An Unethical Organizational Behavior for the Sake of the Family: Perceived Risk of Job Insecurity, Family Motivation and Financial Pressures

In organizations, unethical behaviors are pervasive and costly, and considerable recent research attention has been paid to various types of workplace unethical behavior. This study examines employees’ behaviors that are carried out for the benefit of one’s family but violate societal and organizational moral standards. Drawing upon the self-maintenance and bounded ethicality theories, this study examines the engagement of unethical organization behaviors (UOB) in the name of the family during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the influence of job instability and the mediating role of family financial pressure and family motivation. A total of 770 employees in hotels and travel agents in Egypt were targeted, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results posit that perceived risk of job insecurity predicts engagement in unethical organizational behaviors, while intentions of UOB increase by high family motivation and financial pressures. Toward the end of this paper, a discussion on the theoretical and practical implications and are presented.

Unethical Organization Behavior: Antecedents and Consequences in the Tourism Industry

The entire tourism and hospitality industry has witnessed a considerable increase in the number of ethical difficulties that occur in the workplace. It has been discovered that unethical organizational behavior (UOB) is the most significant category in tourists' unpleasant experiences, driving them to switch and spread unfavorable word-of-mouth information. This study aims to explore the effects of three contextual factors on UOB (i.e., work intensification, job insecurity, and an unethical company-profit climate) and to investigate its possible employee-related consequences, including the feeling of guilt, emotional exhaustion, and customer-oriented citizenship behavior. A total of 970 employees working in hotels (5-star and 4-star) and travel agencies (Category A) participated, and the obtained data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. The results asserted that work intensification, job insecurity, and an unethical company-profit climate stimulate unethical organizational behavior, and unethical organizational behavior leads to feelings of guilt, emotional exhaustion, and customer-oriented citizenship behavior. Significant insights into theoretical and practical implications were further discussed.

Is Job Insecurity Harmful to All Types of Proactivity? The Moderating Role of Future Work Self Salience and Socioeconomic Status

How and when do uncertain factors affect employees' different types of proactive behavior? Building on the strength model of self-control, the present study examines the different effects of job insecurity on individual-oriented and organizational-oriented proactive behaviors, and the moderating role of future work self salience (FWSS) and socioeconomic status (SES). Two-wave data collected from 227 employees in China were used to test our hypotheses. The results indicate that job insecurity is negatively associated with all the proactive behaviors. Moreover, the FWSS positively moderates the above relationship, and the moderating role on individual-oriented proactive behavior is stronger than organizational-oriented proactive behavior. The SES negatively moderates the relationship between job insecurity and the two types of proactive behaviors. In addition, the FWSS and SES have a three-way interactive effect on the relationship between job insecurity and individual task proactive behavior. The practical implications of these results are discussed.

Comparison of Work-Related Stress in Cluster of Workers' Suicides in Korea: Analysis of Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance, 2010-2017

Background: There is limited research on the heterogeneity of worker suicides. We compared differences in workers’ suicides by clustering suicide deaths. Methods: From 2010 to 2017, 353 suicide deaths were claimed in the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance; variables were coded using a standardized methodology. A two-step cluster analysis classified the clusters based on demographic and employment conditions. Details of the suicide, clinical variables, personal stresses, and work-related stresses were compared using the chi-square test and one-way analysis of variance. Results: We identified five clusters and they differed particularly in work-related stress. “Responsibility-burdened type” experienced excessive responsibility as managers; “role-changed type” experienced a sudden and unpredictable role change as clerks or sales workers; “risk-exposed type” experienced physical risk factors at work (working alone, outdoors, and in shifts) as machine operating and assembling workers, or craft and related trades workers; “job-insecurity type” experienced unstable employment (irregular, nonpermanent) as elementary or service workers; “workplace-violence type” was mainly unmarried women who lived alone, and experienced interpersonal conflict and violence as professionals and related workers. There were no differences between clusters in clinical variables (except problem drinking) and personal stresses. Conclusion: Interventions to alleviate work-related stress in worker clusters are needed to prevent suicide in workers.

