Job Insecurity
Part 1: Definitions & Antecedents
Magnus Sverke
Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology
Department of Psychology, Stockholm University
magnus.sverke@psychology.su.se
Content
1. History
2. Why is job insecurity a problem?
3. Definitions and measurements
4. Prevalence: Are workers insecure?
5. Antecedents: What ‘causes’ insecurity?
6. Consequences for individuals, organisations
and society?
7. What to do? Interventions and moderators
8. What to analyse in the future?
Magnus Sverke
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psykologi
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Trends
• Downsizing / layoffs
• Mergers, acquisitions, privatization
• Outsourcing / focus on core activities
• ”Flexible” employment; insourcing
• Restructuring; new production systems
• Reduced personnel costs
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Consequences for the Individual
• Decrease in alternatives on the labor market
• Workload increases:
• “Do more with less”
• Work intensity
• Reduced predictability
• Uncertainty about the future
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1. Historical Background
• Originally, job security (as motivation factor)
• Caplan et al. (1975): multi-item measure of
job insecurity in stress-strain inventory
• Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt (1984). Job
insecurity. Toward conceptual clarity, AMR.
• Hartley, Jacobson, Klandermans & van
Vuuren (1991). Job insecurity: Coping with
jobs at risk.
• … ”explosion”
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Job Insecurity within Theory
Three positions of ‘job insecurity’ within
(recent) work psychological theories:
(a) ignored, (b) marginalized, or (c) hidden
within a broader dimension, but (d) almost
never a ‘separate treatment’
a) Simply ignored:
Job Characteristic Model (Hackman &
Oldham, 1975)
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b) Marginal position
- Michigan Job Stress model (Katz & Kahn
1978): ‘empty boxes’, ‘insecurity about the future’
as a stressor leading to strains (and health
complaints on the long run)
- Job Demands Control model of Karasek
(1979): demands, control (and later also) social
support
After a while: also job insecurity, but a bit as a (not
integrated) ‘additional bonus’
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c) Part of a broader dimension/concept:
- Two-Factor (or Motivator-Hygiene) Theory
(Herzberg, 1966)
Security = hygiene need -> when absent (e.g.
insecurity) -> dissatisfaction
When present -> ‘neutral’
- Effort-Reward Imbalance model (Siegrist, 1996)
Security as part of the ‘reward’ dimension (high
efforts & low rewards -> strains)
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- Vitamin model (Warr, 1987):
lists 9 ‘features of the environment’
(‘vitamins’)
(In)security as part of ‘environmental clarity’
(together with feedback & role ambiguity)
Main conclusion:
Little theory about insecurity as such:
why is it harmful?
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2. Why is job insecurity
a problem?
•
•
•
•
•
Job Stress Theory – Uncertainty
Consequences of stressors
Psychological Contract Theory
Disinvolvement Syndrome
Latent Deprivation Model (Jahoda)
•
Please, suggest many more! 
(we do collect them…)
This is obviously a missing piece in existing research
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a. Uncertainty and unpredictability are stressful
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984)
• Perceived threat to employment
• Unpredictability (“I don’t know whether I will loose my job”)
• Not known what is required to reduce the threat or
what strategies to use
• Uncontrollability (“I don’t know whether I
can prevent dismissal/job loss”)
• Worry about job loss may be as
stressful as actual job loss
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b. Stressors Induce Strain
(Greenhalgh, 1979)
 Burden -> preoccupied & loss of energy
 Immobilisation & loss of time
 Reduction of adaptability
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c. Violation of the psychological contract
(Rousseau, 1989)
Traditional employee-employer relationship:
• Employer offers security and continuity
• Employee offers loyalty and devotion in exchange
• Job insecurity is perceived as a violation of the
psychological contract with the employer
• This leads to negative consequences in an attempt
to restore the balance
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d. Disinvolvement Syndrome
(Greenhalgh, 1979)
• Reducing the psychological impact of an
eventual loss by withdrawing from the
organisation
(passive coping strategy)
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e. Anticipation of deprivation
(‘Latent deprivation model’ of Jahoda, 1982)
Work is ‘key’ to social integration. Job
insecurity means a risk to loose valued
aspects of life:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Income
Time structure
Social contacts
Meaningfulness
Personal development
Status and Identity
Activation
…
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What Is Threatened?
• What do you think is the most salient threat
in perceptions of uncertainty about the future
of one’s job?
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3. Definitions and Measurements
Important questions:
• Subjective vs. Objective phenomenon?
• Cognitive (likelihood of job loss) vs. Affective
(worry about job loss)?
• Quantitative (threats to job as such) vs.
Qualitative (threats to valued job features)?
• Acute vs. Chronic?
