Subjective Job Insecurity Research Articles

Suicidal ideation and thoughts of self-harm during the COVID-19 pandemic among Swedish employees: a cohort study on the role of job instability and job insecurity

BackgroundSuicidal ideation may be a warning sign for suicide and previous work has indicated a higher prevalence of suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Job loss and job insecurity are potential risk factors for suicidal ideation, but their importance during the pandemic, and the role of organizational changes for suicidal ideation, is unclear. This study examined the association between various experiences associated with job loss and job insecurity during the pandemic and thoughts of suicide/self-harm in Sweden.MethodsThe study sample was drawn from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH). Auxiliary data collections in February 2021 and 2022 assessed exposure to job loss/unemployment, furlough, workplace downsizing, or increased job insecurity versus stable employment and thoughts of suicide or self-harm (PHQ-9) during the pandemic. The analyses were based on 1558 individuals (2 349 observations) participating in either or both waves and who had been working before the pandemic. Logistic regression models with cluster-robust standard errors were fitted, including sociodemographic factors and prior mental health problems to control for potential confounding. Measures of personality based on a brief version of the Big-Five personality inventory were also added.ResultsThe results indicated an association between all experiences, except furlough, and thoughts of suicide/self-harm, when adjusting for sex, age, civil status, socioeconomic status and prior mental health (job loss odds ratio (OR) = 3.70, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.79–7.63, downsizing OR = 2.41, CI 1.24–4.70, job insecurity OR = 2.77, CI 1.15–6.67). The associations for job loss and insecurity were attenuated by adjustment for personality, although it remained statistically significant for downsizing.ConclusionsThe results suggested a higher risk of suicidal ideation connected with loss of employment and survival of a downsizing, but not a forced reduction in working times/pay during the COVID-19 pandemic. The association for subjective job insecurity was less robust and may be partly explained by personality.

Why do we still feel drained even in meaningful work? unveiling the negative impact of job insecurity among Korean counselors

ABSTRACT The issue of psychological burnout in most workplaces is a significant concern. Despite organizational psychology efforts to alleviate burnout by emphasizing high-quality job conditions such as meaning and calling, discussions often overlook the impact of job insecurity. Given recent approaches’ tendency to neglect fundamental lower-level needs, this study aimed to explore the negative effects of psychological burnout on workers, focusing on subjective job insecurity. Counselors, who have been recognized for experiencing high psychological burnout, comprised our study with 420 finalized responses out of 450 collected. Data analysis encompassed the utilization of SPSS 29.0, Amos 29.0, and SmartPLS 4.0, with a specific focus on exploring mediating and moderating effects of variables. The findings unveiled that job insecurity weakened the previously observed negative indirect impact of work meaning on psychological burnout through living a calling. This observation suggests that as job insecurity intensifies, the alleviating effect of living a calling on burnout diminishes. This study reaffirms the link between work meaning and psychological burnout, emphasizing the mediating role of living a calling among South Korean counsellors. The results underscore the necessity of organizational interventions to promote meaningful work, facilitate personal calling, and ensure job security, thereby preventing or mitigating burnout.

Subjective Job Insecurity and the Rise of the Precariat: Evidence from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States

Abstract There is a widespread belief that work is less secure than in the past, that an increasing share of workers are part of the “precariat.” It is hard to find much evidence for this in objective measures of job security, but perhaps subjective measures show different trends. This paper shows that in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, workers feel as secure as they ever have in the past 30 years. This is partly because job insecurity is very cyclical and (pre-COVID) unemployment rates very low, but there is also no clear underlying trend towards increased subjective measures of job insecurity. This conclusion seems robust to controlling for the changing mix of the labor force, and it is true for specific subsets of workers.

