Qualitative Job Research Articles

Job Insecurity and Work Meaning among Romanian Sports Coaches

The present study analyzed the relationships among material difficulties, job insecurity, work meaning and the mental health of sports coaches. Participants for this study were 200 coaches (120 men and 80 women, aged between 18 and 60 years, M = 41.04, SD = 8.71). The instruments used were (a) The Difficulties List, (b) Qualitative Job Insecurity, (c) Quantitative Job Insecurity, (d) The Work and Meaning Inventory, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales. Statistical analysis was performed through SPSS 24. The results obtained by three multiple mediations showed that material difficulties were not directly associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Although qualitative job insecurity mediates the relationship between material difficulties and mental health (β = 0.14, p < 0.01 for depression, β = 0.17, p < 0.01 for anxiety, and β = 0.14, p < 0.01 for stress) quantitative job insecurity and work meaning do not mediate this relationship but had significant direct effects. The conclusions of the study led to the need for material and psychological support for coaches to have a meaningful activity, so that they could achieve significant performance with their athletes.

Validation of a Short and Generic Qualitative Job Insecurity Scale (QUAL-JIS)

Abstract. The Qualitative Job Insecurity Scale (QUAL-JIS) has been used in job insecurity (JI) research for the past 9 years, without formal validation. The goal of the current study was to test the scale’s psychometric properties. We checked the scale’s reliability, as well as its validity, investigating evidence based on the scale’s content, internal structure, and relations to other variables (convergent and discriminant, predictive and concurrent, as well as incremental predictive evidence). We additionally evaluated its cross-country and longitudinal invariance over three measurement times (6 months apart) in two countries (Romania and Belgium; NRO = 388, NBE = 1,992). We found evidence for the scale’s reliability and validity, QUAL-JIS showing partial scalar invariance across time and between the two countries. Interestingly, qualitative JI measured with QUAL-JIS explained additional variance in the employees’ need for recovery above and beyond another popular qualitative JI scale.

Deconstructing Job Insecurity: Do its Qualitative and Quantitative Dimensions Add Up?

Despite substantial interest in job insecurity as a severe workplace stressor, the way in which its qualitative and quantitative dimensions co-occur is not fully understood. As a result, the variety of their combinations and potentially differential effects that they produce remain underexplored. The current study aimed to address this gap in two ways. First, we hypothesized that quantitative job insecurity would manifest in a cumulated form along with qualitative job insecurity but not vice versa. Second, we aimed to test whether different combinations of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity differentially reflect in employees’ occupational characteristics and health and well-being outcomes.Latent profile analyses were conducted on two different samples of employees (N = 1077 and N = 608). The findings from both samples supported a three-profile solution of qualitative and quantitative job insecurity resulting in the balanced low, balanced high, and qualitative job insecurity dominant profiles. As expected, the probability of temporary and part-time employment was the highest in the balanced high (i.e., cumulated) job insecurity profile. Moreover, both the balanced high and the qualitative job insecurity dominant profiles were linked to significantly lower mental health and well-being than the low job insecurity profile, suggesting that substantially detrimental effects may occur even if experiencing qualitative job insecurity only.

I Should Learn to Feel Secure but I Don’t Because I Feel Insecure: The Relationship between Qualitative Job Insecurity and Work-Related Learning in the Public Sector

Employees who feel insecure about their job participate less in work-related learning. This is paradoxical given that work-related learning is advanced as a way to prepare for upcoming change. This may induce a cycle in which job insecurity leads to gradual more insecurity and less participation in work-related learning, yet this has not yet been probed in much detail. We study this cycle. In doing so, we account for different forms work-related learning, both formal and informal, and we focus upon felt insecurity about how the job might look like in the future, coined qualitative job insecurity: this has particular resonance in the public sector. Hypotheses were tested using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model among 922 Flemish public sector employees Employees who experience higher qualitative job insecurity participate less in formal work-related learning and participation in formal learning decreases feelings of job insecurity. This aligns with the idea of cycles.

