IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i4p3052-d1063305.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Construct of Job Insecurity at Multiple Levels: Implications for Its Conceptualization and Theory Development

Author

Listed:
  • Beatriz Sora

    (Department of Psychology, University Rovira i Virgili, 43007 Tarragona, Spain)

  • Thomas Höge

    (Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria)

  • Amparo Caballer

    (Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain)

  • José Maria Peiró

    (Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de Valencia & IVIE, 46010 Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

Over the years, job insecurity has accumulated important scholarly work. As a result, research has identified multiple constructs that involve employees’ concerns about job loss. Most of these are individual-level constructs (e.g., subjective and objective job insecurity), but, recently, an incipient body of literature has adopted a multilevel perspective by understanding job insecurity as a collective phenomenon (e.g., job insecurity climate, strength climate, downsizing or temporary hiring strategies). Furthermore, these constructs at different levels are underpinned by shared theoretical frameworks, such as stress theory or psychological contract theory. However, all this literature fails to present an integrative framework that contains the functional relationship for mapping job insecurity constructs across levels. Accordingly, the present study aims to examine job insecurity from a multilevel perspective, specifically by conceptualizing job insecurity at the individual level—understood as subjective and objective job insecurity—and at the organizational level, understood as job instability in an organization, job insecurity climate, and climate strength. The methodology of multilevel construct validation proposed by Chen, Mathieu and Bliese (2005) was applied; thus, (1) job insecurity were defined at each relevant level of analysis; (2) its nature and structure was specified at higher levels of analysis; (3) psychometric properties were tested across and/or at different levels of analysis; (4) the extent to which job insecurity varies between levels of analysis was estimated; and (5) the function of job insecurity was tested across different levels of analysis. The results showed significant relationships among these, and were related to an organizational antecedent (e.g., organization nature) and organizational and individual outcomes (collective and individual job satisfaction) in two European samples: Austria and Spain. Accordingly, this study exposed the multilevel validity of job insecurity constructs through an integrative framework in order to advance in the area of job insecurity theory and practice. The contributions and implications to job insecurity research and other multilevel research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Beatriz Sora & Thomas Höge & Amparo Caballer & José Maria Peiró, 2023. "The Construct of Job Insecurity at Multiple Levels: Implications for Its Conceptualization and Theory Development," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-30, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3052-:d:1063305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3052/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3052/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hans De Witte & Katharina Näswall, 2003. "`Objective' vs `Subjective' Job Insecurity: Consequences of Temporary Work for Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in Four European Countries," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 24(2), pages 149-188, May.
    2. Sarah J. Freeman & Kim S. Cameron, 1993. "Organizational Downsizing: A Convergence and Reorientation Framework," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(1), pages 10-29, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zand, Fardad & Van Beers, Cees & Van Leeuwen, George, 2011. "Information technology, organizational change and firm productivity: A panel study of complementarity effects and clustering patterns in Manufacturing and Services," MPRA Paper 46469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Østhus, Ståle & Mastekaasa, Arne, 2010. "The impact of downsizing on remaining workers' sickness absence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(8), pages 1455-1462, October.
    3. McKinley, William & Ponemon, Lawrence A. & Schick, Allen G., 1996. "Auditors' perceptions of client firms: The stigma of decline and the stigma of growth," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 193-213.
    4. Bryan Hong, 2020. "Power to the outsiders: External hiring and decision authority allocation within organizations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9), pages 1628-1652, September.
    5. repec:cte:wbrepe:wb083007 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Miriam Flickinger & Miriam Zschoche, 2023. "The Interplay of Subsidiary Performance and Cultural Distance in International Downsizing Decisions," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 75(2), pages 127-147, June.
    7. Ekin Alakent & Seung‐Hyun Lee, 2010. "Do Institutionalized Traditions Matter During Crisis? Employee Downsizing in Korean Manufacturing Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 509-532, May.
    8. Bo Shen & Youwei Ke, 2017. "Causes analysis and risk control of firm knowledge loss," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 8(3), pages 2001-2008, November.
    9. Caldas, Miguel Pinto, 2000. "Enxugamento de pessoal no Brasil: podem-se atenuar seus efeitos em empresa e indivíduo?," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 40(1), January.
    10. Kao, Chun-Lin & Chen, Ming-Yuan, 2020. "Employee downsizing, financial constraints, and production efficiency of firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 59-73.
    11. Pollio, Chiara & Landini, Fabio & Prodi, Elena & Arrighetti, Alessandro, 2023. "Does Temporary Employment undermine the Quality of Permanent Jobs?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1273, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Symeou, Pavlos C. & Zyglidopoulos, Stelios & Gardberg, Naomi A., 2019. "Corporate environmental performance: Revisiting the role of organizational slack," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 169-182.
    13. Bénédicte Reynaud & Arnaud Degorre, 2007. "Workforce reduction and firm performance: a comparison between French publicly-listed and non-listed companies, 1994-2000," Working Papers halshs-00588011, HAL.
    14. Ming‐Yuan Chen & Chun‐Lin Kao, 2020. "The influence of corporate governance and financial constraints on the speed of employment adjustment: An analysis using mixed‐effects models," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 88(3), pages 439-463, June.
    15. Stäbler, Samuel & Himme, Alexander & Edeling, Alexander & Backhaus, Max, 2023. "How firm communication affects the impact of layoff announcements on brand strength over time," Other publications TiSEM b65b6561-d780-4d3f-a490-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    16. Marvin Bürmann & Jannes Jacobsen & Cornelia Kristen & Simon Kühne & Dorian Tsolak, 2022. "Did Immigrants Perceive More Job Insecurity during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic? Evidence from German Panel Data," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-23, May.
    17. Vivien Lefebvre, 2023. "Layoffs in SMEs: The Role of Social Proximity," Post-Print hal-04585953, HAL.
    18. Boumediene Ramdani & Cherif Guermat & Kamel Mellahi, 2021. "The effect of downsizing on innovation outputs: The role of resource slack and constraints," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 46(2), pages 346-365, May.
    19. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2008-023 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Rick Antle & Peter Bogetoft, 2019. "Mix Stickiness Under Asymmetric Cost Information," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 2787-2812, June.
    21. Abraham Carmeli & Ari Dothan & Dev Kumar Boojihawon, 2020. "Resilience of sustainability‐oriented and financially‐driven organizations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 154-169, January.
    22. Abraham Carmeli & Zachary Sheaffer, 2009. "How Leadership Characteristics Affect Organizational Decline and Downsizing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(3), pages 363-378, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3052-:d:1063305. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.