Sometimes It’s Personal: Differential Outcomes of Person vs. Job at Risk Threats to Job Security

Nicole Carusone, Rebecca Pittman and Mindy Shoss
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Nicole Carusone: Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Rebecca Pittman: Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Mindy Shoss: Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-15

Abstract: The current paper expands an under-addressed concept within the job insecurity literature, namely, whether threats to job security are specific to the jobholder (person-at-risk threats) or specific to the job (job-at-risk threats). Using a between-person experimental vignette design, 136 employed participants were asked to imagine themselves in either a Person-at-Risk or a Job-at-Risk scenario. As expected, participants in a person-at-risk scenario indicated more negative reactions to job insecurity, as captured by greater anticipated negative affect and poorer perceived social exchanges and organization-based self-esteem. They also reported reduced intention for interpersonal citizenship behavior and greater intention to engage in one form of impression management compared to individuals in a job-at-risk scenario. We interpret these findings in terms of their implications on individual versus group identity, as well as on well-being and the behavioral consequences of job insecurity.

Keywords: job insecurity; identity threat; self; organization based self-esteem (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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