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Job Insecurity and Its Consequences in a Context of Economic Crisis

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 13024

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Beatriz Sora

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43007, Spain
Interests: job insecurity; employment; health; well-being and quality of life; resilience
Dr. Amparo Caballer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia 46010, Spain
Interests: job insecurity; human resources practices; employment; health; well-being and quality of life

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Organizations today are in a state of constant change to guarantee their survival and competitiveness in the market. Most of these changes (i.e., downsizings, mergers, acquisitions, and so on) involve ambiguity, job instability, and uncertainty inside firms and, in many cases, job insecurity. Traditionally, job insecurity has been defined as the concern about the possibility of losing one’s job (De Witte, 2000) and understood as a “hindrance stressor” that reflects an undesirable work-related demand that interferes with work achievements (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, and Boudreau, 2000). A relevant number of practitioners and researchers have paid attention to job insecurity; thus, extended literature can be found. It has been shown that job insecurity is associated to detrimental consequences for employees and organizations (i.e., job satisfaction, performance, intention to quit, turnover, commitment or health); there are different predictors that can potentiate or reduce it (i.e., management changes, communication process, union, gender, personality, etc.) and some buffers and/or coping strategies can mitigate their negative effects (i.e., social support, organizational justice, employability, etc.) (see the meta-analysis by Shoss, 2017; Cheng and Chan, 2008; Sverke et al., 2002).

Despite the progress made, our understanding of job insecurity is still far from complete. Numerous authors call for further research to better understand this phenomenon, and especially regarding the mechanism and factors that can mitigate the levels of job insecurity and its consequences (i.e., Sora et al., 2019; Shoss, 2017). This topic has special relevance in the context of a crisis, such as the current one due to COVID-19, where uncertainty and instability thrive in the society, and there are speculative reasons to fear that any psychological damage suffered could have lasting detrimental effects on both individuals and the society in large (Peiró et al., 2012). Accordingly, this Special Issue is focused on exploring the topic of job insecurity from a psychological perspective in a crisis context and mitigating its negative consequences. Papers addressing these topics are invited for this Special Issue, especially those combining a high academic standard coupled with a practical focus on providing optimal solutions.

Best regards,

Dr. Beatriz Sora
Dr. Amparo Caballer
Guest Editors

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
  • predictors
  • buffers
  • consequences
  • interventions
  • practical implications

