Job Insecurity in a Sample of Canadian Civil Servants as a Function of Personality and Perceived Job Characteristics

Abstract

Economic downturns and organisational changes have stimulated studies on the importance of job security for public employees; however, there has been some disagreement as to whether job insecurity should be defined using a single- or a two-factor model, on how to measure it and which antecedents and consequences are linked to it. Questionnaires measuring job insecurity as well as personality traits and job characteristics as possible antecedent variables, and job performance and job satisfaction as possible consequences were completed by a sample of 71 federal government employees during recent important government downsizing. A multiple regression analysis indicated that job insecurity, defined as a combination of organisational or personal vulnerability, was significantly related to only two antecedent variables, i.e., Neuroticism and job characteristics. Further regression analyses indicated that job insecurity was a statistically significant moderator but only between one consequence, i.e., intention to quit, and the job characteristics variable. These results along with methodological issues and further research, are discussed.

Psychosocial work characteristics and anxiety and depressive disorders in midlife: the effects of prior psychological distress

“…It is hard to know whether low social support and financial difficulties explain job insecurity or whether they are all concomitants of a threat of job loss. Despite an association with neuroticism40 in a previous study, the current study’s findings suggest that job insecurity is more of a response to current stressors than an indicator of chronic anxiety.…”

Voluntary Midlife Career Change: Integrating the Transtheoretical Model and the Life‐Span, Life‐Space Approach

“…(p. 186) There are many reasons that voluntary midlife career changes occur. Occupational dissatisfaction (D. Brown, 1995;Donohue, 2007), a lack of challenge (Vander Zanden, 2000), lack of career-related identity (Dacey & Travers, 2004), stress and anxiety related to job insecurity (Donohue, 2007;Tivendell & Bourbonnais, 2000), workplace bullying (Donohue, 2007), and conflicts between work and other life roles (D. Brown, 1995) are some of the reasons cited for voluntary midlife career change.…”

Religious Coping, Job Insecurity and Job Stress among Javanese Academic Staff: a Moderated Regression Analysis

“…They further maintained that job insecurity based on the individual's perceptions and interpretations of the immediate work environment. This implies that subjectively experienced threats derived from objective threats by means of the individual's perceptual and cognitive processes (Borg & Elizur, 1992;Tivendell & Bourbonnais, 2000).…”