A Two-dimensional Approach to Job Insecurity: Consequences for Employee Attitudes and Well-being

Abstract

The issue of job insecurity has received growing recognition in connection with increased unemployment and the use of large workforce reductions to improve organizational effectiveness and competitive ability. Although research suggests that job insecurity is negatively related to employee work attitudes and well-being, some issues concerning these relationships have not yet been fully addressed. First, concerns about the continued existence of one's job (quantitative insecurity) and important job features (qualitative insecurity) could relate differently to the outcomes. Second, empirical research has not systematically controlled for mood dispositions, although a growing body of literature suggests that this should be a standard procedure when self-rated stress reactions are measured. Third, most studies are cross-sectional and thus unable to control for prior levels of the outcome variables. Based on longitudinal data from a Swedish organization undergoing downsizing (N =375), this study revealed that quantitative insecurity was the most important dimension in that it negatively affected subsequent well-being after controlling for positive and negative affectivity as well as prior levels of wellbeing. Although job insecurity appears to have negative consequences for employees and their organizations, our results indicate that the consequences of insecurity may have been overestimated in previous, often cross-sectional, research.