Prekäre Beschäftigung und depressive Symptomatik – geschlechtsabhängige Assoziationen

Precarious work and depressive symptoms: gender-related associations Introduction: Longitudinal studies indicate that men are at greater risk than women of developing symptoms of depression as a result of precarious work. A South Korean study suggests that household position may explain this difference. The question arises as to whether these risk differences could be explained by the position in the household (i.e. living alone without a partner or living with a partner). Methods: The analysis was based on a cohort of 2,009 employees from the “Mental Health at Work Study” (S-MGA) (Rose et al. 2017). Five indicators of precarious work were used: subjective job insecurity, marginal employment, temporary employment, low wages (net hourly wage <60 % of the median) and episodes of unemployment in the past – also summarised in an index of precarious work. Possible associations between precarious work during the period 2012–2017 and depressive symptoms in 2017 were examined by logistic regression analysis – stratified by gender and position in the household (i.e. living alone without a partner or living with a partner) in 2012 and adjusted for depressive symptoms, age, occupational status and partnership status in 2012. Results: Position in the household had no significant interactions with the indicators of precarious work or an index of precarious work among either women or men. Conclusion: It is still unclear why, in many studies, the risks of developing depressive symptoms from precarious work are higher in men than in women. Keywords: precarious work – depressive symptoms – gender differences – longitudinal study

The double-edged sword of job insecurity: When and why job insecurity promotes versus inhibits supervisor-rated performance

Research findings on the effects of job insecurity on performance are mixed. Some studies show a negative relationship between job insecurity and performance; while others indicate a positive association, a curvilinear or a null relationship. We suggest that the relation between employees' subjective job insecurity and supervisor-rated performance is more complex than previously assumed. Based on stress appraisal theory, this study investigates when and why job insecurity is associated with supervisor-rated performance via two different pathways. Specifically, we propose that these two mechanisms (i.e., impression management and workplace deviance) are contingent on the dyadic leader-member exchange (LMX) between the subordinate and his/her supervisor. In a three-wave survey using data collected from 314 subordinates and their 69 supervisors in China, we found the paradoxical relations between job insecurity and supervisor-rated performance at different levels of LMX. Specifically, on the one hand, job insecurity was positively related to supervisor-rated performance via impression management when LMX was high; on the other hand, job insecurity was negatively related to supervisor-rated performance via workplace deviance when LMX was low. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Integrated Patterns of Subjective Job Insecurity: A Multigroup Person-Centered Study.

Past research attests to the pivotal role of subjective job insecurity (JI) as a major stressor within the workplace. However, most of this research has used a variable-centered approach to evaluate the relative importance of one (or more) JI facets in explaining employee physical and psychological well-being. Relatively few studies have adopted a person-centered approach to investigate how different appraisals of JI co-occur within employees and how these might lead to the emergence of distinct latent profiles of JI, and, moreover, how those profiles might covary with well-being, personal resources, and performance. Using conservation of resources (COR) theory as our overarching theoretical framework and latent profile analysis as our methodological approach, we sought to fill this gap. To evaluate the external validity of our study results, we used employee sample data from two different countries (Italy and the USA) with, respectively, n = 743 and n = 494 employees. Results suggested the emergence of three profiles (i.e., the “secure”, the “average type”, and the “insecure”) in both country samples. The “secure” group systematically displayed a less vulnerable profile in terms of physical and psychological well-being, self-rated job performance, positive orientation, and self-efficacy beliefs than the “insecure” group, while the “average” type position on the outcomes’ continua was narrower. Theoretically, this supports COR’s notion of loss spirals by suggesting that differing forms of JI appraisals tend to covary within-person. Practical implications in light of labor market trends and the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

Subjective Job Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

This article studies subjective job insecurity in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused structural, economic and policy changes. It employs data drawn from the “Extraordinary Survey on Italian Families in 2020” released by the Bank of Italy in 2021. The work estimates a zero one inflated beta model (ZOIB). The main results show that (1) worsening household economic conditions is associated with an increase in householder workers subjective job insecurity; (2) receiving a wage guarantee fund in 2019 is associated with an increase in subjective job insecurity; and (3) increasing the number of people working from home within the household is associated with an increase in subjective job insecurity. Moreover, having a temporary contract and working in the private sector is associated with an increase in subjective job insecurity.

