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The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Occupational Safety and Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2019) | Viewed by 55490

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Tahira M. Probst

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Guest Editor

Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Vancouver, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver, WA 98686, USA
Interests: economic stress; job insecurity; organizational safety climate; accident underreporting; occupational health and well-being

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to announce a forthcoming Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Impact Factor: 2.145) entitled, “The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes.” As meta-analytic reviews clearly document, the vast majority of research on job insecurity has focused on a relatively narrow set of outcomes, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, burnout, and physical/mental health. Far less attention has been paid to equally important outcomes such as: work-family conflict, life satisfaction, safety, absenteeism or presenteeism, actual turnover, counterproductive work behaviors, job performance, creativity, and more.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to offer researchers an opportunity to publish high-quality cutting-edge job insecurity research on these (and other) non-traditional outcomes to better understand the myriad effects that job insecurity may have on under-studied work- and non-work outcomes. We are particularly interested in:

Studies that examine novel non-traditional outcomes of job insecurity
Research that tests theoretical mechanisms explaining the relationships between job insecurity and non-traditional outcomes (i.e., mediators), as well as variables that may serve as boundary conditions for these relationships (i.e., moderators)
Cross-cultural research testing whether and how the effects of job insecurity may differ across cultural settings
Multi-level research demonstrating individual-, group-, organizational-, and/or country-level impacts on non-traditional job insecurity outcomes.
Studies that test interventions to alleviate the impact of job insecurity on non-traditional outcomes.

All manuscripts will be peer reviewed by experts in the field, and would be due by 31 March 2019. Pre-submissions inquiries are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Tahira M. Probst
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

job insecurity
non-traditional outcomes
work-family conflict
life satisfaction
job performance
absenteeism/presenteeism
multi-level research
cross-cultural research
workplace interventions

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 710 KiB

Open AccessArticle

All Insecure, All Good? Job Insecurity Profiles in Relation to Career Correlates

by Nele De Cuyper, Anahí Van Hootegem, Kelly Smet, Ellen Houben and Hans De Witte

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(15), 2640; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152640 - 24 Jul 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3269

Abstract

Felt job insecurity is commonly seen as a stressor that is tied to a specific segment of employees and which implies overall negative outcomes. We challenge this view based on the new career rhetoric that assumes that felt job insecurity is widespread, although not necessarily problematic; rather, on the contrary, that felt job insecurity may promote career growth and development. Accordingly, our first aim concerns the distribution of felt quantitative and qualitative job insecurity, and our second aims concerns the connection between profiles and career correlates (i.e., perceived employability, individual and organizational career management). We used two samples of Belgian employees (N1 = 2355; N2 = 3703) in view of constructive replication. We used Latent Profile Analysis to compile profiles of felt quantitative and qualitative job insecurity and linked those profiles to career outcomes. Our results are similar across samples: five profiles were found, from relatively secure to relatively insecure (aim 1). The more secure profiles reported more favorable career outcomes than the less secure profiles (aim 2). This provided overall support for the common view. We connect these findings to what we see as the main risk, namely the potentially growing divide based on felt job insecurity and the relatively large group of employees in insecure profiles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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61 pages, 13966 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Human Error: The Impact of Job Insecurity on Attention-Related Cognitive Errors and Error Detection

by Lara Christina Roll, Oi-ling Siu, Simon Y.W. Li and Hans De Witte

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(13), 2427; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16132427 - 08 Jul 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4397

Abstract

(1) Background: Work-related stress is a major contributor to human error. One significant workplace stressor is job insecurity, which has been linked to an increased likelihood of experiencing burnout. This, in turn, might affect human error, specifically attention-related cognitive errors (ARCES) and the ability to detect errors. ARCES can be costly for organizations and pose a safety risk. Equally detrimental effects can be caused by failure to detect errors before they can cause harm. (2) Methods: We gathered self-report and behavioral data from 148 employees working in educational, financial and medical sectors in China. We designed and piloted an error detection task in which employees had to compare fictitious customer orders to deliveries of an online shop. We tested for indirect effects using the PROCESS macro with bootstrapping (3) Results: Our findings confirmed indirect effects of job insecurity on both ARCES and the ability to detect errors via burnout. (4) Conclusions: The present research shows that job insecurity influences making and detecting errors through its relationship with burnout. These findings suggest that job insecurity could increase the likelihood for human error with potential implications for employees’ safety and the safety of others. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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17 pages, 1197 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Temporary Workers More Often Decide to Work While Sick? Evidence for the Link between Employment Contract and Presenteeism in Europe

by Marvin Reuter, Morten Wahrendorf, Cristina Di Tecco, Tahira M. Probst, Sascha Ruhle, Valerio Ghezzi, Claudio Barbaranelli, Sergio Iavicoli and Nico Dragano

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(10), 1868; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101868 - 27 May 2019

