Does job insecurity lead to impaired well‐being or vice versa? Estimation of cross‐lagged effects using latent variable modelling

Although research suggests that job insecurity is associated with impaired employee well‐being, there is insufficient empirical evidence to draw any causal inferences since most studies are cross‐sectional and thus do not control for previous levels of health symptoms. We used longitudinal questionnaire data to investigate the direction of the relationship between job insecurity and health complaints. After controlling for prior levels of mental and physical health complaints and five other variables that could potentially confound the results (gender, age, organizational tenure, family status, and education), the results of latent variable modelling showed that the cross‐lagged effect of job insecurity on mental health complaints, one year later, was significant whereas the reversed effects of mental and physical health complaints on subsequent insecurity were non‐significant. However, there was no significant cross‐lagged effect of job insecurity on physical health complaints. The results provide empirical support for the theoretical notion that job insecurity leads to health complaints, and imply that prior levels of health should be taken into consideration in order to explain the relative effect of perceived job insecurity on the physical and mental health of the workforce. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of job stressors on marital satisfaction in Finnish dual‐earner couples

The focus on the present study was to test a mediational model appropriate for explaining the effects of psychosocial job stressors, i.e., job insecurity, job autonomy, time pressures at work, leadership relations and work–family conflict, on marital satisfaction via job exhaustion and psychosomatic health. The study was carried out among 215 married or cohabiting dual‐earner couples. The proposed model was tested through structural equation analysis (LISREL). The results indicated that the job stressors, except for job autonomy, spilled over into marital satisfaction via job exhaustion and psychosomatic health for both men and women. However, no empirical support was found for the crossover of job stressors between partners, signifying that job stressors experienced by one partner did not influence the marital well‐being of the other. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Occupational stress in (inter)action: the interplay between job demands and job resources

The present study addresses theoretical issues involving different interaction effects between job demands and job resources, accompanied by a thorough empirical test of interaction terms in the demand–control (DC) model and the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) model in relation to employee health and well‐being (i.e., exhaustion, psychosomatic health complaints, company‐registered sickness absence). Neither the DC model nor the ERI model gives a clear theoretical rationale or preference for a particular interaction term. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted among 405 nursing home employees and cross‐validated in a comparable sample (N = 471). Results including cross‐validation showed that only a multiplicative interaction term yielded consistent results for both the DC model and the ERI model. Theoretical as well as empirical results argue for a multiplicative interaction term to test the DC model and the ERI model. Future job stress research may benefit from the idea that there should be a theoretical preference for any interaction form, either in the DC model or in the ERI model. However, more research on interactions is needed to address this topic adequately. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Leadership,followers' mental health and job performance in organizations: A comprehensive meta‐analysis from an occupational health perspective

The present meta‐analysis investigates the associations between leadership, followers' mental health, and job performance by taking into account different groups of leadership constructs including transformational leadership, relations‐oriented leadership, task‐oriented leadership, destructive leadership, and leader–member exchange. Six categories of mental health‐related outcomes are considered representing both negative and positive mental health states of followers, namely, affective symptoms, burnout, stress, well‐being, psychological functioning, and health complaints. Meta‐analytic models are used to estimate the association between these categories of leadership and mental health. Our results reveal that transformational leadership, a high quality of relations‐oriented and task‐oriented leadership behavior, as well as a high quality of leader–follower interaction are positively associated with mental health. In contrast, destructive leadership is strongly negatively associated with mental health. In addition, the mediation effects of leadership on job performance via mental health are estimated. Results partially support the mediating role of mental health concerning the relationship between leadership and job performance. Our results emphasize the importance of leadership as an occupational health factor, and they may serve as basis for the planning and designing of occupational health policies and interventions despite existing research limitations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of hindrance stressors in the job demand–control–support model of occupational stress: A proposed theory revision

Previous research on the job demand–control–support (JDCS) model of occupational stress has generally been inconsistent at best regarding a key issue: the interaction of demands, control, and support in predicting employee health and well‐being. However, the model continues to be tested in a variety of studies and academic journals owing to its intuitive appeal. By incorporating conservation of resources theory with knowledge from the challenge–hindrance stressor framework, we proposed that hindrance stressors, not the challenge stressors commonly assessed when testing JDCS theory, will provide validation for the model. A two‐wave panel study of 228 employees in a variety of occupations provided support for three‐way interactions between hindrance demands, control, and support predicting job‐related anxiety and physical symptoms. Three‐way interactions using a challenge demand (forms of workload) were not significant, consistent with our propositions. In summary, this study supports the buffering effect of control and support on the relationship between job demands and strain only when job demands reflect hindrance stressors, thereby proposing to alter the JDCS model by specifying that it applies primarily to hindrance stressors in a job hindrance–control–support model. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work environment and the well-being of clerical and VDT workers