The Double-edged Sword Effects of Job Insecurity on Supervisor-rated Performance

Research evidences show that job insecurity has incongruent predictions on employees’ performance. We suggest that the relationship between employees’ subjective job insecurity and supervisor-rated performance is more complex than previously assumed. By integrating social exchange and proactive preservation mechanisms of job insecurity with the perceived workplace control contingency, this study investigates when and why job insecurity influences supervisor-rated performance via two opposing pathways. Specifically, we propose that the effects of employees’ subjective job insecurity on impression management and workplace deviance are contingent on their leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships. In a three-wave survey using data collected from 69 supervisors and their 314 subordinates in China, we found that job insecurity exerted paradoxical effects on supervisor-rated performance via two opposing mechanisms. Specifically, job insecurity had a positive indirect effect on performance via more impression management when LMX was high, whereas job insecurity had a negative indirect effect on performance via more workplace deviance when LMX was low. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

The effects of non-standard employment on subjective well-being

The aim of this review was to address the inconsistency in previous research, on the effect of non-standard employments on subjective well-being, with the use of meta-analysis. This was done by examining the standardised mean difference in global subjective well-being, or whole life well-being, between employees in non-standard employment and permanent employment. The scientific databases Web of Science, Scopus and EBSCOhost were systematically searched for studies on the connection between non-standard employment and subjective well-being. From the initial 1307 results of the systematic literature search, we identified 33 relevant primary studies published since 2004 in a variety of countries throughout the world. Meta-analytic results from a total of 55 independent effect sizes (N = 476454) suggest that employees in non-standard employment experience lower global subjective well-being (d = -0.054) compared to employees in permanent employment. Moderator analyses indicate that if primary studies control for subjective job insecurity or employability, it will remove the statistically significant effect of global subjective well-being between employees in non-standard employment and permanent, resulting in d = -0.054 to d = 0.008 and d = 0.01, respectively. We can therefore conclude that non-standard employments do have a statistical significant small negative effect on global subjective well-being. However, evidence suggest that the negative effect is more due to the subjective perception of job insecurity and employability rather than the objective condition of non-standard employment.

Did Immigrants Perceive More Job Insecurity during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic? Evidence from German Panel Data

Immigrants have been affected more than native-born ethnic majority populations by the negative economic consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This contribution examines whether they have also experienced higher levels of perceived job insecurity, reflected in a differential increase in financial concerns and the fear of job loss during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This empirical study employs the SOEP-CoV survey, which assesses the socio-economic consequences of SARS-CoV-2. It is embedded in the ongoing German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). We present OLS models to compare perceptions of job insecurity across groups, capturing the situation before and during the pandemic. The analyses reveal that first-generation immigrants reported more financial worries, and they perceived a higher chance of job loss than second-generation immigrants and the native-born ethnic majority. This difference in economic concerns emerged only in the pandemic. Despite covering a wide range of conditions signaling objective risk of job loss, as well as individuals’ means and resources for dealing with looming job loss, these disparities persisted in the empirical study. Considering group-membership-related feelings of acceptance and inclusion could provide a promising route for future inquiry that may allow the remaining gap in subjective job insecurity to be accounted for.

The show must go on: Pandemic consequences on musicians’ job insecurity perception

The purpose of this article is to analyze the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian musicians’ perception of job insecurity. We collected the answers of more than 200 Italian musicians, and the data showed that musicians’ perception of job insecurity increased in the post-pandemic period. Furthermore, we analyzed the different impact of two objective indicators of job insecurity, the pandemic outbreak and contracts, on strains and resources. We found that contracts are a strong predictor of perceived job insecurity even after the pandemic. Social support is vital in buffering job insecurity perception, motivation is a powerful moderator of emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions, and job insecurity is strongly related to the intentions of leaving the profession. In addition, the analyses have shown that the most detrimental effects are due to subjective job insecurity rather than from its objective indicators. Finally, as this study arose from an Australian research, we provide a brief comparison of the findings.