The Spirit of Adventure: A Driver of Attractiveness of the Hospitality Industry for Young People during a Pandemic Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected tourism and leisure activities worldwide, especially in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Within this context, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the future attractiveness of the hospitality industry (HI) to young people. The conceptual model underpinning the empirical research proposes a direct relationship between job attractiveness and the spirit of youth adventure. Findings prove that young people are enthusiastic about working in the HI because they can easily practice their creative ideas. Communicating with other people and dealing with clients' complaints is challenging for them in the pandemic crisis created by COVID-19. The results are of interest to policymakers in terms of suggestions on how to transform the challenges into opportunities by using the constraints imposed by the pandemic crisis that have limited the socialisation between people, enhancing the creativity of young people, and motivating them to work in the HI. Moreover, our research provides managers and other decisionmakers with some motivational factors to increase the attractiveness of their companies to young people and suggestions helpful to scholars involved in HI research to cultivate resilience capabilities by giving them inherent skills.

Submission to the Australian Senate Select Committee on Job Security on the Impact of Insecure or Precarious Employment on the Economy, Wages, Social Cohesion, and Workplace Rights and Conditions

The Australian Senate announced a Select Committee in December of 2020 "to inquire into and report on the impact of insecure or precarious employment on the economy, wages, social cohesion and workplace rights and conditions." This New Solutions "Document" is a submission to the Australian Senate from independent Australian researchers focusing on the role of perceived job (in)security in this context, acknowledging that it only briefly addresses the role of unemployment, precarious employment, and other aspects of the broader phenomenon of insecure work. Submissions closed in March of 2021, and the Australian Senate is due to report its findings on 30 November 2021.

Is Anyone Else Feeling Completely Nonessential? Meaningful Work, Identification, Job Insecurity, and Online Organizational Behavior during a Lockdown in The Netherlands

COVID-19 has affected employees worldwide, and in many countries, governments have used lockdowns to control the pandemic. In some countries, employees were divided into essential and nonessential workers. A survey among Dutch employees (N = 408) investigated how a lockdown in response to the pandemic affected work perceptions. The study found that employees who were not working during lockdown, or whose work hours were reduced sharply, perceived their job as contributing less to the greater good, identified less strongly with their organization, and experienced more job insecurity compared with those who retained a large percentage of their work activities. The longer employees were in lockdown, the weaker their greater-good motivations and the more job insecurity. Furthermore, identification with colleagues and perception of positive meaning in one's job were significant predictors of online organizational citizenship behavior directed at other individuals (OCB-I), whereas organizational identification predicted such behavior directed at the organization (OCB-O). Moreover, indicative of a job preservation motive, increased job insecurity was related to more online OCB-O, and more deviant online behaviors directed at others in the form of cyberostracism and cyberincivility. We further discuss practical lessons for future lockdowns to minimize negative consequences for organizations and employees.

Organizational and Job Resources on Employees' Job Insecurity During the First Wave of COVID-19: The Mediating Effect of Work Engagement

The world of work has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high instability observed in the labor market, bringing several new challenges for leaders and employees. The present study aims to analyze the role of organizational and job resources in predicting employees' job insecurity during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, through the mediating role of work engagement. A sample of 207 Portuguese employees participated (Mean age = 45 years old, SD = 9.92), of which 64.7% were women. Data was collected using an online survey, including self-report measures of organizational resources (perceived organizational support), job resources (performance feedback and job autonomy), job insecurity, and work engagement. Data showed that job and organizational resources negatively influenced job insecurity. Moreover, work engagement was a significant mediator of the relation between performance feedback (facet of job resources) and job insecurity. Findings suggest that investing in job and organizational resources can act as protective factors to minimize feelings of job insecurity. Likewise, leaders should foster work engagement among employees to help them balance the relation between these resources and job insecurity, especially in crisis situations. Overall, this study takes a new, underexplored perspective, theoretically bridging organizational and job resources with job insecurity and work engagement during a time of great uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Job Insecurity and Employees' Taking Charge Behaviors: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model

