Katharina Näswall

`Objective' vs `Subjective' Job Insecurity: Consequences of Temporary Work for Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in Four European Countries

This contribution analyses whether temporary work and (the subjective perception of) job insecurity are associated with a reduction in job satisfaction and organizational commitment, as proposed in the literature. An interaction between temporary work and job insecurity is also tested. Data from four European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden) are used to test the robustness of the hypotheses. The results show that temporary work is not associated with a reduction in job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job insecurity is associated with a lower score on both outcome variables, as hypothesized. In two countries, an interaction was found: job insecurity was only associated with a reduction in job satisfaction and organizational commitment among workers with a permanent contract, suggesting that the psychological contract was violated for this category of workers.

Who Feels Insecure in Europe? Predicting Job Insecurity from Background Variables

Along with the increased flexibilization of the labour market in Europe, there has been a change in the permanence and security of employment. Job insecurity is constituted by a subjectively experienced threat of having to give up ones job sooner than one would like. The experience of job insecurity has been linked to decreasing well-being, negative attitudes towards ones job and organization, and reluctance to stay with the organization. The present study investigates what groups experience higher levels of job insecurity than others. Survey data from four European countries (Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden) were used to determine what characterizes individuals who experience high levels of job insecurity. The results show that employees in jobs characterized by manual labour, contingent workers, and to some extent older workers and those with lower levels of education, experience higher levels of job insecurity.

The moderating role of personality characteristics on the relationship between job insecurity and strain

The experience of job insecurity has been linked to several different outcomes, such as negative attitudes towards work and the organization, turnover intention, as well as health complaints. However, since the strength of these effects have been found to vary across studies, it is vital to identify factors that could influence the relationships. The present study examines the moderating role of three personality characteristics (negative affectivity, positive affectivity, and external locus of control) on the relation between job insecurity and outcomes (mental health complaints, job dissatisfaction, and job-induced tension). Data from 400 nurses at a Swedish acute care hospital (response rate 71%; 91% women, aged 20–68 years) showed that both job insecurity and personality were related to strain. Also, the data indicated some buffering effect of personality. Despite the gender bias of the sample, the study provides additional support for the notion that job insecurity affects strain even after controlling for individual characteristics. The study also expands the literature on job insecurity by pointing out the influence of personality characteristics on the relationship between stressors and strain.

The moderating role of employability in the association between job insecurity and exit, voice, loyalty and neglect

Exit, voice, loyalty, or neglect as employee responses to organizations in decline have been investigated in several studies. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether employability moderates the effects of job insecurity on exit, voice, loyalty and neglect. The results, based on questionnaire data from white-collar workers in Sweden (N = 725), indicate that individuals who are high in employability may have greater opportunities for gaining control over their working life. Job insecurity was found to be associated with increased exit as well as with decreased voice and loyalty, although these effects were stronger among individuals who perceived themselves to be employable. Thus, instead of making employees more likely to use voice in times of uncertainty, employability appears to primarily induce vocational mobility.

Investigating the relationship between employability and self-efficacy : A cross-lagged analysis

The construct of employability has been conceptually related to self-efficacy in different ways. Employability has sometimes been regarded as an equivalent to self-efficacy, or as a distinct but related phenomenon. Since the relationship between the two phenomena has not been subjected to empirical scrutiny, the aim of the present study is to analyze whether self-efficacy and employability are two distinct but related constructs, and if they are, to investigate the direction of their relationship. The data (N = 1730) were collected through a two-wave longitudinal survey with one year between each data collection (2005 and 2006). The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the measures of employability and self-efficacy were distinct from one another, within and over measurement points, indicating that these are related but separate constructs. The results of latent variable cross-lagged analysis showed that employability predicted subsequent self-efficacy, even after controlling for age, gender, educational level, and regional differences. Thus, employability is not an expression of efficacy beliefs, but rather, the strengthening of employability perceptions may have beneficial effects on more general efficacy beliefs.