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 643 KiB  
Article
Behavioral Reactions to Job Insecurity Climate Perceptions: Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect
by Ümran Yüce-Selvi, Nebi Sümer, Yonca Toker-Gültaş, Lena Låstad and Magnus Sverke
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(9), 5732; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20095732 - 05 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1443
Abstract
Past work has extensively documented that job insecurity predicts various work- and health-related outcomes. However, limited research has focused on the potential consequences of perceived job insecurity climate. Our objective was to investigate how the psychological climate about losing a job and valuable [...] Read more.
Past work has extensively documented that job insecurity predicts various work- and health-related outcomes. However, limited research has focused on the potential consequences of perceived job insecurity climate. Our objective was to investigate how the psychological climate about losing a job and valuable job features (quantitative and qualitative job insecurity climate, respectively) relate to employees’ exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect behaviors, and whether such climate perceptions explain additional variance in these behaviors over individual job insecurity. Data were collected through an online survey using a convenience sample of employees working in different organizations in Türkiye (N = 245). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that quantitative job insecurity climate was associated with higher levels of loyalty and neglect, while qualitative job insecurity climate was related to higher levels of exit and lower levels of loyalty. Importantly, job insecurity climate explained additional variance over individual job insecurity in exit and loyalty. Our findings underscore the importance of addressing job insecurity in a broader context regarding one’s situation and the psychological collective climate. This study contributes to addressing the knowledge gap concerning job insecurity climate, an emerging construct in the organizational behavior literature, and its incremental impact beyond individual job insecurity. The foremost implication is that organizations need to pay attention to the evolving climate perceptions about the future of jobs in the work environment, because such perceptions are related to critical employee behaviors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Job Insecurity and Its Consequences in a Context of Economic Crisis)
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15 pages, 773 KiB  
Article
Subtle Cutback Management and Exhaustion: Qualitative Job Insecurity as a Mediator in a Sample of Dutch and Belgian Employees
by Yvette Akkermans and Dave Stynen
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(9), 5684; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20095684 - 28 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1408
Abstract
As an answer to crises such as COVID-19, organizations implemented more subtle forms of cutback measures such as wage moderation, loan sacrifice and recruitment freezes aimed at maintaining a financially healthy organization. In this study, the association between subtle cutback management and employee [...] Read more.
As an answer to crises such as COVID-19, organizations implemented more subtle forms of cutback measures such as wage moderation, loan sacrifice and recruitment freezes aimed at maintaining a financially healthy organization. In this study, the association between subtle cutback management and employee exhaustion was studied, and it was investigated whether this potential linkage can be explained by employee perceptions of increased qualitative job insecurity or the fear that valued features of the job will decrease in the near future. This research thereby extends prior research on the consequences of cutback management as well as regarding the antecedents of qualitative job insecurity. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted on a sample of workers (N = 218) active in various organizations in the Netherlands and Belgium. Regression analysis was applied to test hypotheses. Mediation was investigated by means of Hayes PROCESS macro. The results of the study indicate that there is no direct relationship between subtle cutback measures deployed at the workplace and employee exhaustion. However, the analyses further reveal that subtle cutback management is positively related to the experience of qualitative job insecurity in workers and that enhanced qualitative job insecurity is positively related to employee exhaustion. Qualitative job insecurity fully mediates the relationship between subtle cutback management and employee exhaustion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Job Insecurity and Its Consequences in a Context of Economic Crisis)
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30 pages, 794 KiB  
Article
The Construct of Job Insecurity at Multiple Levels: Implications for Its Conceptualization and Theory Development
by Beatriz Sora, Thomas Höge, Amparo Caballer and José Maria Peiró
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3052; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043052 - 09 Feb 2023
Viewed by 2667
Abstract
Over the years, job insecurity has accumulated important scholarly work. As a result, research has identified multiple constructs that involve employees’ concerns about job loss. Most of these are individual-level constructs (e.g., subjective and objective job insecurity), but, recently, an incipient body of [...] Read more.
Over the years, job insecurity has accumulated important scholarly work. As a result, research has identified multiple constructs that involve employees’ concerns about job loss. Most of these are individual-level constructs (e.g., subjective and objective job insecurity), but, recently, an incipient body of literature has adopted a multilevel perspective by understanding job insecurity as a collective phenomenon (e.g., job insecurity climate, strength climate, downsizing or temporary hiring strategies). Furthermore, these constructs at different levels are underpinned by shared theoretical frameworks, such as stress theory or psychological contract theory. However, all this literature fails to present an integrative framework that contains the functional relationship for mapping job insecurity constructs across levels. Accordingly, the present study aims to examine job insecurity from a multilevel perspective, specifically by conceptualizing job insecurity at the individual level—understood as subjective and objective job insecurity—and at the organizational level, understood as job instability in an organization, job insecurity climate, and climate strength. The methodology of multilevel construct validation proposed by Chen, Mathieu and Bliese (2005) was applied; thus, (1) job insecurity were defined at each relevant level of analysis; (2) its nature and structure was specified at higher levels of analysis; (3) psychometric properties were tested across and/or at different levels of analysis; (4) the extent to which job insecurity varies between levels of analysis was estimated; and (5) the function of job insecurity was tested across different levels of analysis. The results showed significant relationships among these, and were related to an organizational antecedent (e.g., organization nature) and organizational and individual outcomes (collective and individual job satisfaction) in two European samples: Austria and Spain. Accordingly, this study exposed the multilevel validity of job insecurity constructs through an integrative framework in order to advance in the area of job insecurity theory and practice. The contributions and implications to job insecurity research and other multilevel research are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Job Insecurity and Its Consequences in a Context of Economic Crisis)
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17 pages, 987 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Job Insecurity on Knowledge-Hiding Behavior: The Mediating Role of Organizational Identification and the Buffering Role of Coaching Leadership
by Jeeyoon Jeong, Byung-Jik Kim and Min-Jik Kim
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 16017; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316017 - 30 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2289
Abstract
As the global economic situation deteriorates due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the business environment is plagued by uncertainty and risk. To address this, many organizations have sought to optimize efficiency, especially by downsizing and restructuring, to reduce costs. This causes anxiety among [...] Read more.
As the global economic situation deteriorates due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the business environment is plagued by uncertainty and risk. To address this, many organizations have sought to optimize efficiency, especially by downsizing and restructuring, to reduce costs. This causes anxiety among employees, who worry about whether they will be fired. We hypothesize that such job insecurity increases knowledge-hiding behavior by employees, and we investigate the mechanism underlying such a negative effect. In addition, we attempt to capture the boundary conditions of how to reduce the adverse effects of job insecurity, focusing on the role of coaching leadership. Using three-wave time-lagged cohort-study data from 346 Korean workers, we empirically found that employees who perceive job insecurity are less likely to feel organizational identification, leading to increased knowledge-hiding behavior. This study also demonstrated that coaching leadership operates as a boundary condition which buffers the negative influence of job insecurity on organizational identification. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Job Insecurity and Its Consequences in a Context of Economic Crisis)
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20 pages, 1128 KiB  
Article
Job Insecurity and Intention to Quit: The Role of Psychological Distress and Resistance to Change in the UAE Hotel Industry
by Asier Baquero
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13629; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013629 - 20 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3827
Abstract
Hotel organizations today are in a state of constant change due to high competition, the emergence of pandemics, and cyclical economic crises. Hospitality employees are currently affected by job insecurity. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of job insecurity [...] Read more.
Hotel organizations today are in a state of constant change due to high competition, the emergence of pandemics, and cyclical economic crises. Hospitality employees are currently affected by job insecurity. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of job insecurity on intention to quit among hospitality workers, integrating the mediating effect of psychological distress and resistance to change and their mutual relationship. A total of 312 surveys were completed in four four- and five-star hotels in the UAE (Dubai and Sharjah). The SmartPLS 4 software was used to test the hypotheses in a mediation model with the bootstrapping method. The results showed that all of the direct links were positive and significant, and mediating relationships were confirmed. This study found that job insecurity predicts intention to quit through psychological distress and resistance to change acting as mediators, and these factors themselves also impact significantly on intention to quit. Resistance to change is impacted significantly by job insecurity and psychological distress, which suggests that a deeper approach to employees’ resistance to change should be taken, especially when conducting performance appraisals in the hotel industry, by searching for its roots and aiming to minimize employees’ intention to quit. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Job Insecurity and Its Consequences in a Context of Economic Crisis)
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