IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v41y2020i1d10.1007_s10834-019-09650-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job Insecurity and Life Satisfaction in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Iddisah Sulemana

    (University of Ghana)

  • Richard Osei Bofah

    (University of Ghana)

  • Edward Nketiah-Amponsah

    (University of Ghana)

Abstract

How labour market outcomes influence the life satisfaction of people have been studied by many scholars. In particular, prior studies have examined how perceived risk of losing one’s job affects one’s life satisfaction. We contribute to this literature by exploring whether fear of losing one’s job or not finding a job in Ghana influences one’s life satisfaction. We used data from Wave 6 of the World Values Survey to empirically examine whether job insecurity or fear of not finding a job was correlated with life satisfaction. Our results from OLS and logistic regressions show unambiguously that job insecurity did not exert a significant effect on life satisfaction among Ghanaians. We speculate several explanations for this finding, including the idea that the pervasiveness of the problem in Ghana may be the primary reason job insecurity was uncorrelated with life satisfaction in the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Iddisah Sulemana & Richard Osei Bofah & Edward Nketiah-Amponsah, 2020. "Job Insecurity and Life Satisfaction in Ghana," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 172-184, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:41:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10834-019-09650-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-019-09650-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-019-09650-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-019-09650-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Easterlin, Richard A. & Plagnol, Anke C., 2008. "Life satisfaction and economic conditions in East and West Germany pre- and post-unification," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(3-4), pages 433-444, December.
    2. Isabella Aboderin, 2004. "Decline in Material Family Support for Older People in Urban Ghana, Africa: Understanding Processes and Causes of Change," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 59(3), pages 128-137.
    3. Krueger, Alan B. & Schkade, David A., 2008. "The reliability of subjective well-being measures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(8-9), pages 1833-1845, August.
    4. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2003. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 809-827, November.
    5. AndrewE. Clark & Claudia Senik, 2010. "Who Compares to Whom? The Anatomy of Income Comparisons in Europe," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(544), pages 573-594, May.
    6. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    7. Freeman, Richard B, 1978. "Job Satisfaction as an Economic Variable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 135-141, May.
    8. Andrew Clark & Fabien Postel-Vinay, 2009. "Job security and job protection," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 207-239, April.
    9. Ed Diener, 1994. "Assessing subjective well-being: Progress and opportunities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 103-157, February.
    10. Reichert, Arndt R. & Tauchmann, Harald, 2017. "Workforce reduction, subjective job insecurity, and mental health," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 187-212.
    11. Bonsang, Eric & Klein, Tobias J., 2012. "Retirement and subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 311-329.
    12. Blanchflower, David G., 2000. "Self-employment in OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 471-505, September.
    13. Clark, Andrew & Knabe, Andreas & Rätzel, Steffen, 2010. "Boon or bane? Others' unemployment, well-being and job insecurity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 52-61, January.
    14. David Roodman, 2011. "Fitting fully observed recursive mixed-process models with cmp," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 11(2), pages 159-206, June.
    15. Iddisah Sulemana & Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo & Louis Doabil, 2019. "Unemployment and self-rated health in Ghana: are there gender differences?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(9), pages 1155-1170, September.
    16. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-659, May.
    17. Layard, R. & Mayraz, G. & Nickell, S., 2008. "The marginal utility of income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(8-9), pages 1846-1857, August.
    18. José Millán & Jolanda Hessels & Roy Thurik & Rafael Aguado, 2013. "Determinants of job satisfaction: a European comparison of self-employed and paid employees," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 651-670, April.
    19. Eve Caroli & Mathilde Godard, 2016. "Does job insecurity deteriorate health?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 131-147, February.
    20. Ruut Veenhoven, 1991. "Is happiness relative?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 1-34, February.
    21. Matthias Benz & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "The Value of Autonomy: Evidence from the Self-Employed in 23 Countries," IEW - Working Papers 173, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    22. Andreas Knabe & Steffen Rätzel & Ronnie Schöb & Joachim Weimann, 2010. "Dissatisfied with Life but Having a Good Day: Time-use and Well-being of the Unemployed," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(547), pages 867-889, September.
    23. Andrew E. Clark, 2006. "A Note on Unhappiness and Unemployment Duration," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 291-308.
    24. Laura Helbling & Shireen Kanji, 2018. "Job Insecurity: Differential Effects of Subjective and Objective Measures on Life Satisfaction Trajectories of Workers Aged 27–30 in Germany," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 1145-1162, June.
    25. repec:pri:cepsud:125krueger is not listed on IDEAS
    26. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-01311366 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. SonjaC. Kassenboehmer & JohnP. Haisken-DeNew, 2009. "You're Fired! The Causal Negative Effect of Entry Unemployment on Life Satisfaction," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(536), pages 448-462, March.
    28. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger & David Schkade & Norbert Schwarz & Arthur A. Stone, 2006. "Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion," Working Papers 77, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    29. Steffen Otterbach & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2016. "Job insecurity, employability and health: an analysis for Germany across generations," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(14), pages 1303-1316, March.
    30. Alexander Pacek & Benjamin Radcliff, 2008. "Welfare Policy and Subjective Well-Being Across Nations: An Individual-Level Assessment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 89(1), pages 179-191, October.
    31. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger & David Schkade & Norbert Schwarz & Arthur A. Stone, 2006. "Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion," Working Papers 77, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    32. Carola Grün & Wolfgang Hauser & Thomas Rhein, 2010. "Is Any Job Better than No Job? Life Satisfaction and Re-employment," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 285-306, September.
    33. Andreas Knabe & Steffen Rätzel, 2011. "Scarring or Scaring? The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment and Future Unemployment Risk," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 78(310), pages 283-293, April.
    34. Matthias Benz & Bruno S. Frey, 2008. "Being Independent is a Great Thing: Subjective Evaluations of Self‐Employment and Hierarchy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(298), pages 362-383, May.
    35. Verme, Paolo, 2009. "Happiness, freedom and control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 146-161, August.
    36. Bonsang, Eric & Klein, Tobias J., 2012. "Retirement and subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 311-329.
    37. Harry Sackey & Barfour Osei, 2006. "Human Resource Underutilization in an Era of Poverty Reduction: An Analysis of Unemployment and Underemployment in Ghana," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 18(2), pages 221-247.
    38. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00754447 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Vieira, José A. Cabral, 2005. "Skill mismatches and job satisfaction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 39-47, October.
    40. Carmel Proctor & P. Linley & John Maltby, 2009. "Youth Life Satisfaction: A Review of the Literature," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(5), pages 583-630, October.
    41. Green, Francis, 2011. "Unpacking the misery multiplier: How employability modifies the impacts of unemployment and job insecurity on life satisfaction and mental health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 265-276, March.
    42. George A. Akerlof & Andrew K. Rose & Janet L. Yellen, 1988. "Job Switching and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Labor Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(2), pages 495-594.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ibrahim A. Elshaer & Alaa M. S. Azazz & Samy Wageh Mahmoud & Marwa Ghanem, 2022. "Perceived Risk of Job Instability and Unethical Organizational Behaviour Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Family Financial Pressure and Distributive Injustice in the Tourism Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Kenneth Owusu Ansah & Nutifafa Eugene Yaw Dey & Abigail Esinam Adade & Pascal Agbadi, 2022. "Determinants of life satisfaction among Ghanaians aged 15 to 49 years: A further analysis of the 2017/2018 Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Alola Uju Violet & Alafeshat Rawan & Tarkang Marymagdaline Enowmbi & Lafmajani Soolmaz Azarmi, 2023. "Can Paradoxical Leadership Be the Game Changer in Driving Organisations against Negative Practices?," European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 252-265, December.
    4. Ibrahim A. Elshaer & Alaa M. S. Azazz, 2021. "Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, Unethical Behavior in the Name of the Company: The Role of Job Insecurity, Job Embeddedness, and Turnover Intention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, December.

