On the Reciprocal Relationship between Quantitative and Qualitative Job Insecurity and Outcomes. Testing a Cross-Lagged Longitudinal Mediation Model

Sonia Nawrocka, Hans De Witte, Margherita Brondino and Margherita Pasini
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Sonia Nawrocka: Research Group Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology, FPPW, KU Leuven, Oude Markt 13, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Hans De Witte: Research Group Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology, FPPW, KU Leuven, Oude Markt 13, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Margherita Brondino: Department of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 17, 37129 Verona, Italy
Margherita Pasini: Department of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 17, 37129 Verona, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-28

Abstract: Prior cross-sectional research indicates that the negative effects of quantitative job insecurity (i.e., threat to job loss) on employees’ wellbeing are fully mediated by qualitative job insecurity (i.e., threat to job characteristics). In the current longitudinal study, we replicated and further extended this view to include a direct effect of qualitative job insecurity on quantitative job insecurity. We explored these reciprocal relations in the context of their concurrent effects on work related outcomes by means of dual-mediation modelling. We identified a wide range of the outcomes, classified as: job strains (i.e., exhaustion, emotional and cognitive impairment), psychological coping reactions (i.e., job satisfaction, work engagement, turnover intention), and behavioral coping reactions (i.e., in-role and extra role performance, counterproductive behavior). We employed a three-wave panel design and surveyed 2003 Flemish employees. The results showed that the dual-mediation model had the best fit to the data. However, whereas qualitative job insecurity predicted an increase in quantitative job insecurity and the outcome variables six months later, quantitative job insecurity did not affect qualitative job insecurity or the outcomes over time. The study demonstrates the importance of qualitative job insecurity not only as a severe work stressor but also as an antecedent of quantitative job insecurity. Herewith, we stress the need for further research on the causal relations between both dimensions of job insecurity.

Keywords: quantitative job insecurity; qualitative job insecurity; cross-lagged panel model; conservation of resources theory; burnout; work attitudes; job performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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