower satisfaction with family relationships two years later. Third, higher workaholism contributed to lower satisfaction with family relationships the following year. Fourth, satisfaction with family relationships mediated the association between job insecurity and workaholism. Perceiving higher job insecurity decreased satisfaction with family relationships, which in turn, increased workaholism.

The reciprocal relationship between job insecurity and depressive symptoms: A latent transition analysis

SummaryPrevious studies on the relationship between job insecurity and depressive symptoms have mainly focused on the stressor‐to‐strain effect from job insecurity to depressive symptoms, on rather secure and healthy employees, and on rank‐order relationships. This is not entirely in line with stress theories suggesting intraindividual and reciprocal relationships between high levels of stressors and strain. In reply, this study investigated whether high levels of job insecurity were related to subsequent high levels of depressive symptoms, and vice versa. Cross‐lagged dual process latent Markov model analysis with 3‐wave data (time lags of 2 and 3 years) from a representative sample of the Norwegian working force (N = 2,539) revealed 5 latent states of job insecurity and 6 latent states of depressive symptoms. As hypothesized, a reciprocal relationship between the “high job insecurity” state and the “depressed” state was found: Previously highly job‐insecure employees were more likely to be depressed at the next measurement point (OR = 42.54), and employees labeled as depressed were more likely to experience high job insecurity later on (OR = 69.92). This study contributes to stress theory by demonstrating that stressors and strain may relate differently depending on the level of stressor and strain experienced.

Does job insecurity threaten who you are? Introducing a social identity perspective to explain well‐being and performance consequences of job insecurity

SummaryThis paper introduces a social identity perspective to job insecurity research. Worrying about becoming jobless, we argue, is detrimental because it implies an anticipated membership of a negatively evaluated group—the group of unemployed people. Job insecurity hence threatens a person's social identity as an employed person. This in turn will affect well‐being and job performance. A three‐wave survey study amongst 377 British employees supports this perspective. Persons who felt higher levels of job insecurity were more likely to report a weaker social identity as an employed person. This effect was found to be stable over time and also held against a test of reverse causality. Furthermore, social identity as an employed person influenced well‐being and in‐role job performance and mediated the effect of job insecurity on these two variables over time. Different to the expectations, social identity as an employed person and organisational proactivity were not connected. The findings deliver interesting evidence for the role of social identity as an employed person in the relationships between job insecurity and its consequences. Theoretically, this perspective illustrates the individual and group‐related nature of job insecurity and offers a novel way of connecting work situations with individual well‐being, behaviour and attitudes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Explaining the job insecurity-safety link in the public transportation industry: The mediating role of safety-production conflict

Previous research has established a link between job insecurity and a myriad of safety outcomes; yet, the explanatory mechanism for this link is unexplored. The purpose of the current study was to explore the role of safety-production conflict (SPC) as a mediator between the relationship of job insecurity and six workplace safety outcomes: behavioral safety compliance, poor accident reporting attitudes, workplace injuries, experienced safety events, unreported safety events, and accident underreporting. Our hypotheses were tested using data from a sample of 389 public transit employees in the United States. Using a bootstrap sampling technique, mediation analyses revealed significant direct and indirect effects (mediation through SPC) of job insecurity on aforementioned workplace safety outcomes. Specifically, higher levels of job insecurity were associated with higher levels of SPC, which, in turn, were associated with detrimental workplace safety outcomes. In the context of improving employee safety, these results suggest that efforts to manage employee perceptions regarding safety-production tradeoffs are of particularly importance in light of today’s pervasive job insecurity during times of global financial crises.

Job Insecurity, Unemployment Insurance and On-the-Job Search Evidence from Older American Workers

In this study I estimate that about 23% to 47% of older American on-the-job seekers search for another job because they feel insecure at their current employment. I also analyze whether unemployment insurance (UI) affects this relationship between job insecurity and on-the-job search. I find evidence that UI discourages on-the-job search, which in turn reduces the probability of starting a new job at a different employer. The average estimated effects are moderate but they mask important heterogeneity. On one hand, UI does not affect the search behavior of workers who do not believe to be at risk of job loss. These workers make up the majority of the employed population over 50. On the other hand, however, the effects can be substantial for workers with high levels of job insecurity.