Job Insecurity, Work-Related Flow, and Financial Anxiety in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic and Economic Downturn.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, every domain of industry has experienced a severe economic downturn with concomitant stress throughout the economy. Employees working in government and private sectors are experiencing different psychological problems. The current study was conducted to investigate the role of work-related flow in the relationship of job insecurity with financial anxiety in the employees working in private and government sectors of Saudi Arabia. The sample comprised 1,195 employees, 886 females, and 309 males. The participants' ages ranged from 25 to 60 years. The Financial Anxiety Scale, Work-Related Flow Inventory, and Qualitative Job Insecurity Measures were found valid and reliable. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the associations. As hypothesized, the results indicated that job insecurity was positively related to financial anxiety, work-related flow was negatively associated with financial anxiety, and work-related flow mediated the relationship between job insecurity and financial anxiety. All these associations were significant regardless of gender, age, marital status, sector of employment, income, self-rated health, and COVID-19 infection status. Further research is needed to understand the impact of job insecurity on financial anxiety in-depth through the paths of work-related flow, especially in the midst of COVID-19.

On the Reciprocal Relationship between Quantitative and Qualitative Job Insecurity and Outcomes. Testing a Cross-Lagged Longitudinal Mediation Model.

Prior cross-sectional research indicates that the negative effects of quantitative job insecurity (i.e., threat to job loss) on employees’ wellbeing are fully mediated by qualitative job insecurity (i.e., threat to job characteristics). In the current longitudinal study, we replicated and further extended this view to include a direct effect of qualitative job insecurity on quantitative job insecurity. We explored these reciprocal relations in the context of their concurrent effects on work related outcomes by means of dual-mediation modelling. We identified a wide range of the outcomes, classified as: job strains (i.e., exhaustion, emotional and cognitive impairment), psychological coping reactions (i.e., job satisfaction, work engagement, turnover intention), and behavioral coping reactions (i.e., in-role and extra role performance, counterproductive behavior). We employed a three-wave panel design and surveyed 2003 Flemish employees. The results showed that the dual-mediation model had the best fit to the data. However, whereas qualitative job insecurity predicted an increase in quantitative job insecurity and the outcome variables six months later, quantitative job insecurity did not affect qualitative job insecurity or the outcomes over time. The study demonstrates the importance of qualitative job insecurity not only as a severe work stressor but also as an antecedent of quantitative job insecurity. Herewith, we stress the need for further research on the causal relations between both dimensions of job insecurity.

Why do Illegitimate Tasks Cause Pain? Qualitative Job Insecurity as an Underlying Mechanism

Musculoskeletal complaints are widespread and highly relevant stress-related consequences calling for the detailed exploration of antecedents. We propose that illegitimate tasks (i.e., tasks that do not conform to an employee’s occupational role) constitute one of these work-related antecedents. This study further examines whether illegitimate tasks are associated with concerns about deteriorating working conditions (qualitative job insecurity) as a mechanism leading to musculoskeletal pain. This hypothesis was tested in a German longitudinal sample with 109 employees using a time lag of six weeks. Supporting our assumptions, the results revealed an indirect effect of qualitative job insecurity on the relationship between illegitimate tasks and musculoskeletal pain controlling for the initial level of musculoskeletal pain. The underlying effects remained significant under control of age, sex, and type of contract. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that illegitimate tasks predict musculoskeletal complaints by raising concerns about future deterioration in working conditions. Especially when it seems unavoidable to assign tasks that do not correspond to an employee’s occupational role, supervisors should make sure that illegitimate tasks are distributed fairly among team members and conveyed in an appreciative manner.

Are we seeing “eye to eye” on qualitative job insecurity in healthcare? Employee–teammates perceptual (in)congruence and individual well-being

ABSTRACT Background: In healthcare, employees are exposed to continuous change when new methods are implemented to optimize care. Such changes may result in qualitative job insecurity (QJI), i.e., a fear concerning the potential loss of important job features. QJI is an individual experience; however, it may be shared within a team to a varying extent. This study examines how QJI perceptual (in)congruence between individuals and their teammates relates to individuals’ well-being. Method: Healthcare employees (N = 305) from 30 healthcare units completed questionnaires measuring QJI, work engagement, and recovery. Results: Multi-level polynomial regression analyses showed that QJI congruence had a curvilinear relationship with well-being: employees reported higher work engagement when QJI perceptions were in agreement, both when QJI was low and high. We observed a negative relationship between QJI congruence and recovery. Recovery was lower when perceptions of QJI were in agreement and were high (vs. low). Finally, we found support for the effects of perceptual incongruence: when employees reported higher QJI than their teammates, they experienced lower recovery and engagement. Conclusions: To understand how employees’ QJI relates to their well-being, it is essential to consider their teammates’ perceptions. The social context can augment or reduce individuals’ stress reactions to job insecurity.