Are Men or Women More Unsettled by Fixed-Term Contracts? Gender Differences in Affective Job Insecurity and the Role of Household Context and Labour Market Positions

Abstract This study investigates differences in the causal effect of fixed-term contracts on affective job insecurity by gender and household context in Germany. Research shows that workers in fixed-term employment are more unsettled about their job security than are permanent employees. We contribute to the literature on subjective job insecurity by explicitly modelling the causal effect of fixed-term employment and by examining how women and men differ in this effect. We argue that gender differences in the labour market positions and a gendered division of labour in the household account for gender differences in the subjective vulnerability to fixed-term employment. We apply linear fixed effect probability models based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) with a sample of employees aged between 20 and 45 years. Results show that a fixed-term contract doubles the probability of big job worries compared to a permanent contract. Women are substantially more unsettled by fixed-term contracts than men across all household types. These gender differences cannot be explained by unfavourable labour market positions of women. Fixed-term employment thus seems to add to existing gender inequalities on the labour market.

The ‘Gender Face’ of Job Insecurity in France: An Individual- and Organizational-Level Analysis

Admittedly, women have a more precarious situation on the job market than men, which would suggest that they feel more insecure. However, literature on subjective job insecurity (JI) is contradictory about the effect of gender on JI. This could be explained by both individual characteristics and labour market gendered segregation – the companies in which women and men work do not have the same characteristics, particularly in terms of strategy and workforce management. Previous literature on JI rarely addresses this phenomenon. We propose to better understand the ‘gender face’ of subjective JI combining individual and organizational characteristics. We utilize data from the 2017 REPONSE survey and generalized linear models, notably multi-level models. Our findings reveal that, although women hold more precarious jobs, they work in more protective organizations. Consequently, while women report an average lower level of JI, this difference disappears when controlling for individual and organizational variables.

Digital Transformation and Subjective Job Insecurity in Germany

Abstract The present study examines to what extent employees in Germany are afraid of losing their jobs, depending on the degree of computerization of their occupations. So far, empirical evidence on the relationship between digital transformation and subjective job insecurity is scarce. We distinguish three interrelated insecurity measures: cognitive job insecurity, i.e. the individual assessment of job loss probability, labour market insecurity, i.e. the perceived availability of job alternatives, and affective job insecurity, i.e. the extent to which individuals are worried about a potential job loss. The analysis is based on a large-scale panel study from Germany and refers to the period between 2013 and 2016. Computerization is measured by the occupation-specific substitution potential, i.e. the extent to which occupational tasks are substitutable by computers or computer-controlled machines. The results from multivariate panel analysis suggest that the digital transformation has a negative impact on cognitive job insecurity. We do not find effects on labour market insecurity and affective job insecurity.

Who experiences subjective job insecurity due to digital transformation in Germany?

In many countries, digitalization is accompanied by disruptive changes in the labor market, including polarization in employment and wages as well as a decrease in employment growth. However, little is known about the individual (micro-level) consequences of digitalization, especially regarding differently affected subgroups. In this study, we investigate the relevance of digitalization, as measured by the task-based substitution potential of occupations, for individuals’ subjective job insecurity (SJI), focusing on differences between individuals with different socio-demographic and subjective-affective characteristics. We use large-scale cross-sectional data on employed persons from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) of 2013. Our linear regression models show that individuals in occupations with a high substitution potential report higher levels of SJI, compared to those with a low substitution potential. Moderation analyses reveal that the positive correlation between substitution potential and SJI concerns only certain social groups: older workers (46-55 years), employees with low and medium educational qualifications, and employees with a higher degree of neuroticism. Thus, the overall correlation between digitalization and SJI masks social inequalities in the extent to which people are affected by digital transformation.

The association between subjective job insecurity and job performance across different employment groups

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance, and to assess how this association is different across different employment groups.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a data set owned by TNO and Statistics Netherlands of more than 89,000 Dutch workers and self-employed that is a representative sample of the Dutch workforce. The authors included data from 2014 and 2016 assessing subjective job insecurity in terms of “a concern about the future of one’s job/business” and self-rated job performance.FindingsThe effect size of the association between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance is small. For temporary agency workers and on-call workers, the association between subjective job insecurity and job performance is weaker compared to permanent workers and fixed-term workers. However for self-employed workers with and without employees, however, the relation between subjective job insecurity and job performance is stronger compared to permanent workers.Research limitations/implicationsThe biggest limitation is the cross-sectional design of the study, which limits conclusions about causality.Practical implicationsThe finding that subjective job insecurity goes together with less work performance shows that job insecurity has no upside for the productivity of companies.Originality/valueThe study provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance on a national level.