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5262

Abstract

European employees are increasingly likely to work in cases of illness (sickness presenteeism, SP). Past studies found inconsistent evidence for the assumption that temporary workers decide to avoid taking sick leave due to job insecurity. A new measure to identify decision-based determinants of SP is presenteeism propensity (PP), which is the number of days worked while ill in relation to the sum of days worked while ill and days taken sickness absence. We investigated the link between employment contract and PP using cross-sectional data from 20,240 employees participating in the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey. Workers were grouped by type and duration of employment contract. The link between contract and PP was estimated using a multilevel Poisson model adjusted for socio-demographical, occupational and health-related covariates. We found that European employees worked 39% of the days they were ill. In contrast to previous studies, temporary workers were significantly more likely to decide for presenteeism than permanent workers were, especially when the contract was limited to less than 1 year. Controlling for perceived job insecurity did just marginally attenuate this association. Presenteeism was also more common among young and middle-aged workers; however, we did not find a significant interaction between contract and age affecting presenteeism. In conclusion, the employment contract is an important determinant of presenteeism. Our results give reason to believe that temporary workers show increased attendance behavior independent of job insecurity, because they are less likely to have access to social protection in case of illness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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24 pages, 1145 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Qualitative Job Insecurity and Informal Learning: A Longitudinal Test of Occupational Self-Efficacy and Psychological Contract Breach as Mediators

by Anahí Van Hootegem and Hans De Witte

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(10), 1847; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101847 - 24 May 2019

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 5097

Abstract

Current work life has become increasingly turbulent, which has sparked employees’ concern about the loss of valued job features, coined as qualitative job insecurity. No prior research has investigated the relationship between this type of job insecurity and informal learning. However, informal learning might be particularly relevant for qualitatively job-insecure employees, as it might aid them to deal with the incessant changes in their work environment. This study examined whether qualitative job insecurity is associated with lower levels of three types of informal learning activities: information-seeking, feedback-seeking, and help-seeking behavior, and whether these relationships are mediated by a decline in occupational self-efficacy and an increase in psychological contract breach. We employed a three-wave panel design to survey 1433 Belgian employees. Results, by means of cross-lagged structural equation modelling, demonstrated that occupational self-efficacy mediates the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and information-seeking, feedback-seeking from colleagues, and feedback-seeking from one’s supervisor, while psychological contract breach only mediated the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and feedback-seeking from one’s supervisor. Both mediators were not significantly related to help-seeking behavior. This study demonstrates that qualitatively job-insecure employees are less likely to engage in informal learning via a decrease in occupational self-efficacy and an increase in psychological contract breach, thereby becoming even more vulnerable in an increasingly volatile work environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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22 pages, 1262 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Feeling Weary? Feeling Insecure? Are All Workplace Changes Bad News?

by Irina Nikolova, Karen van Dam, Joris Van Ruysseveldt and Hans De Witte

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(10), 1842; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101842 - 23 May 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3566

Abstract

Prior research indicates that workplace changes can have both positive and negative consequences for employees. To explore the mechanisms that trigger these different outcomes, we propose and test a mediation model, which builds on the premises of the challenge–hindrance model of work stress. Specifically, we suggest that whereas workplace changes can engender positive outcomes (e.g., learning outcomes) through an increase in learning demands, they can also enhance negative outcomes (e.g., emotional exhaustion) through increased perceptions of qualitative job insecurity. While we made these specific assumptions, we also analyzed the reversed causation relationships. Two-wave data obtained from 1366 Dutch employees were used to test the study hypotheses. The results showed that the reciprocal causation model had the best fit for the data. However, whereas emotional exhaustion was only mediated by qualitative job insecurity, no mediation was found by learning demands. In addition to the hypothesized effects, several reversed causation effects emerged from the analyses, indicating that the relationships between workplace changes and employee learning and strain are not unidirectional. This underscores the need for a broader view on the causes and effects of workplace changes, as the traditional causation relationships (i.e., perceptions of workplace changes impacting employee learning and strain experiences) are insufficient to explain the complex dynamics between the studied phenomena. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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16 pages, 653 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Motivational Perspective on Job Insecurity: Relationships Between Job Insecurity, Intrinsic Motivation, and Performance and Behavioral Outcomes

by Yuhyung Shin, Won-Moo Hur, Tae Won Moon and Soomi Lee

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(10), 1812; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101812 - 22 May 2019

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 9558

Abstract

As a result of the global economic recession over the past decade, employees have been exposed to constant threats of job insecurity. Despite having conducted extensive research on job insecurity, scholars have paid little attention to the motivational processes underlying employees’ reactions to job insecurity. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between job insecurity, intrinsic motivation, and performance and behavioral outcomes. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), we propose a mediated relationship in which job insecurity decreases intrinsic motivation, which, in turn, undermines job performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and change-oriented OCB. To test our propositions, we collected survey-based data from 152 R&D professionals employed in a South Korean manufacturing company. As predicted, job insecurity was negatively related to intrinsic motivation, which, in turn, had a positive relationship with all three outcomes. Furthermore, job insecurity exerted significant indirect effects on job performance, OCB, and change-oriented OCB through intrinsic motivation. These findings affirm SDT, which posits that motivation, as a key intermediary process, affects employees’ reactions to job stressors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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13 pages, 637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Three-Way Interaction Effect of Job Insecurity, Job Embeddedness and Career Stage on Life Satisfaction in A Digital Era

by Muhammad Rafiq and Tachia Chin

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(9), 1580; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16091580 - 06 May 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4672

