Job Insecurity and Job Performance: A Serial Mediated Relationship and the Buffering Effect of Organizational Justice

Abstract

The study aimed to extend the current knowledge of the relationship between job insecurity and performance. In line with traditional stress theories, work-family and burnout were hypothesized as serial mediators of the negative link between job insecurity and job performance. Also, the current study hypothesized that the association between job insecurity and the mediators [i.e., Work-family conflict (WFC) and burnout] could be buffered by perceived organizational justice among employees. Therefore, we empirically tested a moderated serial mediation model. Participants were 370 employees of an Italian multiservice social cooperative. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The obtained results indicated that WFC and burnout mediated the association between job insecurity and job performance. Furthermore, perceived organizational justice buffered the relationship between job insecurity and WFC. Concerning job burnout, the association with job insecurity was moderated only among employees perceiving medium and high levels of organizational justice. The moderated serial mediation index provided support to the role of organizational justice in decreasing the association between job insecurity and job performance. This study delves deeper into the variables explaining the relationship between job insecurity and job performance by testing a serial process mechanism that involved WFC and burnout. Additionally, the obtained results provide suggestions to organizations and managers regarding the protective role of organizational justice to sustain employees’ mental health and performance. Practical implications at the organizational and managerial level are provided, along with a focus on the actual impact of the pandemic.

Professional identity and emotional labour affect the relationship between perceived organisational justice and job performance among Chinese hospital nurses

“…Previous research has shown that employees with more positive emotions exhibit more energy and passion and are more actively involved in their organisations, leading to higher job performance (Macey & Schneider, 2008). Some studies have reported the relationship between organisational justice and job performance (de Angelis et al, 2021;Otto & Mamatoglu, 2015;Wang et al, 2015), there is no in-depth analysis of the role of professional identity and emotional labour in the relationship, especially for clinical nurses. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the relationship among nurses' perceived organisational justice, professional identity, emotional labour and job performance.…”

Influencing mechanism of coal miners’ safety compliance: A chain mediating model

“…For example, regarding the role of organizational justice, Wang et al (2015) have found that organizational justice plays a moderating role in the relationship between job insecurity and job performance. Similarly, De Angelis et al (2021) have provided support to the role of organizational justice in decreasing the association between job insecurity and job performance among employees of an Italian multiservice social cooperative. In addition, it is necessary to mention that, as participation occurred in a work context, it would be possible that participants were less frank than they would have been in another context.…”

Bibliometric visualisation of industrial and organisational psychology during COVID-19 pandemic: Insight for future research

“…At the worker level, millions of jobs were lost because of the pandemic (International Labour Organization, 2020 ). It not only impacted job insecurity but also affected emotional and mental health conditions (Lin, Shao, Li, Guo, & Zhan, 2021 ; Obrenovic, Du, Godinic, Baslom, & Tsoy, 2021 ), job performance (De Angelis, Mazzetti, & Guglielmi, 2021 ) and well-being (Stankevičiūtė, Sanchez-Hernandez, & Staniškienė, 2021 ). At the policy level, immediate action at the beginning of the pandemic was related to preventing the COVID-19 from spreading by applying for WFH, which has brought a different way of working (Hartner-Tiefenthaler, Goisauf, Gerdenitsch, & Koeszegi, 2021 ).…”