    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. Clemens Hetschko, 2016. "On the misery of losing self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 461-478, August.
    2. Thi Truong An Hoang & Andreas Knabe, 2021. "Time Use, Unemployment, and Well-Being: An Empirical Analysis Using British Time-Use Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 2525-2548, August.
    3. Stutzer, Alois & Frey, Bruno S., 2012. "Recent Developments in the Economics of Happiness: A Selective Overview," IZA Discussion Papers 7078, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Stutzer, Alois, 2014. "Economic Approaches to Understanding Change in Happiness," IZA Discussion Papers 8131, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Shivani Taneja, 2019. "Working Hours And Trends In Job Satisfaction Using A Panel Of British Workers," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9912075, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    6. Shivani Taneja, 2019. "Gender Gap In Job Utility Of British Workers," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9010643, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    7. Falco, Paolo & Maloney, William F. & Rijkers, Bob & Sarrias, Mauricio, 2015. "Heterogeneity in subjective wellbeing: An application to occupational allocation in Africa," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 137-153.
    8. Clemens Hetschko & Andreas Knabe & Ronnie Schöb, 2014. "Changing Identity: Retiring From Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(575), pages 149-166, March.
    9. Steffen Otterbach & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2016. "Job insecurity, employability and health: an analysis for Germany across generations," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(14), pages 1303-1316, March.
    10. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2015. "Heterogeneity in the Relationship Between Unemployment and Subjective Wellbeing: A Quantile Approach," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 82(328), pages 865-891, October.
    11. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and subjective well-being," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 411, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    12. Raquel Justo & Emilio Congregado & Concepción Román, 2021. "Becoming self-employed from inactivity: an in-depth analysis of satisfaction," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 145-187, January.
    13. Kunze, Lars & Suppa, Nicolai, 2017. "Bowling alone or bowling at all? The effect of unemployment on social participation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 213-235.
    14. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & George Ward & Femke De Keulenaer & Bert Van Landeghem & Georgios Kavetsos & Michael I. Norton, 2018. "The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-Being Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 362-375, May.
    15. Adrian Chadi & Clemens Hetschko, 2021. "How Job Changes Affect People's Lives — Evidence from Subjective Well‐Being Data," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 279-306, June.
    16. Ronnie Schöb, 2013. "Unemployment and Identity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 59(1), pages 149-180, March.
    17. Hetschko, Clemens & Knabe, Andreas & Schöb, Ronnie, 2021. "Happiness, Work, and Identity," GLO Discussion Paper Series 783, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Matteo Picchio & Michele Ubaldi, 2024. "Unemployment and health: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1437-1472, September.
    19. Jan Eichhorn, 2014. "The (Non-) Effect of Unemployment Benefits: Variations in the Effect of Unemployment on Life-Satisfaction Between EU Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 389-404, October.
    20. Maite Blázquez & Santiago Budría & Ana I. Moro‐Egido, 2021. "Job Insecurity, Debt Burdens, and Individual Health," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(4), pages 872-899, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fear of job loss; Job insecurity; Life satisfaction; Subjective well-being; Ghana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:kap:jfamec:v:41:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10834-019-09650-2. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.