A resources-demands approach to sources of job insecurity: A multilevel meta-analytic investigation.

Today's workers around the world are experiencing growing uncertainty about their future employment. Living in the chronic threat to the continuity of their employment (i.e., job insecurity) has adverse consequences. To understand where job insecurity comes from, we take a resources-demands perspective to synthesize and meta-analyze 57 theoretical sources of job insecurity. Using 3-decade (1986-2018) data from 425 independent samples representing 219,190 individuals from 39 countries, we find that the vast majority of theoretical predictors explain meaningful variance in job insecurity. Interestingly, resources (facilitating goal attainment), compared with demands (hindering goal attainment) have stronger relationships with job insecurity. Moreover, individualism, gross domestic product, and egalitarianism at the country level strengthen the negative relationships between resources and job insecurity and attenuate the positive relationships between demands and job insecurity, whereas power distance, national unemployment rate, and income inequality at the country-level lessen the negative relationships between resources and job insecurity and aggravate the positive relationships between demands and job insecurity. Finally, organizational practices account for significantly more variance in qualitative job insecurity than quantitative job insecurity, whereas personal factors and organizational social indicators explain a similar amount of variance in qualitative and quantitative job insecurity. Results suggest that gathering personal and organizational resources is more important than removing demands in terms of reducing job insecurity; having access to more resources in an attempt to diminish job insecurity is especially functional in countries high in individualism, gross domestic product, and egalitarianism, or low in power distance, national unemployment rate, and income inequality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Content of the Threat Matters: the Differential Effects of Quantitative and Qualitative Job Insecurity on Different Types of Employee Motivation

Given the conceptual differences between different types of job insecurity, it is important to distinguish qualitative job insecurity from quantitative job insecurity when examining their motivational consequences. Building on the approach and avoidance framework, we expect that quantitative job insecurity influences avoid-performance goal orientation (avoidance form of motivation) via psychological safety, whereas qualitative job insecurity influences learning goal orientation (approach form of motivation) via psychological meaningfulness. We also examine the moderating role of organizational justice in such effects. Using two-wave data collected from 281 employees in China, we found that quantitative job insecurity had a positive indirect effect on employee avoid-performance goal orientation via decreased psychological safety, whereas qualitative job insecurity had a negative indirect effect on employee learning goal orientation via decreased psychological meaningfulness. In addition, organizational justice buffered the direct effect of quantitative job insecurity on employee psychological safety and the subsequent indirect effect on employee avoid-performance goal orientation. However, organizational justice did not moderate the influence of qualitative job insecurity on employee outcomes. Our findings provide new insights into the motivational implications of job insecurity.

Qualitative Job Insecurity and its Impact on Innovative Work Performance and Subjective Well-being: A Serial Mediation Mode

Qualitative Job Insecurity and its Impact on Innovative Work Performance and Subjective Well-being: A Serial Mediation Mode

Hit by a double whammy? Trajectories of perceived quantitative and qualitative job insecurity in relation to work-related learning aspects

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to identify developmental patterns of job insecurity, taking into account quantitative as well as qualitative job insecurity, and to examine if these groups vary with regard to different work-related learning aspects, that is, occupational self-efficacy, learning from supervisor and colleagues, and acquired knowledge and skills (KSAOs). We conducted latent class growth analysis using three-wave data of 1366 Dutch employees. Five job insecurity patterns were identified: (1) high stable (n = 132), (2) moderate-low stable (n = 555), (3) low stable (n = 217), (4) decreasing (n = 357) and (5) increasing (n = 105). In every class, the change pattern was similar for quantitative and qualitative job insecurity. Those in trajectories with high initial levels of job insecurity had lower initial levels of occupational self-efficacy, learning from others, and KSAOs than those with low initial levels of job insecurity. Additionally, job insecurity trajectories differed in the development of occupational self-efficacy over time. The findings indicate that there are distinct trajectories of the combination of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity, and that these demonstrate a substantial amount of heterogeneity concerning work-related learning.