Given the rapid changes in current technologies, business models, and work environments, organizations and managers increasingly rely on their employees' proactive behaviors, such as taking charge, to gain competitive advantages. Taking charge involves a range of risky and future-oriented behaviors, and it requires employees to work hard to achieve them in the future. For employees with high job-insecurity, their job continuity in the future is threatened. Thus, they may not be willing to take risks to do additional work that is "future-oriented". To our knowledge, the effect of job insecurity on employees' taking charge has rarely been studied. As a result, the purpose of our study is to investigate whether, how, and when job insecurity will influence taking charge. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory and proactive motivation model, we develop a theoretical model. Moreover, we employed a multi-wave and multi-source survey to test our predictions. Based on the data from 194 full-time employees paired with their direct supervisors, the results provided consistent support for the proposed hypotheses. Specifically, the results indicate that job insecurity prohibits employees' taking charge behaviors through deteriorating their work engagement. Furthermore, employees' perception of interactional justice moderates the negative influence of job insecurity on their work engagement and, consequently, their taking charge behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Impact of Fear of COVID-19 Pandemic on Job Insecurity and Subjective Well-Being

Earlier research on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) mainly focused on fear and its psychological impact on frontline health workers. However, the uncertainty of COVID-19, job insecurity and its effects on non-frontline employees' perception of their well-being is rarely explored. This study aims to assess the relationship between subjective well-being and the fear of the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, this study explores how employees' awareness of their job insecurity influences this relationship. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Spearman's correlation analyses were used to examine the significance of the relationships between fear of COVID-19 and subjective well-being and the moderating role of job insecurity in this relationship. The findings indicate that greater fear of COVID-19 is associated with a lower level of perceived subjective well-being. However, a higher perception of fear of COVID-19 and its interaction with job insecurity are associated with a higher risk of employees' well-being. Our study highlights the factors such as fear of COVID-19 and job insecurities that undermine their well-being. Our study provdies practical implications for employees', managers, and healthcare policymakers to adopt effective strategies to reduce stress among employees. These recommendations include using practical tactics to safeguard the employees health and jobs while effectively coping with the pandemic.

Exploring the Relationship between the Fear of Covid-19, Job Insecurity, Employee Well-Being, and Job Involvement in Flight Personnel

The aviation industry has recently experienced several difficulties due to Covid-19. Especially flight personnel (pilots and cabin crews), who worked under the health-threatening effects of Covid-19, either lost their jobs or were faced with a dramatic decrease in their incomes. The aim of this research is to understand the impact of the fear of Covid-19 on the well-being of flight personnel, to reveal the mediating role of job insecurity on this relationship, and to observe the moderating role of job involvement on the relationship between job insecurity and well-being. The study was conducted with pilots (N=111) and cabin crew members (N=45) who worked for different airlines in Turkey. The total sample size was 154 participants. The results showed that job insecurity played a mediating role as fear of Covid-19 began to have a less significant impact on employee well-being. In addition, the analysis of the moderating role of job involvement showed that high job involvement exacerbates the negative effect of job insecurity on flight personnel's well-being. The results are discussed in relation to the organizational and human resources management practices in airline companies.

Job insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic and counterproductive work behavior: The sequential mediation effects of job stress and organizational identification and the buffering role of corporate social responsibility

Swift social and economic environmental changes such as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have led to decreased job security. Although numerous previous studies have examined the influence of job insecurity on employee perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors, the link between job insecurity and negative behavior and its underlying or intermediating mechanisms remain underexplored. The significance of an organization's positive behaviors, which fall under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility (CSR), also deserves more attention. To address these gaps, we examined both the mediator and the moderator in the association between job insecurity and negative employee behavior by establishing a moderated sequential mediation model. We hypothesized that the levels of employee job stress and organizational identification sequentially mediate the relationship between job insecurity and counterproductive work behavior as a representative negative behavior. We also hypothesized that CSR activities play a buffering role that moderates the influence of job insecurity on job stress. We used three-wave time-lagged data collected from 348 employees in South Korean organizations to demonstrate that job stress and organizational identification sequentially mediate the relationship between job insecurity and counterproductive work behavior, and that CSR activities function as a buffering factor that decreases the influence of job insecurity on job stress. The results of this research suggest that the levels of job stress and organizational identification (as sequential mediators) as well as CSR activities (as a moderator) are underlying mechanisms in the link between job insecurity and counterproductive work behavior.