The Insecurity Gradient in Health: How Inequality in the Distribution of Job Insecurity Matters for the Relationship between Job Insecurity and Self-Rated Health in Europe

ABSTRACTStudies find that workers who feel insecure in their jobs are likely to suffer negative physical and mental health effects. However, cross-national differences in this relationship are typically overlooked. Drawing on notions of relative deprivation and the social gradient of health, the authors argue that the extent of variation in subjective job insecurity within a country can explain these cross-national differences. The results from multilevel models indicate that the relationship between job insecurity and health varies across countries in Europe, and job insecurity exhibits the strongest negative association with health in countries with a low level of job insecurity inequality.

Perceived Job Insecurity and Sustainable Wellbeing: Do Coping Strategies Help?

For workers, perceived job insecurity represents a threat and an obstacle towards achieving a decent and sustainable dimension of wellbeing at work and in life. Using the theoretical background of the psychology of sustainability and sustainable development, the aim of this study is to deepen the relation between subjective job insecurity, self-related health and life satisfaction considering the effect of personal resources, such as specific coping strategies that people may undertake facing job insecurity perceptions. The hypotheses were tested in a convenience sample of 769 employees in France. Data were collected with a self-report questionnaire and analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Science (IBM SPSS). Results showed that job insecurity was negatively related to self-reported health and life satisfaction; furthermore, problem-focused coping of the type of job, social support and training searching behaviors resulted in worsening this negative relationship. This study expanded the understanding of coping in the context of job insecurity and showed the limitations that proactive coping strategies have against job insecurity. These results encourage the debate on how far is it possible to attain sustainable wellbeing by relying on personal resources when job insecurity is experienced.

Employment contract, job insecurity and employees’ affective well-being: The role of self- and collective efficacy

A large amount of research has focused on job insecurity, but without obtaining consistent results. Some authors have pointed that this variability might be due to the operationalization of job insecurity. Different types of job insecurity can provoke different employee reactions. The aim of this study is to analyse the effect of job insecurity, understood as temporary employment (objective job insecurity) and personal perception (subjective job insecurity), on affective well-being. In addition, the moderator roles of job self-efficacy and collective efficacy are examined in the relationship between job insecurity and employees’ affective well-being. This study was carried out with 1435 employees from 138 Spanish and Austrian organizations. The results showed a different effect of job insecurity depending on its conceptualization. Only subjective job insecurity was negatively related to affective well-being. Moreover, both self- and collective efficacy moderated the subjective job insecurity–outcomes relation, ameliorating employees’ well-being levels when they perceived job insecurity.

Precarious work and the risk of receiving a disability pension.

Precarious employment is an emerging determinant of occupational health, but its association with work-related disability remains little understood. We operationalised precarious work as a multidimensional construct and examined how the accumulation of precarious job features predicts the incidence of receiving a disability pension (DP). The study comprised 13,228 employees aged 20-54 who had been interviewed for the Finnish Quality of Work Life Surveys in 1984, 1990, 1997, or 2003. We measured precarious work with five variables that reflect both subjective and objective job insecurity: the threat of dismissal/unemployment; poor employability; low earnings; previous unemployment; and temporary contract. An eight-year follow-up was merged with the pooled cross-sectional data, and Cox proportional hazard ratios (HR) for receiving a DP were compared between the insecurity measures, controlling for sociodemographic covariates, job characteristics and health at the baseline with a step-wise procedure. Precarious employees had an elevated risk of receiving a DP (all covariates adjusted for). The risk of receiving a DP was associated with subjective job insecurity, with the strongest indicator being poor employability. The association between the threat of unemployment and receiving a DP was weak before controlling for health. Among objective insecurity measures, low earnings and earlier unemployment were weakly connected to receiving a DP before controlling for sociodemographic covariates, job characteristics and health. We recommend the evaluation of several precarious job features in future studies. The risk of receiving a DP could potentially be offset by improving individuals' employability.