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A Model
Individual characteristics
(e.g., age, gender, personality, employability)
”Objective”
work situation
Job insecurity
perceptions
Consequences
Organizational and social factors
(e.g., social support, information, turbulence)
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”Objective” Definitions
• Degree of unemployment in society
• Economic recession in a given sector
• Average organizational tenure
• Organizational change
• Downsizing/layoffs
• Temporary employment
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Subjective Definition of
Job Insecurity
An employee´s…
• “…expectations about continuity in a job situation”
(Davy et al., 1997)
• “…concern about the future permanence of the job”
(van Vuuren & Klandermans, 1990)
• “…perception of a potential threat to continuity in his
or her current job” (Heaney et al., 1994)
• ”…subjectively perceived likelihood of involuntary job
loss” (Sverke et al., 2002)
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Key Aspects in
Subjective Definitions
•
Subjective: perceptual phenomenon
•
•
Uncertainty about the future
•
•
Different perception of same ‘objective’ situation
Not ‘certainty of dismissal’
Involuntary
•
Discrepancy between experience
and preferences
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Measures
• Single-item measures
• Perceived likelihood of getting unemployed
• Fear of job loss
• Satisfaction with perceived security
• Multi-item measures
• Global
• Multi-dimensional
N.B. Effects of insecurity on outcomes less “obvious”
when single-item measures are being used
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Multi-item Measures
• Global: (Threat to job/features * Importance of
job/features) * Powerlessness (Ashord et al., 1989)
• Probability * Severity (van Vuuren, 1990)
• Global and Importance (Kinnunen et al., 1999)
• Affective and Cognitive (Borg & Elizur, 1992)
• Threats to various features (Roskies & Louis-Guerin, 1990)
• Quantitative and Qualitative (Hellgren et al., 1999)
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4. Prevalence:
Do workers feel insecure ?
Obviously yes…
But it depends…
- Measure (cognitive versus affective, short term
versus long term,…)
- Point-scale (neutral midpoint?)
- When? (fluctuations; e.g. unemployment)
- Where? (Europe or specific countries)
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Cognitive Item:
“My job is secure”
(Erlinghagen, 2007)
• European Social Survey 2004-2005
• 17 European countries
• Average: 14% ‘not at all’ (= high insecurity)
• Distribution between 8.9% (Austria) and 26.3% (France)
• Eurobarometer 1996 & 2001: very similar percentages
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Affective Item:
“Do you worry about the possibilities of losing your job”
(Anderson & Pontusson, 2007)
• International Social Survey Program, 1997
• 15 OECD countries
• Combination of ‘to some extent’ and ‘a great deal’:
around 20-25%
• Distribution between 11% (Norway) and 54% (Spain)
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4. Antecedents:
Why do people feel insecure?
Individual characteristics
(e.g., age, gender, personality, employability)
”Objective”
work situation
Job insecurity
perceptions
Consequences
Organizational and social factors
(e.g., social support, information, turbulence)
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a. ”Objective” characteristics
Characteristics of the environment
 Rate of organizational change
 Unemployment rate
 Evolution of unemployment in region or country
 Rate of temporary employment
 Employment protection legislation
 Generosity of unemployment compensation
 Differences between countries and regions
(e.g. Anderson & Pontusson, 2007; Erlinghagen, 2007; Munoz de Bustillo & de
Pedraza, 2007)
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b. Subjective characteristics:
Dispositions
• Internal locus of control: perceive less
threat/strain (e.g. van Vuuren et al., 1991; Sverke et al., 2004)
• Negative affectivity: perceive more negative
emotions (e.g. Sverke et al., 2004; Hellgren et al., 1999)
• Many more… Trust in people, self-esteem, positive affectivity,
self-efficacy,…
• But: clearly not ‘just’ personality!
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c. Subjective characteristics:
Demographics etc
• Weak/disadvantaged position on the labour market
• Blue collar workers, low skilled workers & industry (e.g. Ferrie & Martikainen,
2007)
• Temporary workers (e.g. Näswall & De Witte, 2003; De Cuyper & De Witte, 2007)
• Bad health (Erlinghagen, 2007)
• Private sector employment (e.g. Anderson & Pontusson, 2007)
• Family situation / Breadwinner status
• P.S.: Age and gender unclear
•
Sometimes younger workers (Anderson & Pontusson, 2007), sometimes older
workers (Erlinghagen, 2007)
•
Gender: mostly non significant
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d. Organizational characteristics
• Information
• Communication
• Leadership
• Opportunities for participation
• Fair treatment
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Discussion
How important are objective vs. subjective
characteristics as antecedents?
- ‘Objective’: outline or border of perception?
- ‘Subjective’: inter individual variation within these
‘borders’ ?
‘Subjective’ does not mean ‘unrelated to reality’
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Task
• Imagine you are a manager who has to
communicate a layoff decision to one of your
subordinates
• How would you communicate this redundancy
decision?
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Part 2: Thursday 16-19
1. History
2. Why is job insecurity a problem?
3. Definitions and measurements
4. Prevalence: Are workers insecure?
5. Antecedents: What ‘causes’ insecurity?
6. Consequences for individuals, organisations
and society?
7. What to do? Interventions and moderators
8. What to analyse in the future?
Magnus Sverke
magnus.sverke@psychology.su.se
36
AO
psykologi
Magnus Sverke
www.psychology.su.se
mse@psychology.su.se