The Impact of Job Insecurity and Distributive Injustice Post COVID-19 on Social Loafing Behavior among Hotel Workers: Mediating Role of Turnover Intention

The COVID-19 pandemic has severe psychological and psychosocial impacts on hotel workers. This study examines the causal direct impact of both job insecurity and distributive injustice, which were common in hotels post COVID-19, on social loafing behavior among hotel workers, and the indirect impact through turnover intention. Data were collected from 850 hotels workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Using results obtained through structural equation modeling (SEM), the spread of both job insecurity and distributive injustice positively and significantly influences turnover intention among hotel workers post the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also found that turnover intention fully mediates the influence of both distributive injustices on social loafing behavior. On the other side, it partially mediates job insecurity on social loafing behavior among hotel workers. Implications for scholars and practitioners as well as limitations of current research are discussed.

Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, Unethical Behavior in the Name of the Company: The Role of Job Insecurity, Job Embeddedness, and Turnover Intention

The worldwide economic crisis initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic certainly altered the perception of regular job insecurity dimensions and brought these to the ultimate level. When employees feel insecure, they may decide to participate in unethical behavior in the name of the company to avoid layoff and become retained employees. This study investigated the relationship between job insecurity and unethical organizational behavior through the mediating role of job embeddedness and turnover intention. A total of 685 employees working in five- and four-star hotels and category A travel agents participated in this study. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Job embeddedness and turnover intention were found to be partially mediated by the impact of job insecurity on unethical organizational behavior. Theoretical and practical implications were identified and discussed.

Job insecurity and emotional disturbance of Polish employees during pandemic COVID-19

BACKGROUND

The pandemic, as an event that is new and dangerous to the health and life of the population, has put employees at risk of losing their job and experiencing deteriorating working and employment conditions. In this situation, authors were particularly concerned with the extent to which job insecurity (both quantitative and qualitative) contributed to the deterioration of workers' well-being.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study was carried out on 382 Polish employees in April and May 2020. The following research tools were used: the Job Insecurity in Pandemic Scale by Chirkowska-Smolak and Czumak and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) by Levibond and Levibond.

RESULTS

The quantitative and qualitative job insecurity were significant predictors of depression and stress, but they did not explain anxiety symptoms. The scope of the explained variance of these negative emotional states by concerns related to work and employment was not large (from 11% to 17.6%). The moderating role of perceived employability was confirmed only in the case of the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and depression, as well as quantitative job insecurity and stress. However, the increase in the explained variance was very small.

CONCLUSIONS

Uncertainty related to the maintenance of employment and concerns about the deterioration of working conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on emotional disturbances of employees, but they only explained some of the variance of depression and stress and did not affect the perceived level of anxiety. The smaller role of economic stress in the emergence of negative emotional states could be associated with the occurrence of much more serious threats to the health and life of the population in this period. The very low level of unemployment in Poland, which remained at a similar level throughout the pandemic despite the catastrophic forecasts of economists, could also have played an important role. Med Pr. 2021;72(6):645-52.

The Negative Effect of Job Insecurity in the Virtuous Cycle Between Trust in the Organization, Subjective Well-Being, and Task Performance in the Current Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity Context

Over the past decade, job insecurity referring to the employees' perceived threat to the continuity and stability of employment as it is currently experienced has become a hot topic. A general assumption, supported by the findings, is that job insecurity causes far-reaching negative consequences for the employee health and well-being, attitudes toward organization and the job, and behaviors at work. However, the focus on behavioral outcomes, especially on employee performance at work, is still scant. Moreover, the literature remains fragmented concerning the impact of job insecurity on employee trust in the organization and how the trust influences employee subjective well-being (SWB), which in turn affects employee performance. Consequently, the link between job insecurity and SWB needs more investigation. Trying to narrow the gap, the paper aims at revealing the linkage between job insecurity, trust in the organization, SWB, and task performance. Quantitative data were collected in Lithuania. As predicted, the results revealed that job insecurity had a negative impact on trust in the organization and employee SWB. In case of linkage between job insecurity and task performance, the hypothesis was rejected. In general, these findings affirmed that job insecurity was a hindrance stressor, which needed to be considered when managing human resources in the current volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity context.

