Changing Locus of Control: Steelworkers Adjusting to Forced Unemployment

Type of Job Loss and its Impact on Decision Control, Mastery, and Depression: Comparison of Employee and Company-Stated Reasons

“…Recall that in this study, mastery scores reflected one's overall sense that he or she had the ability to affect his or her life outcomes, whereas depression was a measure of short-term, relatively "mild" depressive symptoms experienced in the past week. Of particular interest is the significant increase in mastery scores over time, supporting previous research that mastery levels are subject to change in the face of major, life-changing events (Legerski et al 2006). Such is likely due to the fact that the company was in the midst of a highly stressful and tumultuous time.…”

“…Although we refrain from drawing strong causal statements, such findings would suggest that it is beneficial to the future well-being of employees to present the layoff to themselves and to others as being more voluntary than involuntary. These varying outcomes, as a function of job loss type, are similar to the differences in mastery levels, operationalized as "chance," "powerful others in control," or "internal control" found between groups of laid-off workers who subsequently retired, found full-time or part-time work, or failed to secure future employment (Legerski et al 2006).…”

“…Last, we examine if, in turn, these job loss types are related to differences in postseparation mastery and depression levels as well as to changes in levels of mastery or depression, pre and postjob loss. Although mastery is often considered to be a fairly stable personality trait, others (for example, Legerski et al 2006) have noted that it may change as a function of exposure to life altering events, including job loss.…”

“…Besides an income, work often provides structure for one's time, social connectedness, feelings of self-worth, and the valued role of "breadwinner" (Etter 1997;Jaeger and Holm 2004;Latack et al 1995;Legerski et al 2006;McKee-Ryan et al 2005;Neve et al 2000;Price et al 2002). Thus, losing one's job often entails confronting the losses associated with these secondary benefits.…”

“…Thus, losing one's job often entails confronting the losses associated with these secondary benefits. It is not surprising, therefore, that job loss, particularly involuntary job loss, has been found to be stressful, and, on average, to have a negative impact on mental health (Gallo et al 2006;Latack et al 1995;Legerski et al 2006;McKee-Ryan et al 2005). In the present study, we explored how former employees "labeled" the reason for their separation from the company (for example, retired, laid-off, fired), and whether the employee's stated reason for leaving the company matched that provided by the organization.…”