This paper explores the relationships between extent of video display terminal usage, perceptions of the physical work environment, task characteristics, and workers' health and well-being among a group of 1032 female office clerical workers. Data are drawn from responses to a 30-minute questionnaire administered at four employment sites during 1981 and 1982. All-day terminal users reported significantly higher levels of job and physical environment stressors than part-day VDT users, typists and non machine-interactive clerical workers. Reports of musculo-skeletal strain and dissatisfaction were also highest among all day terminal users. Part-day VDT users, typists and clerks all reported relatively similar levels of job and physical working conditions, health symptoms and job satisfaction. No significant differences between any of the groups were observed for gastrointestinal, respiratory, psychological and other non-specific health complaints. Typists and clerical workers who also held supervisory positions reported fewer stressors and greater job satisfaction than workers with no supervisory tasks; however there were no such differences between supervisors and non-supervisors engaged in all-day VDT work. Implications of these findings for further research and for job redesign strategies to alleviate the potentially stressful aspects of office automation are discussed.     

Exploring the linkage between the home domain and absence from work: Health,motivation, or both?

The aim of this study was twofold. First, we examined depleting and enriching effects of employees' home domain (home demands and quality time spent at home) on unscheduled absence from work. Second, we tested the assumption of the medical and withdrawal models that absence duration and frequency are uniquely predicted by respectively health condition and job motivation. We used longitudinal, different‐source data from 1014 employees. The results showed that home quality time was negatively related to absence frequency and duration in the following year through a physical pathway (less physical stress symptoms and health complaints) and through a psychological pathway (less psychological stress symptoms, increased job motivation). Employees with heavy home demands reported more physical and psychological stress symptoms, more health complaints, and lower job motivation. Accordingly, they had longer and more frequent sick leaves in the consecutive year. We conclude that the home domain adds to our understanding of absence from work. In addition, the model including cross pathways between health complaints and job motivation on the one hand, and absence frequency and duration on the other, best fitted the data. Thus, a clear distinction between volitional absence (frequency) and absence due to illness (duration) seems hard to justify. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Job embeddedness and voluntary turnover in the face of job insecurity

Two important contributions to the understanding of voluntary turnover are the ideas that employees become embedded in a net or web of restraining forces on- and off-the-job and that they experience varying degrees of control and desire that yield proximal withdrawal states explaining turnover motivations. We build on these ideas in two multi-wave studies to study job insecurity, one of the most common work stressors and top concerns among employees around the world. Study 1 demonstrates that job search mediates the positive relationship between job insecurity and voluntary turnover, and that employees higher in on-the-job embeddedness are less likely to search for jobs despite job insecurity. Study 2 demonstrates that turnover intention mediates the positive relationship between job insecurity and voluntary turnover, and that employees higher in on-the-job embeddedness are less likely to contemplate quitting despite job insecurity. However, off-the-job embeddedness had opposite interactive effects, exacerbating the relationship of job insecurity with turnover.     

Stress,coping and safety compliance in a multinational gold mining company

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship of work stress, consisting of role stressors and job insecurity, with safety compliance at work. A secondary objective was to test for the possible moderating effect of individual employees’ coping behaviour between experienced work stress and job insecurity, and their safety compliance. A cross-sectional survey design was used (n?=?771). An electronic survey, with a biographical questionnaire and scales on role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, job insecurity, coping and safety compliance at work, was administered. The results indicated that specific aspects of work stress, notably role conflict, role ambiguity and quantitative job insecurity, and of coping, namely an avoidance style and changing the situation, were important in understanding safety compliance. A moderating effect of avoidance coping was also found.     

