Job insecurity: a whirlpool of chronic powerlessness

Author(s):  
Silva Karkoulian ◽  
Wassim Mukaddam ◽  
Richard McCarthy ◽  
Leila Canaan Messarra

PurposeOrganizational downsizing, right sizing, layoffs, and restructuring that attempt to reduce labour cost and increase competitiveness, have generated considerable feelings of job insecurity among today's employees. Conversely, the rapidity of change in the Middle Eastern region, coupled with the unpredictability of economic conditions, the inevitable need to survive and the ever‐lasting craving for organizational success merge to aggravate the adverse effects of job insecurity. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between job insecurity and powerlessness, management trust, peer trust and job satisfaction within Lebanon.Design/methodology/approachEmployees working within medium‐sized organizations in Lebanon were surveyed to measure their perceptions of job insecurity, job satisfaction, powerlessness, and interpersonal trust. Statistical analyses were performed using Pearson correlation matrix and linear regression tests.FindingsThe study identified significant positive relationship between job insecurity and powerlessness, and negative relationships between job insecurity and management trust and job satisfaction. No significant relationship was found between job insecurity and peer trust.Research limitations/implicationsThe study adds to the existing job insecurity literature by empirically testing the relationship between job insecurity and powerlessness, peer trust, management trust and job satisfaction within Lebanese organizations. The researchers hope that this study will assist managers in understanding the importance of earning their subordinates' trust and its implications on job insecurity which could also negatively affect job satisfaction. Also, the issue of powerlessness should be seriously considered by management since it triggers the feeling of job insecurity.Originality/valueWestern organizational behavior literature has given the topic of job insecurity significant attention. However, no scholarly research has yet examined the topic of job insecurity within the Middle East. This paper sheds light on important results regarding job insecurity and its consequences. Powerlessness predicts and aggravates job insecurity, and is affected by the nature of the job; trust in management has a negative effect on job insecurity, while peer trust has no influence. Also, job satisfaction is influenced by the perceptions of job insecurity.

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Barau Singhry

Purpose Transformational leadership (TL) is one among the leadership behaviors that is important in a period of uncertainty and continuous change. The behavior affects employees’ job satisfaction (JS) and performance. Nevertheless, there is an inconclusive debate over how organizational justice (OJ) can help transformational leaders to influence employees’ (JS). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of OJ on the relationship between TL and employees’ JS. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a quantitative research design based on cross-sectional strategy. Structured questionnaires were distributed and data were collected from a sample of 418 middle managers of public organizations in Nigeria. Multiple regressions aided by structural equation modeling were employed to test four hypotheses. Findings The regression results support the mediating role of OJ, such as distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice between TL and JS. Equally, the relationship between TL and JS, TL and OJ, and OJ and JS are all positive and significant. Overall, the influence of TL and OJ has a strong explanatory effect on JS. Originality/value This study adds to the literature of human resource management and organizational behavior by empirically validating and integrating TL theory with the four dimensions of OJ theory. The study will be beneficial to the top management and middle-level employees in public organizations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yariv Itzkovich ◽  
Sibylle Heilbrunn ◽  
Niva Dolev

PurposeIn the current study framework, the authors test the underlying assumptions of affective events theory concerning the impact of job satisfaction and job insecurity driven by incivility on intrapreneurial behaviour.Design/methodology/approachData were collected with a sample of 510 employees from five organisations. All hypotheses were tested via SmartPLS3. Additionally, a distinction between formative and reflective measures was performed.FindingsFindings revealed that incivility decreases intrapreneurial behaviour, mediated by job satisfaction and job insecurity. Additionally, this study’s results show that the relationship between job satisfaction and job insecurity and intrapreneurial behaviour distinguishes unionised employees from employees who are not unionised.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional nature of the present data precluded definitive statements about causality. Additionally, further studies should increase the sample size and include an international perspective to ensure the overall generalisability of the results.Practical implicationsPractically, this study’s findings point to the need for organisational management to understand better underlying employees' perceptions and their antecedents and consequences.Originality/valueThe study results contribute to the literature by testing the core assumptions of affective events theory and by extending the affective events theory model, incorporating contextual influences on the relationship between attitudes and behaviours. The authors also show for the first time that incivility can be directly (compared to indirectly) linked to emotional-based responses, but not to those responses driven by cognitive appraisals. Thus, the study also contributes to the incivility literature and the understanding of various antecedents and consequences of incivility. Additionally, this study addressed the notion of formative versus reflective measurement models for the first time relating to incivility and intrapreneurial behaviour, allowing for more sensitive and less biased results. Herein lies an additional methodological contribution.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-67
Author(s):  
Piyali Ghosh ◽  
I.M. Jawahar ◽  
Alka Rai