Proactive strategies for countering the detrimental outcomes of qualitative job insecurity in academia.

Against the backdrop of various and sometimes unexpected transformations of working conditions, qualitative job insecurity has become increasingly prevalent in academia and beyond. As a result, there is a great need for identifying factors that may mitigate its detrimental outcomes on employee well-being. To do so, the current study aimed to investigate the role of two proactive participation strategies-participatory decision-making and job crafting-as a means of counteracting the effects of qualitative job insecurity on burnout, work engagement and job satisfaction. The study was based on a sample of higher education employees in Belgium and Switzerland (N=915). To test the hypotheses, moderation analyses were conducted in the overall sample and across different staff categories (i.e., senior and junior academic staff, administrative employees). Around 30% of the tested moderation effects were statistically significant, revealing that the negative outcomes of job insecurity were less salient at high values of the moderators. In particular, our findings suggest that encouraging participative decision-making may serve as a means to maintain academic employees' job satisfaction and prevent burnout in turbulent times. Moreover, job crafting may be additionally targeted at preserving work engagement, even though its moderator effects were not universal.

Two is worse than one. The mediating role of precariousness of life in the association between qualitative job insecurity and distress among Italian temps

Nowadays, the labour market’s instability and flexibility has led to increased feelings of uncertainty, insecurity and precariousness in the workforce. With respect to psychological health, to date studies focused mainly on the consequences of the fear of losing the job as a whole (i.e. quantitative job insecurity), in comparison to the consequences of threat of losing valued job features (i.e. qualitative job insecurity). Understanding the psychological mechanisms that explain the process of stress experiences, deriving from qualitative job insecurity, may contribute to identify how to promote healthier workplaces. The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of precariousness of life in the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and mental distress, i.e. emotional exhaustion and psychological symptoms. Precariousness of life is a pervasive syndrome among temporary employees affecting their daily life. The Conservation Of Resources (COR) and dual labour market theories were used as theoretical framework to draw the research hypotheses. The sample was composed of 272 white and blue collar Italian temporary employees. The results of structural equation modelling revealed that qualitative job insecurity was positively and significantly related to emotional exhaustion and psychological symptoms. Furthermore, these relationships were mediated by precariousness of life: Goodness of fit indices of mediation model was satisfactory and indirect effects were significant, therefore supporting our hypotheses. This study provided additional evidence to the literature concerning job insecurity as it focused on temporary workers, examining the effect on mental health by qualitative job insecurity via precariousness of life. Practical implications were discussed.

Job insecurity and performance in public and private sectors: a moderated mediation model

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to extend our knowledge of the relationship between quantitative and qualitative job insecurity and performance. On the basis of stress theories, we hypothesised that qualitative job insecurity (QLJI) would mediate the negative effect of quantitative job insecurity (QTJI) on two different indicators of performance: task performance (TP) and counterproductive work behaviours (CPWBs). In addition, the authors hypothesised that the effect of QTJI on QLJI would be moderated by the economic sector (public vs private) in which employees worked. Therefore, the authors empirically tested a moderated mediation model via PROCESS.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were 431 employees from various Italian organisations. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire measuring QTJI, QLJI, TP and CPWBs.FindingsThe results indicated that economic sector moderated the relationship between quantitative and QLJI. Both quantitative and QLJI were related to performance outcomes. Furthermore, QLJI mediated the effect of QTJI on TP and CPWB. However, this mediation was particularly apparent among employees in the private sector, supporting our hypothesised moderated mediation model.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that managers of private and public organisations need to apply different policies to reduce the impact of job insecurity on CPWBs and increase the TP of their employees.Originality/valueThis study attempted to examine the job insecurity–performance relationship in more depth. For the first time, the effects of both job insecurity dimensions on performance were simultaneously investigated, with economic sector as a moderator and QLJI as a mediator.

