Job insecurity: Review of the international literature on definitions, prevalence, antecedents and consequences

This article reviews the literature on job insecurity. After defining the concept and its components, the prevalence of job insecurity among workers is discussed. Next, various antecedents are charted, and the consequences of job insecurity for the health and well-being of individuals and for their attitudes and behaviours towards organizations are discussed. Finally, some practical suggestions are made in order to reduce the harmful effects of insecurity, and some suggestions for future research are formulated. The focus of this review article is on studies from Europe and the U.S. As such, it aims to introduce the field of job insecurity to South African researchers. Opsomming Die artikel gee ’n oorsig van die literatuur oor werksonsekerheid. Na die defineering van die konsep en die komponente, word die voorkoms van werksonsekerheid onder werknemers bespreek. Volgende word verskeie antesedente bespreek, en die gevolge van werksonsekerheid op die gesondheid en welstand van individue, hul gesindhede en hul gedrag teenoor die organisasie bespreek. Laastens word daar ’n paar praktiese voorstelle gemaak om die skadelike gevolge van onsekerheid te verminder, asook voorstelle vir toekomstige navorsing. Die fokus van hierdie oorsig artikel is op studies in Europa and die VSA gemaak, en as sulks beoog dit om die veld van werksonsekerheid aan Suid-Afrikaanse navorsers voor te stel.

[1]  Katharina Näswall,et al.  Who Feels Insecure in Europe? Predicting Job Insecurity from Background Variables , 2003 .

[2]  Sidney Dekker,et al.  The effects of job insecurity on psychological health and withdrawal: A longitudinal study , 1995 .

[3]  Nik Chmiel,et al.  Introduction to work and organizational psychology , 2000 .

[4]  M. Jahoda,et al.  Employment and Unemployment: A Social-Psychological Analysis , 1982 .

[5]  M. Sverke,et al.  No security: a meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. , 2002, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[6]  P. Landsbergis.  Occupational stress among health care workers: A test of the job demands-control model , 1988 .

[7]  C A Heaney,et al.  Chronic job insecurity among automobile workers: effects on job satisfaction and health. , 1994, Social science & medicine.

[8]  Wilmar B. Schaufeli,et al.  Job stress and health , 2000 .

[9]  Magnus Sverke,et al.  A Two-dimensional Approach to Job Insecurity: Consequences for Employee Attitudes and Well-being , 1999 .

[10]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Healthy Work : Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life , 1990 .

[11]  Hans De Witte,et al.  European unions in the wake of flexible production: technical report on the data sets used in a SALTSA project , 2001 .

[12]  M. Sverke,et al.  The Nature of Job Insecurity: Understanding Employment Uncertainty on the Brink of a New Millennium , 2002 .

[13]  R. Ennals.  Job insecurity and union membership , 2004 .

[14]  T D Wall,et al.  Work characteristics and employee well-being within a context of strategic downsizing. , 1997, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[15]  Angelo J. Kinicki,et al.  A test of job security's direct and mediated effects on withdrawal cognitions , 1997 .

[16]  M. Jahoda,et al.  Employment and Unemployment , 1982 .

[17]  L. Iversen,et al.  Psychological Weil‐Being Among Unemployed and Employed People After a Company Closedown: A Longitudinal Study , 1988 .

[18]  Michiel A. J. Kompier,et al.  Job design and well-being , 2002 .

[19]  A. Büssing,et al.  Can Control at Work and Social Support Moderate Psychological Consequences of Job Insecurity? Results from a Quasi-experimental Study in the Steel Industry , 1999 .

[20]  A. Denisi,et al.  Communication with Employees Following a Merger: A Longitudinal Field Experiment , 1991 .

[21]  S. Ashford,et al.  Content, Cause, and Consequences of Job Insecurity: A Theory-Based Measure and Substantive Test , 1989 .

[22]  E. Heery,et al.  The Insecure Workforce , 2000 .

[23]  Vivien K. G. Lim,et al.  Job Insecurity and Its Outcomes: Moderating Effects of Work-Based and Nonwork-Based Social Support , 1996 .

[24]  S. Folkman,et al.  Stress, appraisal, and coping , 1974 .

[25]  Charles Bultena.  Social Exchange Under Fire: Direct and Moderated Effects of Job Insecurity on Social Exchange , 1998 .

[26]  Hans De Witte,et al.  Turning Right? Socio-Economic Change and the Receptiveness of European Workers to the Extreme Right. Report on the Survey Analysis and Results , 2004 .

[27]  Philip Bobko,et al.  Content , Causes , and Consequences of Job Insecurity : A Theory-Based Measure and Substantive Test , 2007 .

[28]  D. Fryer.  Unemployment and Mental Health: Hazards and Challenges of Psychology in the Community , 2002 .

[29]  Hans De Witte,et al.  Job Insecurity and Psychological Well-being: Review of the Literature and Exploration of Some Unresolved Issues , 1999 .

[30]  D. Jacobson,et al.  Job Insecurity: Coping with Jobs at Risk , 1991 .

[31]  Vivien K. G. Lim,et al.  Moderating effects of work-based support on the relationship between job insecurity and its consequences. , 1997 .

[32]  J. P. Wanous,et al.  The effects of met expectations on newcomer attitudes and behaviors: a review and meta-analysis. , 1992, The Journal of applied psychology.

[33]  C. Marsh,et al.  Social Change and the Experience of Unemployment , 1995 .

[34]  Z. Rosenblatt,et al.  A gender-based framework of the experience of job insecurity and its effects on work attitudes. , 1999 .

[35]  P. Warr,et al.  Work, unemployment, and mental health , 1987 .

[36]  J. Siegrist.  Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions. , 1996, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[37]  H. Witte.  Arbeidsethos en jobonzekerheid: meting en gevolgen voor welzijn, tevredenheid en inzet op het werk , 2000 .

[38]  Ignace Glorieux,et al.  Prettig werken in een gezonde samenleving , 2001 .

[39]  Paul E. Spector.  Job satisfaction: application, assessment, cause, and consequences , 1997 .

[40]  M. Sverke,et al.  Does job insecurity lead to impaired well-being or vice versa? Estimation of cross-lagged effects using latent variable modelling , 2003 .

[41]  Zehava Rosenblatt,et al.  Job Insecurity: Toward Conceptual Clarity , 1984 .

[42]  B. Burchell,et al.  Job insecurity, psychological well-being and family life , 2000 .

[43]  I. Borg.  Überlegungen und Untersuchungen zur Messung der subjektiven Unsicherheit der Arbeitsstelle , 1992 .