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how cognitive and emotional job demands interact with job resources to influence work engagement, and whether work engagement mediates the association of job demands with job satisfaction. In collectivistic patriarchal societies women have fewer resources to devote to work; thus, based on Conservation of Resources theory, the authors have tested if job demands relate differently to work engagement for women than for men and if the mediation differs across genders. Design/methodology/approach Using data collected from 724 bank officers in India, the authors used the PROCESS macro developed for SPSS to test the hypotheses. Findings Gender interacted with job demands to influence work engagement, such that the relationship was stronger for men than for women. Moderated mediation analysis showed that men experience work engagement and through work engagement increased job satisfaction from challenging job demands, whereas these benefits do not accrue for women, and when they do, they are significantly less than for men. Originality/value Most models and theories of organizational behavior have been developed in the western world where, relatively speaking, men and women enjoy almost equal privileges at work and at home. In collectivistic patriarchal societies, women are responsible for the lion’s share of household chores (Rout et al., 1999) and thus have fewer resources to devote to work, affecting their work engagement and satisfaction. The results behoove researchers to consider gender as a study variable when designing studies on organizational phenomena.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Livia L. Barakat ◽  
Melanie P Lorenz ◽  
Jase R. Ramsey ◽  
Sherban L Cretoiu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) on the job performance of global managers. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 332 global managers were surveyed from multinational companies operating in Brazil. The mediating effect of job satisfaction was tested on the CQ-job performance relationship. Findings – The findings suggest that job satisfaction transmits the effect of CQ to job performance, such that global managers high in CQ exhibit more job satisfaction in an international setting, and therefore perform better at their jobs. Practical implications – Results imply that global managers should increase their CQ in order to improve their job satisfaction and ultimately perform better in an international context. Originality/value – The authors make three primary contributions to the international business literature. First, the authors introduce job satisfaction as a possible outcome variable of CQ. Thus, this work is the first empirical study to test the effect of CQ on the job satisfaction of global managers. Second, although the job satisfaction-job performance relationship is recurrently discussed in the organizational behavior literature, it is not often explicitly associated with global managers that are working in cross-cultural settings. Finally, the authors posit that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between CQ and job performance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 370
Author(s):  
Chiemeke Kingsley Chiedu ◽  
Choi Sang Long ◽  
Hapriza BT Ashar

Employee turnover has become a key performance indicator for many organizations as they struggle to retain talented employees. The negative impact of turnover on organizational performance has continually forced organizational leaders to seek better ways of retaining valuable employees. The relationship between man and work has always attracted the attention of philosophers. A major part of men’s life is spent at work. Work is social reality and social expectation to which men seem to conform. It not only provides status to the individual but also binds him to the society. An employee who is satisfied with his job would perform his duties well and be committed to his job, and subsequently to his organization. This paper examines relationship among job satisfaction, organizational commitment and employees’ turnover intentions at Unilever Corporation in Nigeria. The data for this study was collected from 117 employees currently working at Unilever Nigeria PLC using the survey method via the questionnaire. Pearson Correlation and the multiple regression analysis techniques using the SPSS version 22.0 was used for the data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that both job satisfaction and organizational commitment have significant negative relationship with employee turnover intentions. In addition, organizational commitment was revealed to have a more dorminant influence on employee turnover intentions than job satisfaction. Based on these findings, the implications, recommendations, practice, and theory were discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 630-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won Ho Kim ◽  
Young-An Ra ◽  
Jong Gyu Park ◽  
Bora Kwon

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of burnout (i.e. exhaustion, cynicism, professional inefficacy) in the relationship between job level and job satisfaction as well as between job level and task performance. Design/methodology/approach The final sample included 342 Korean workers from selected companies. The authors employed the Hayes (2013) PROCESS tool for analyzing the data. Findings The results showed that all three subscales of burnout (i.e. exhaustion, cynicism, professional inefficacy) mediate the relationship between job level and job satisfaction. However, only two mediators (i.e. cynicism, professional inefficacy) indicated the mediating effects on the association between job level and task performance. Originality/value This research presented the role of burnout on the relationships between job level, job satisfaction, and task performance especially in South Korean organizational context. In addition to role of burnout, findings should prove helpful in improving job satisfaction and task performance. The authors provide implications and limitations of the findings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Atampiiga Avoka ◽  
Elvis J. Dun-Dery ◽  
Issah Seidu ◽  
Armel N. E. Abou ◽  
Paul Twene ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Rotavirus is considered the main causal factor of severe gastroenteritis among infants and children globally. The association with severe rotavirus infection is mostly worse among the least developed countries, mainly due to inadequate access to medical care and poverty. This study was conducted to determine the seasonal effects in respect of diarrhea cases in children, the association between diarrhea cases and Rota2 vaccine in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. Methods The study compares monthly diarrhea cases against children vaccinated with Rota2 extracted from DHIMS2 spanning May 2012 to December 2017 in Fanteakwa District. A univariate association between diarrhea cases and children vaccinated with Rota 2 was conducted using the R-software version 3.4.4 with the use of forecast, tseries and TSAPred. Pearson Correlation coefficient was also computed between monthly diarrhea cases and Rota 2 as well as lagged values of Rota 2 and Diarrhea cases. Results The study shows that February recorded the highest average number of diarrhea cases (172) over the period 2012 to 2017 with a standard deviation of 59. However, a one-way analysis of variance shows a significant difference amongst the monthly averages with an F-statistic of 0.042 and P-value of 0.064. It is observed that the correlations between each of the Rota2 doses and the lagged cases are positive, showing higher Rota2 doses a month ago ((Xt − 1),0.346 to0.735), two months ago ((Xt − 2),0.383 to 0.746), three months ago ((Xt − 3), 0.330 to 0.737) and four months ago ((Xt − 4), 0.236 to 0.723) are associated with lower diarrhea cases. The results also show that an increase in the previous two month’s Rota2 figures by 100 is associated with a significant decrease in the currently expected diarrhea cases by approximately 36. Conclusion Seasonal variations exist in the occurrence of diarrhea in children, with January recording the highest number of diarrhea cases (172). There is a relationship between episodes of diarrhea in children and Rota2 (p-value = 0.064); thus, the more children are vaccinated with Rota2, the less diarrhea cases are recorded. Diarrhea cases in Fanteakwa district are generally low, except 2013 and 2016 where the cases are higher than the rest of the other years.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristi N. Lavigne ◽  
Victoria L. Whitaker ◽  
Dustin K. Jundt ◽  
Mindy K. Shoss