Abstract

Along with the severe global employment challenges caused by the rapid rise of digital technologies, the job insecurity (JI)–life satisfaction (LS) association has attracted increasing attention. However, there is still a dearth of studies investigating the crucial boundary conditions of JI–LS relationships in non-Western contexts. To fill this gap, we choose China, the world’s largest emerging economy, which is undergoing a radical digital transformation, as our research setting. Building on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, we focus on exploring two critical buffers of the JI–LS mechanism, of which job embeddedness (JE) characterizes a significant psychological resource and career stage embodies the time dynamics of this model. Data were collected from a sample of 317 Chinese media organization employees and were analyzed by the moderated hierarchical multiple regression approach. Our results show that JI is negatively related to LS and this relationship becomes stronger when employees have low JE (vs. high). Further, this two-way interaction is moderated by career stage; the impact of JI on LS is (1) stronger only for mid–late career stage employees who experienced low JE, and (2) weaker also only for mid–late career stage employees who experienced high JE. This study enriches the existing body of knowledge on the JI–LS model by highlighting the three-way interaction effect of JI, a critical psychological resource (i.e., JE), and time effect (i.e., career stage) on LS; it implies that older people with a certain amount of career experience and resource accumulation may perceive the effect of JI on LS differently than younger people. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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17 pages, 639 KiB

Open AccessArticle

When Do Service Employees Suffer More from Job Insecurity? The Moderating Role of Coworker and Customer Incivility

by Yuhyung Shin and Won-Moo Hur

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(7), 1298; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16071298 - 11 Apr 2019

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 4754

Abstract

The present study examines the effect of service employees’ job insecurity on job performance through emotional exhaustion. We identified workplace incivility (i.e., coworker and customer incivility) as a boundary condition that strengthens the positive relationship between job insecurity and emotional exhaustion. To test this moderating effect, we collected online panel surveys from 264 Korean service employees at two time points three months apart. As predicted, the positive relationship between job insecurity and job performance was partially mediated by emotional exhaustion. Of the two forms of workplace incivility, only coworker incivility exerted a significant moderating effect on the job insecurity–emotional exhaustion relationship, such that this relationship was more pronounced when service employees experienced a high level of coworker incivility than when coworker incivility was low. Coworker incivility further moderated the indirect effect of job insecurity on job performance through emotional exhaustion. These findings have theoretical implications for job insecurity research and managerial implications for practitioners. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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15 pages, 731 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Gossip Buffer the Effect of Job Insecurity on Workplace Friendships?

by Lixin Jiang, Xiaohong Xu and Xiaowen Hu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(7), 1285; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16071285 - 10 Apr 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4592

Abstract

Although previous research has documented a host of negative consequences of job insecurity, workplace interpersonal relationships have rarely been considered. This omission might be caused by the application of broad stress theories to the job insecurity literature without taking a nuanced perspective to understand the nature of job insecurity. To address this issue, we conceptualized job insecurity as a threat to employee social acceptance by their employer. This conceptualization, therefore, allows us to apply the multimotive model of social rejection to investigate a previously-overlooked outcome of job insecurity—workplace friendships. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between both job feature insecurity and job loss insecurity with workplace friendships. Based on stress coping theory and the fundamental differences between job feature insecurity and job loss insecurity, we further proposed that employees’ tendency to engage in positive gossip buffers the negative impact of job feature insecurity on workplace friendships, whereas employees’ tendency to engage in negative gossip buffers the negative impact of job loss insecurity on workplace friendships. Data collected from 286 working adults from Mturk supported our hypotheses. Our study opens the door for future research to take a more nuanced approach when examining nontraditional consequences of job insecurity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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Review

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29 pages, 415 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

A Meta-Analysis of Job Insecurity and Employee Performance: Testing Temporal Aspects, Rating Source, Welfare Regime, and Union Density as Moderators

by Magnus Sverke, Lena Låstad, Johnny Hellgren, Anne Richter and Katharina Näswall

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(14), 2536; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16142536 - 16 Jul 2019

Cited by 102 | Viewed by 9251

Abstract

Previous research has shown that job insecurity is linked to a range of performance outcomes, but the number of studies exploring this relationship is still limited and the results are somewhat mixed. The first aim of this study was to meta-analytically investigate how job insecurity is related to task performance, contextual performance, counterproductive work behavior, creativity, and safety compliance. The second aim was to test two method-related factors (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal associations and self- vs. supervisor-ratings of performance) and two macro-level indicators of social protection (social welfare regime and union density) as moderators of these associations. The results show that job insecurity was generally associated with impaired employee performance. These findings were generally similar both cross-sectionally and longitudinally and irrespective of rater. Overall, the associations between job insecurity and negative performance outcomes were weaker in welfare regimes characterized by strong social protection, whereas the results concerning union density produced mixed results. A majority of the findings confirmed the negative associations between job insecurity and types of employee performance, but future research is needed to elaborate on the effects of temporal aspects, differences between ratings sources, and further indicators of social protection in different cultural settings in the context of job insecurity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Job Insecurity on Non-Traditional Outcomes)

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