Analysis of the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health demonstrates employment insecurity to be associated with mental illness

A growing number of people depend on flexible employment, characterized by outsider employment and lower levels of job security. This study investigated whether there was a synergistic effect of employment status and job insecurity on mental disorders.This study used data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (CCHS) of 13,722 Canada's labor force population aged 20 to 70. Data were collected from January to December, 2012, using computer-assisted personal interviewing. As combining employment status with perceived job insecurity, we formed five job categories: secure full-time, full-time insecure, part-time secure, part-time insecure employment, and unemployment.Results showed that, regardless of employment status (full-time vs part-time), insecure employment was significantly associated with high risk of mental disorders. Furthermore, the odds ratios for insecure employment were similar to those for unemployment. Male workers who are full-time, but with insecure jobs, were more likely to experience mental disorders than female workers.This study's findings imply that while perceived job insecurity may be a critical factor for developing mental health problems among workers, providing effective health care services can mitigate an excessive health risk for the most vulnerable employment, especially for insecure part-time employment and unemployment.

Precarious Job Makes Me Withdraw? The Role of Job Insecurity and Negative Affect

An expanding "gig" economy has changed the nature of employment; thus, researchers have recently focused on exploring the role of job precariousness in the workplace. However, little research attention has been given to understanding why, how and when job precariousness leads to employees' negative behavioral outcomes in the service-oriented industry. In the current study, we examined job insecurity as a mediator and employees' negative affect as a moderator in the relationship between job precariousness and employees' withdrawal behavior. Using a sample of 472 employees working in Chinese hotels, we found that job precariousness is positively related to employees' withdrawal behavior by increasing their job insecurity. Moreover, this mediating relationship is conditional on the moderator variable of employees' negative affect for the path from job insecurity to withdrawal behavior. The importance of these findings for understanding the undesirable behavior outcomes of job precariousness is discussed.

Acting Proactively to Manage Job Insecurity: How Worrying About the Future of One's Job May Obstruct Future-Focused Thinking and Behavior

An increasing number of people experience insecurity about the future of their job, making it more important than ever to manage this insecurity. While previous research suggests that proactive coping is a promising way to alleviate job insecurity, we suggest that, paradoxically, it may be particularly difficult to act proactively when feeling emotionally distressed about the future of one’s job. Drawing on the principle of resource scarcity and the Conservation of Resources theory, we propose that affective job insecurity ignites a scarcity mindset that inhibits workers’ future focus and cognitive functioning, thereby undermining proactive career behavior. Additionally, we examine whether income adequacy can compensate for these negative consequences of job insecurity. Results of a three-wave survey study among 108 self-employed professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that initial affective job insecurity was negatively related to cognitive functioning but unrelated to future focus. Yet, the latter relationship was moderated by income adequacy: affective job insecurity was positively related to future focus when participants reported high income adequacy. In turn, future focus was positively related to proactive career behavior, which was subsequently related to lower cognitive job insecurity. Thus, while replicating the finding that workers can proactively manage their cognitive job insecurity, we also showed that initial affective job insecurity may obstruct people’s cognitive functioning. We discuss how our results signal a Matthew effect, in which job insecure people with sufficient means are able to look ahead and proactively build resources to change their career, while job insecure people with insufficient means may fall behind.