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between job insecurity and adaptive performance (AP), contingent on changes to core work tasks, which we position as a situational cue to employees regarding important work behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Employees and their supervisors were invited to participate in the study. Supervisors were asked to provide ratings of employees’ AP and changes to core tasks; employees reported on job insecurity. Findings As predicted, changes to core tasks moderated the relationship between job insecurity and AP. Job insecurity was negatively related to AP for those experiencing low levels of change, but was not related to AP for those experiencing high levels of change. Counter to expectations, no main effect of job insecurity was found. Research limitations/implications This study employed a fairly small sample of workers from two organizations, which could limit generalizability. Practical implications The study identifies changes to core tasks as a boundary condition for the job insecurity–AP relationship. Findings suggest that organizations may not observe deleterious consequences of job insecurity on AP when changes to core tasks are high. Originality/value Few researchers have examined boundary conditions of the impact of job insecurity on AP. Furthermore, inconsistent findings regarding the link between job insecurity and AP have emerged. This study fills the gap and expands upon previous research by examining changes to core tasks as a condition under which job insecurity does not pose an issue for AP.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1501-1514
Author(s):  
Kersti Kõiv ◽  
Kadi Liik ◽  
Mati Heidmets

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of teacher’s psychological empowerment between school leadership style and teachers’ work-related outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A total of 711 teachers from 31 Estonian schools were surveyed with a questionnaire measuring four dimensions of psychological empowerment (competence, meaning, self-determination and impact), school leadership characteristics (leadership style, leader’s empowering behavior and trust in leader) and teacher’s work-related outcomes (job satisfaction and workplace attachment). AMOS path analysis was used to investigate the direct and indirect relations between the teachers’ perceptions of school leadership, their psychological empowerment and their workplace attachment and job satisfaction. Findings This study found that psychological empowerment (subscales meaning and impact) mediates the relationship between perceived leadership empowerment behavior and teachers’ work-related outcomes. Also, the psychological empowerment (meaning and impact) mediates the relationship between perceived leadership style and teachers’ work-related outcomes. Trust in the principal has direct and indirect effect (through psychological empowerment) on job satisfaction, whereas there only seems to be indirect effect on workplace attachment through two components of psychological empowerment. Practical implications The mediating role of psychological empowerment includes an important message for school principals – in order to empower employees it is not sufficient to merely delegate formal power and decision-making rights. To facilitate the development of psychological empowerment, it is important to provide employees with an opportunity to experience agency, to experience that their voice and opinions are taken into account (perceived impact) and the purpose and targets of the whole organization are discussed with the employees and formulated in collaboration with them (perceived meaning). Originality/value Psychological empowerment as a mediating variable has not been widely researched, especially in school environment. The results will provide important signals for school principals, where and how to find leverage to improve teachers’ job satisfaction and workplace attachment.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael Rief ◽  
Samantha Clinkinbeard

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between officer perceptions of fit in their organization and stress (organizational and operational), overall job satisfaction and turnover contemplation (within the last 6 months).Design/methodology/approachThe authors used cross-sectional survey data from a sample of 832 officers from two Midwest police departments to examine the relationships between fit, stress and work-related attitudes.FindingsPerceived stress and organizational fit were strong predictors of overall job satisfaction and turnover contemplation; organizational fit accounted for the most variation in stress, satisfaction and turnover contemplation. Organizational stress partially mediated the relationship between organizational fit and job satisfaction and organizational fit and turnover contemplation.Research ImplicationsMore research is needed to identify predictors of organizational fit perceptions among police officers.Practical implicationsFindings indicate that agencies should pay close attention to the organizational culture and structure when trying to address issues of officer well-being and retention. Further, the person−environment framework can be a useful tool in examining police occupational outcomes.Originality/valueThe authors findings contribute to research on officer stress by exploring perceptions of organizational fit as a predictor of stress and unpacking how officer stress matters to important work outcomes, including job satisfaction and thoughts of turnover, by considering stress as a mediator between organizational fit and these work outcomes.


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