Employability and Employees’ Well‐Being: Mediation by Job Insecurity¹

Abstract

The current study's aims are twofold: first, we investigate the relationship between employability and both work-related (engagement) and general (life satisfaction) well-being. Second, we study how employability may be relevant in times of high job insecurity. Specifically, we hypothesise (1) a positive relationship between employability and employees' well-being, (2) a negative relationship between employability and job insecurity, and (3) a negative relationship between job insecurity and employees' well-being, so that (4) job insecurity mediates the relationship between employability and employees' well-being. Results based on a sample of 559 respondents from divisions of seven Belgian organisations support our hypotheses. We conclude that employability may be a means to secure one's labour market position, rather than a means to cope with job insecurity.Les objectifs de cette étude sont doubles: nous étudions d'abord la relation entre l'employabilité et à la fois le bien-être relatif au travail (implication) et le bien-être global (la satisfaction provenant de l'existence). Ensuite, nous nous interrogeons sur la pertinence de l'employabilité en période de grande

Job Insecurity and Its Consequences: Investigating Moderators, Mediators and Gender

“…In addition, employees experiencing job insecurity have expressed an increased need for recovery, and experienced great-er exhaustion as well as lower vigor at work (Kinnunen et al, 2010). Moreover, other possible relations of job insecurity have been relations with work engagement and employability, which have been negatively related to job insecurity (De Cuyper, Bernhard-Oettel, Berntson, De Witte, & Alarco, 2008;Mauno, Kinnunen, & Ruokolainen, 2007;Vander Elst, Baillien, De Cuyper, & De Witte, 2010).…”

Position, possession or process? Understanding objective and subjective employability during university-to-work transitions

“…Particularly in turbulent economic times, perceived employability has implications for individuals' well-being through its effect on perceived job insecurity (de Cuyper et al, 2008). Career transitions, even during economic prosperity, necessarily challenge how one understands the world and locates oneself within it.…”

Great Expectations: The Relationship Between Future Time Perspective, Learning from Others, and Employability

“…Kinnunen et al (2011), for instance, derive the importance of self-perceived employability from Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) transactional stress theory. These theorists argue that employees who perceive themselves as employable feel less threatened by the environment, experience less strain (Berntson and Marklund 2007), and engage more in their work (De Cuyper et al 2008). …”