Temporary Agency Work and Well-Being-The Mediating Role of Job Insecurity

Organisations use non-standard employment as a means of flexibility and reduction of fixed costs. An increasingly growing group of employees are self-employed, have work contracts such as part-time and temporary contracts or are employed by a temporary agency, a development catalysed by the COVID pandemic. Whereas there is some evidence that temporary work might affect health via job insecurity (JI) there are hardly any studies focussing on the effects and mechanisms of temporary agency work (TAW). This study sheds light on TAW’s potential health impact and the role of JI in this respect using a mediation analysis. Based on the BIBB/BAuA-Employment Survey 2018 (N = 20.021, representative of the German working population), we analysed the direct effect of TAW on cognitive and psychosomatic aspects of well-being. In particular, we considered JI as mediator for this association. In line with the potentially detrimental effects of temporary employment on well-being, we found that TAW was related to unfavourable outcomes in terms of job satisfaction, general health status and musculoskeletal complaints. JI partially mediated all three underlying associations. Organisations need to be flexible and adaptable. However, by using temporary agency employment as a means to achieve this flexibility, managers and leaders should be aware that it is related to unfavourable well-being and hence hidden costs. In using this type of employment, both the temporary work agency and the user company should consider these health risks by providing health care, options for increasing the temporary agency workers (TA), workers employability, and equal treatment between permanent and TA workers at the actual workplace.

How Does Job Insecurity Affect Workplace Harassment? The Interaction Effect of Hypercompetitive Attitude, Coworker Impression Management, and Leader Narcissism

With concerns that artificial intelligence may replace existing jobs, job insecurity is becoming more prevalent. In-depth study of how job insecurity affects our society has become an important research topic. This study investigates the internal mechanisms through which such job insecurity influences workplace harassment. Based on the theories of psychological contract breach and the conservation of resources, this study proposes an indirect effect of job insecurity and a three-way moderation effect of hypercompetitive attitude, perceived coworker impression management, and leader narcissism on aggression intention. Using survey data from 286 employees in South Korea, bootstrapping analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and a slope-difference test were performed to confirm the mediation and moderation effects. The results showed that hypercompetitive attitude mediates the association between job insecurity and aggression intention. The three-way interaction effect was also confirmed, such that the interaction effect of hypercompetitive attitude and coworker impression management is only effective when leader narcissism is high. This study contributes to the literature and business practices by offering significant suggestions to aid a more in-depth understanding of the workplace harassment occurrence process.

Suffering Job Insecurity: Will the Employees Take the Proactive Behavior or Not?

Job insecurity is considered an important antecedent of an employee’s creativity. Though, the relationship between job insecurity and proactive behavior has been neglected in previous human resources management studies. The aim of this study is to explore the influence of job insecurity on employees’ proactive behavior and its mechanism. Based on the social cognitive theory and cognitive appraisal theory, two types of cognitive appraisal of employee’s job insecurity (hindrance vs. challenge) as mediator variables of job insecurity and proactive behavior association. In addition, the moderator roles of self-efficacy are examined. This study is carried out with 257 employees from Chinese firms to examine the hypothesized moderated mediation model by using the hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrap. The results showed a different effect of job insecurity depending on its conceptualization. The results show that job insecurity has a negative effect on employees’ proactive behavior. At the same time, cognitive appraisal of employees’ job insecurity mediated the association between job insecurity and employee’s proactive behavior. Self-efficacy not only moderates the relationship between job insecurity and cognitive appraisal but also moderate the cognitive appraisal’s mediation effect between job insecurity and proactive behavior. The study’s theoretical and practical contributions and future research are discussed.

Job insecurity and innovative work behaviour: A moderated mediation model of intrinsic motivation and trait mindfulness

Research has disregarded the processes and boundary conditions associated with the effects of job insecurity on innovative work behaviour. Combining the job demands-resources and the self-determination perspectives, the present study develops and tests a first-stage moderated mediation model that identifies intrinsic motivation as a key mechanism accounting for a negative effect of job insecurity on innovative behaviour and trait mindfulness as a buffer against the detrimental impact of job insecurity on intrinsic motivation and, indirectly, innovative work behaviour. Two time-lagged studies-a two-wave study of 138 employees from Canadian firms and a three-wave study of 157 employees from US firms-were conducted to test the hypothesized model. Supporting our predictions, intrinsic motivation mediated a negative relationship between job insecurity and innovative work behaviour. Moreover, high levels of trait mindfulness were observed to attenuate the negative relationship of job insecurity with intrinsic motivation and, indirectly, innovative behaviour. These findings contribute to the literature by disclosing the processes linking job insecurity with impaired work outcomes and help to elucidate how and when employee can keep their innovative potential alive in spite of insecure work conditions.

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

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.