Multi‐wave,multi‐variable models of job insecurity: applying different scales in studying the stability of job insecurity

The study had two specific targets: first, to examine the stability of job insecurity by utilizing three‐year longitudinal data (n = 109) collected in Finland and, second, to clarify psychometric properties of four job insecurity scales, i.e., the global scale, the importance scale, the probability scale and the powerlessness scale. The study was carried out by means of questionnaires, which were answered on three occasions. Analyses were conducted using multi‐wave, multi‐variable models which were estimated and tested via the LISREL program. Generally, the results showed that job insecurity remained relatively stable during the follow‐up period, although there were some variations in the stability as well as in the psychometric properties of the four job insecurity scales examined. More specifically, three of the scales studied showed good psychometric properties, whereas the probability scale could not be estimated longitudinally. Furthermore, working organization and time had effects on the level of job insecurity measured via the different scales. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employee voice behavior: A meta‐analytic test of the conservation of resources framework

Although voice (i.e. expressing change‐oriented ideas and suggestions) has frequently been investigated as a way for workers to reciprocate to their employers for the positive treatment they receive, much less is known about how workers use voice to deal with stress. This study takes a conservation of resources perspective to examine the relationships among workplace stress, voice behavior, and job performance. We first examined the strength of relationships of three major groups of workplace stressors and strains (job based, social based, and organization based) with voice behavior. We then examined the relationships of voice behavior with performance variables (e.g. in‐role performance and creativity) to investigate how voice may help workers preserve or accumulate resources to enhance their performance. The meta‐analytic findings presented here provide support for a negative relationship between workplace stress and voice and a positive relationship between voice behavior and performance outcomes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unfairness at work as a predictor of absenteeism

This study among 514 security guards examines the relationship between perceptions of unfairness at work and absenteeism during a one‐year follow‐up. On the basis of previous theoretical work and fragmented empirical evidence, it was hypothesized that distributive unfairness causes absence behavior in a direct or indirect way (through health complaints). Procedural unfairness was hypothesized to cause absence behavior through affective commitment or through health complaints. Results of a series of structural equation modelling analyses offer support for the mediating role of health complaints in the relationship between (distributive and procedural) unfairness at work and absenteeism. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that perceived unfairness contributes to explaining T2‐absenteeism over and above the impact of T1‐absenteeism and traditional work‐related stressors (i.e., work load and low job control). The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work stressors and coworker support as predictors of individual strain and job performance

This study examined job stressors and coworker social support in relation to both psychological strains and performance. One hundred and ninety‐eight door‐to‐door bookdealers, employed on a seasonal basis, completed self‐report measures of job stressors, psychological strains, coworker social support, and job performance. Performance data were also obtained from company records. Results indicated that stressors predicted both psychological strains and one of the two measures of performance. The strongest predictor was a job‐specific measure of chronic stressors. Social support predicted psychological strains, although it was only weakly related to performance. There was no evidence that social support moderated the effects of any of the stressors. Implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stress reactions in computerized administrative work

Ninety-five white-collar workers employed by an insurance company using visual display units (VDU) connected by telecommunication to a central computer filled in a questionnaire concerning psychosocial stressors in connection with work at the VDU. Eleven persons with extensive and ten with no work at VDUs were also studied during regular work, during breakdown of machinery, and in their leisure time. Self-reports on mood and alertness were recorded along with blood pressure, heart rate, and excretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Results indicate that (1) stress and mental strain occurred in association with delayed response times in the computer system and unpredicted interruptions of system operation, (2) such a temporary interruption caused an increase of blood pressure and adrenaline excretion, (3) complaints of stress and strain were repotted mainly by data-entry staff, (4) data-entry groups displayed a higher level of physiological arousal during post-work hours than a control group, and (5) that a majority of those who worked continuously at a VOU reported physical discomfort within 1.5 hours. It is concluded that stress and strain in computerized work may be counteracted at the technological and the organizational level: by reducing the duration and frequency of breakdowns, by reducing response times in the system, and by eliminating pure data-entry tasks.     

工作不安全感对安全绩效的影响 ——基于某大型电力公司的实证研究

由于安全问题备受关注,采用问卷研究法,通过构建调节—中介模型探讨工作不安全感影响员工安全绩效的机制。对某大型电力公司329位员工进行问卷调查后发现,员工的工作满意感中工作不安全感对员工安全绩效的消极影响,情绪智力通过调节工作不安全感与工作满意感的关系削弱了工作不安全感对安全绩效的消极作用,即当组织变革给员工带来工作不安全感时,高情绪智力的个体会通过有效的情绪管理减少工作不满意感,进而缓冲工作不安全感对安全绩效的影响,而低情绪智力的个体会过于情绪化,使得工作不安全感显著影响工作满意感,进而使员工的安全绩效受到影响。     

A mediational model of sense of coherence in the work context: a one‐year follow‐up study