Thriving Under Uncertainty: The Effect of Achievement Goal Orientation on Job Insecurity and Flourishing

Flourishing, a construct encompassing optimal human functioning, is an indicator of well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of employees’ achievement goal orientation (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientation) on flourishing, through the appraisal of quantitative (concerns about continued existence of the job) and qualitative (concerns about continued existence of important job features) job insecurity. Data were collected from 275 employees in an organization on the brink of a substantive downsizing. The results of structural equation modelling showed that mastery approach and—avoidance goal orientation positively predicted flourishing. Furthermore, flourishing was negatively predicted by qualitative job insecurity but not by quantitative job insecurity. Qualitative job insecurity mediated the effects of mastery- and performance-approach goal orientation on flourishing but the effects were not significant. Hence, in an environment with a substantial threat of job loss, a mastery goal orientation contributed directly to flourishing. Our results plead for more attention for the effects of achievement goal orientation and qualitative job insecurity on flourishing under uncertainty.

To prevent or to promote: How regulatory focus moderates the differentiated effects of quantitative versus qualitative job insecurity on employee stress and motivation.

To prevent or to promote: How regulatory focus moderates the differentiated effects of quantitative versus qualitative job insecurity on employee stress and motivation.

Occupational burnout in nurses: a concept analysis†

Abstract Objective This paper aims to clarify the concept of occupational burnout (OB) as well as develop appropriate methods to relieve or prevent OB in the nursing profession. Methods Walker and Avant’s eight-step approach of concept analysis was applied. Results OB was defined as a chronic form of work-related stress. Accurately, it was characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and reduced personal accomplishment/inefficacy. Antecedents of burnout included (a) demographic characteristics; (b) chronic exposure to work-related stressors; (c) quantitative and qualitative job demands; (d) lack of job resources; and (e) personality traits. Consequences involved (a) individual’s unfavorable quality of life; (b) negative impact on the organization; and (c) poor services quality. Although the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is perceived as an ideal tool to measure burnout and hence, it is used worldwide, whether this instrument fits to measure this concept for nurses has still not yet been verified and thus further research is needed. Conclusions By proposing a comprehensive definition of the concept, this analysis contributes to recognition of the process of OB of nurses. All nurses are vulnerable to OB. Hence, burnout in nursing needs to be recognized as a critical factor in the delivery of safe patient care. It proposes that the prevention of OB would be achieved through team communication training, mindfulness group, education, etc.

Validation of the QJIM: A measure of qualitative job insecurity

ABSTRACT Organisations are subject to ongoing changes. These changes offer opportunities but they can also increase the uncertainty about the future of jobs. Although there is a large body of literature on job insecurity, most studies focus on the worry of losing the job while another important stressor, namely the worry of losing valued job features, received less attention. The key contribution of this validation study is the development and psychometric analysis of the Qualitative Job Insecurity Measure (QJIM) that tries to account for the shortcomings of existing qualitative job insecurity scales. It is a quick but still comprehensive measurement of a highly prevalent but understudied phenomenon that directly influences organisational and employee well-being. The psychometric results show the confirmation of the scale’s one-dimensional structure via EFA and CFA, good reliability estimates and the demonstration of the scale's predictive validity regarding job satisfaction and disinclination to work. From a research perspective, QJIM can be used to gain insights into how and when changes negatively affect employees and to identify preventive or corrective measures. From an organisational perspective, QJIM is useful to recognise job features that employees value, to carefully plan changes and to actively increase employee well-being.

Validation and measurement invariance of the multidimensional qualitative job insecurity scale

This contribution introduces the Multidimensional Qualitative Job Insecurity Scale (MQJIS). Drawing from the qualitative job insecurity literature and addressing some of other scales’ limitations, a multidimensional model is proposed and investigated by means of confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel confirmatory factor analysis. Study 1 aims to explore the psychometric properties and factorial structure of MQJIS in an Italian sample of blue-collar workers (N = 583), showing that a model with one higher-order factor (i.e., qualitative job insecurity) and four dimensions (i.e., social relationships, employment conditions, working conditions, and work content) shows a good fit to the data and good reliability indices. Study 2 aims to investigate MQJIS measurement invariance across several groups, based on country of origin, age, and gender. Results on a sample of Belgian and Italian workers (N = 710) show that MQJIS met the criteria for uniqueness invariance across genders and scalar invariance across countries and age groups. Significance, implications, and future directions stemming from the initial validation and the confirmed measurement invariance of this scale are discussed.