Predicting nurse burnout from demands and resources in three acute care hospitals under different forms of ownership: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

BACKGROUND Health care organizations have changed dramatically over the last decades, with hospitals undergoing restructurings and privatizations. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to enhance the understanding of the origin and prevalence of burnout in health care by investigating factors in the psychosocial work environment and comparing three Swedish emergency hospitals with different types of ownership. DESIGN A cross-sectional design was used. PARTICIPANTS We selected a total sample of 1800 registered nurses from three acute care hospitals, one private for-profit, one private non-profit and one publicly administered. A total of 1102 questionnaires were included in the analyses. SETTINGS The examined ownership types were a private for-profit, a private non-profit and a traditional publicly administered hospital. All were situated in the Stockholm region, Sweden. METHODS Data were collected by questionnaires using validated instruments, in accordance with the Job Demands-Resources Model and Maslachs Burnout Inventory. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, multivariate covariance analyses and multiple regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS The results showed that the burnout levels were the highest at the private for-profit hospital and lowest at the publicly administered hospital. However, in contrast to expectations the demands were not higher overall at the for-profit organization or lowest at the public administration unit, and overall, resources were not better in the private for-profit or worse at the publicly administered hospital. Multiple regression analyses showed that several of the demands included were related to higher burnout levels. Job resources were linked to lower burnout levels, but not for all variables. CONCLUSIONS Profit orientation in health care seems to result in higher burnout levels for registered nurses compared to a publicly administered hospital. In general, demands were more predictive of burnout than resources, and there were only marginal differences in the pattern of predictors across hospitals.

Job insecurity and its relation to work—family conflict: Mediation with a longitudinal data set

Previous research on the consequences of job insecurity has for the most part focused on individual as well as organizational outcomes, but rarely considered potential family consequences. Based on longitudinal data from Swedish teachers, the present study tests the relation between job insecurity and work—family conflict. In addition, workload was introduced as a mediator in order to contribute to the understanding of the mechanism relating the two phenomena. Gender differences were taken into account when testing this relation. The results provided partial support for workload as a mediator of the effects of job insecurity on subsequent work—family conflict. However, these results were found only for men, indicating gender differences in how job insecurity relates to workload and work—family conflict.

The moderating role of employability on the relationship between job insecurity and commitment to change

The development of commitment to change is an underresearched area especially in non-western settings. The aim of the present study was to determine whether employability can moderate the negative effects of job insecurity on individuals’ commitment to change. A survey method approach was used to collect 149 responses from managers of a large public sector organization in Pakistan undergoing restructuring. Hierarchical multiple regression results suggest that employability is an important coping resource during organizational change as it helps mitigate the negative effects of job insecurity on the most desirable form of commitment to change, namely affective commitment to change. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

European perspectives on job insecurity : Editorial introduction

The year 2010 represents an important year in job insecurity research, as represented by the publication of two special issues. In addition to the present one, the journal International Studies of Management & Organization publishes a special issue (Reisel and Probst, 2010) dedicated to the research initiative developed by Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt (1984). Some of the critical questions, then, concern how job insecurity research has evolved over the years, what new knowledge has been generated, and what aspects still deserve additional attention. These questions served as the background for a Small Group Meeting on ‘Job Insecurity in Europe: State of the Art and New Directions’, which we organized in Belgium in September 2008. The meeting, sponsored by the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology and hosted by the K.U. Leuven, attracted 34 researchers from no less than 17 countries. The presentations advanced the understanding of the nature and measurement of job insecurity, focused on factors that may make employees more prone to experience uncertainty regarding the future of their jobs, highlighted outcomes that hitherto have not attracted much attention, and explored potential moderators and mediators of the insecurity–outcome relations. After the meeting, participants were subsequently invited to submit articles for potential inclusion in the present special issue, and we are proud to present a special issue with high-quality studies addressing important topics in contemporary job insecurity research.

Job Insecurity as a Predictor of Physiological Indicators of Health in Healthy Working Women: An Extension of Previous Research

Job insecurity has been linked to different negative outcomes, such as negative work attitudes and health problems, with most studies including self-reported outcomes. Extending earlier research, the present study includes both self-reported and physiological indicators of health and sets out to investigate whether higher levels of job insecurity are related to higher levels of allostatic load, higher levels of morning cortisol, more physician-diagnosed symptoms of ill-health and poorer self-rated health. The study also investigated whether self-rated health mediated the relation between job insecurity and physiological outcomes. This was cross-sectionally studied in a cohort of Swedish women who participated in a large-scale longitudinal study focusing on life span development and adaptation. The results showed that job insecurity was related to self-rated health and morning cortisol, and, contrary to expectations, that job insecurity was unrelated to allostatic load and physician ratings, both directly and indirectly. The results indicate that, in healthy working women, job insecurity may be less detrimental to long-term physiological health than originally hypothesized.