The aim of this study was to test a mediational model appropriate for explaining the effects of psychosocial work characteristics (influence at work, job insecurity, organizational climate and leadership relations) on general well‐being, (psychosomatic symptoms) and on occupational well‐being (emotional exhaustion at work) via sense of coherence (SOC) in a one‐year follow‐up study. The questionnaire data were gathered in four Finnish organizations in February 1995 and 1996. Altogether 219 employees participated in the study in both years. The results, based on structural equation modelling, showed that a good organizational climate and low job insecurity were related to strong SOC, which was, in turn, linked to a high level of general as well as occupational well‐being. In addition, those employees who experienced changes in organizational climate and leadership relations during the follow‐up period, showed changes in SOC which was, in turn, related to changes in the well‐being indicators. The results thus highlight the major role of a good organizational climate for enhancing SOC and, consequently, well‐being. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Workplace racial/ethnic similarity,job satisfaction,and lumbar back health among warehouse workers: Asymmetric reactions across racial/ethnic groups

Racial and ethnic minority employees constitute a significant proportion of the U.S. workforce. The literature on demographic similarity in the workplace suggests that the proportion of co‐workers who share the same racial/ethnic background (racial/ethnic similarity) can influence job attitudes and employee well‐being and that the reactions to racial/ethnic similarity may differ between the racially dominant and subordinate groups. This study applies status construction theory to examine the extent to which racial/ethnic similarity is associated with job satisfaction and lumbar back health among warehouse employees. We surveyed 361 warehouse workers (204 whites, 94 African‐Americans, and 63 Latino workers) in 68 jobs in nine distribution centers in the United States. Multilevel analyses indicate that white and racial/ethnic minority groups react differently to racial/ethnic similarity. For job satisfaction, white employees experience higher job satisfaction when they are highly racially/ethnically similar to their colleagues, whereas Latino employees experience higher job satisfaction when they are racially/ethnically dissimilar to others. As for lumbar back health, among Latino and African‐American employees, higher racial/ethnic similarity is associated with better lumbar back health whereas for white employees, the association is the opposite. Across all groups, moderate levels of racial/ethnic similarity were associated with the best lumbar back health. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implications of job insecurity perceptions and job insecurity responses for psychological well-being,turnover intentions and reported risk behavior

This study aimed to test whether cognitively appraised level of job insecurity (job insecurity perceptions) and evaluative responses to a perceived level of job insecurity (job insecurity dissatisfaction and job insecurity behaviors) could relate differently to employee mental well-being, turnover intentions and on-the-job risk behavior. The significance of demographic characteristics (gender and age) as well as the implications of attitudinal variables (job satisfaction, job motivation and organizational commitment) and for the dependent variables was taken into account. Based on data from a self-completion questionnaire survey carried out among a representative sample of the Norwegian adult population (N = 260) results indicated that only job insecurity behaviors were indirectly related to turnover intentions and risk behavior via their impact on psychological well-being. The relative importance of the job insecurity dimensions for the dependent variables are discussed, as well as theoretical and practical implications.     

Organizational antecedents and outcomes of job insecurity: a longitudinal study in three organizations in Finland

The aim of the study was to examine perceived job insecurity and its organizational antecedents and outcomes within a one‐year time period. The study was carried out by means of questionnaires, which were responded to twice, in 1995 (Time 1) and 1996 (Time 2), by employees in three organizations: a factory, a bank, and a municipal social and health care department. The present article is based on the data of those employees (n=210) who participated in the study in both years. The results indicated that perceived job insecurity varied with gender and organization, but not with time. In particular, female employees in the bank reported a high level of job insecurity compared with men. The use of a restorative strategy by management at Time 1 decreased job insecurity at Time 2, whereas job insecurity at Time 1 weakened the quality of human relations and perceived efficiency within the organizations at Time 2. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does job insecurity threaten who you are? Introducing a social identity perspective to explain well‐being and performance consequences of job insecurity

This paper introduces a social identity perspective to job insecurity research. Worrying about becoming jobless, we argue, is detrimental because it implies an anticipated membership of a negatively evaluated group—the group of unemployed people. Job insecurity hence threatens a person's social identity as an employed person. This in turn will affect well‐being and job performance. A three‐wave survey study amongst 377 British employees supports this perspective. Persons who felt higher levels of job insecurity were more likely to report a weaker social identity as an employed person. This effect was found to be stable over time and also held against a test of reverse causality. Furthermore, social identity as an employed person influenced well‐being and in‐role job performance and mediated the effect of job insecurity on these two variables over time. Different to the expectations, social identity as an employed person and organisational proactivity were not connected. The findings deliver interesting evidence for the role of social identity as an employed person in the relationships between job insecurity and its consequences. Theoretically, this perspective illustrates the individual and group‐related nature of job insecurity and offers a novel way of connecting work situations with individual well‐being, behaviour and attitudes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.