A longitudinal person-centred view on perceived employability: The role of job insecurity

Employability Development during Internships: A Three-Wave Study on a Sample of Psychology Graduates in Italy

This study adopts a resource perspective to investigate the development of graduates’ resource-based employability across a 1-year internship. We examined factors referring to agency (job crafting in the form of crafting challenges and crafting resources) and context (organizational social socialization tactics) as mechanisms contributing to employability development during initial work experiences (internships). Data were collected in Italy from 316 master graduates in psychology at three time points. Longitudinal structural equation modeling results showed that baseline employability was positively associated with job crafting. However, job crafting was only significantly associated with employability at the end of the internship among those reporting high crafting resources and medium-to-high organizational social socialization tactics. Hence, beyond a focus on proactivity only, organizational support and opportunities to form social networks are essential to sustain interns’ employability development.

Job insecurity, employability, and mental health in the new era: A test of plausible influence mechanisms and temporal effects

Although job insecurity and employability have drawn much research attention, the plausible relationships between them and how they jointly influence mental health remain unclear in the literature. We draw upon JD-R and COR theories to test and contrast three plausible relationships between job insecurity and employability, using a longitudinal sample of 1216 employees over 18 years. We further expand tests of these theoretical positions by considering temporal dynamics, using dynamic structural equation models (DSEMs) for stronger mediation evidence and latent growth models (LGMs) to compare the effects of job insecurity and employability trends in predicting the trend of mental health. In general, findings showed that job insecurity mediated the relationship between employability and mental health, supporting the mediation hypothesis. We also found that employability moderated the relationship between job insecurity and mental health, supporting the moderation hypothesis, although the effect was weak. Results further suggested that the effect magnitudes of job insecurity and employability predicting mental health were significantly different. Specifically, job insecurity was a stronger predictor of mental health than employability across all 18 years; the trend of job insecurity also predicted the trend of mental health more strongly than the trend of employability. Taken together, this study not only advances theory precision but also methodological soundness of research on job insecurity, employability, and mental health, supporting the value of considering temporal factors in examining mental health effects of job insecurity and employability.

Taking stock and moving forward: A textual statistics approach to synthesizing four decades of job insecurity research

We collected the abstracts of manuscripts examining job insecurity published between 1984 and 2019 and carried out a textual analysis to investigate the defining clusters, their development over time, and whether there was evidence of siloed knowledge. Results suggested that job insecurity research seems to be fragmented into disciplinary foci (organizational psychology, public health, economics, and sociology). Further analyses on the organizational psychology corpus, revealed 25 topics with distinct temporal trajectories: some were increasing (analytical advances and differentiation between cognitive and affective job insecurity) while other were decreasing (scale development). The remaining abstracts revealed 15 topics with more stable trajectories. Based on these results, we identified five areas for future organizational research on job insecurity: the changing labor market, the need to better understand the experiences of marginalized workers and non-work outcomes of job insecurity, the added-value of qualitative research, and the need to critically evaluate our assumptions as researchers. Plain Language Summary Since the paper by Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt, research on job insecurity has burgeoned. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, we collected the abstracts of all peer-reviewed manuscripts examining job insecurity published between 1984 and 2019 and carried out a textual analysis using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation and the Reinert method to investigate (a) the defining clusters of job insecurity research, (b) the development of such clusters over time, and (c) whether there was any evidence of siloed knowledge. Results suggested that indeed job insecurity research seems to be fragmented into four main disciplinary foci (organizational psychology, public health, economics, and sociology) with relatively little cross-fertilization. We conducted further analyses of the abstracts stemming from organizational research on job insecurity, revealing 25 topics with distinct temporal trajectories (e.g., “hot” topics including the increasing use of advanced analytic techniques and differentiation between cognitive and affective job insecurity) and “cold” topics including the development of job insecurity measures). The remaining abstracts revealed 15 topics with more stable research interests over time (e.g., a continued reliance on appraisal theories). Based on these results, we identified five areas for future organizational research on job insecurity based on: the changing labor market, the need to better understand the experiences of marginalized workers and non-work outcomes of job insecurity, the added-value of qualitative research, and finally the need to critically evaluate our assumptions as researchers.

Job insecurity and performance in public and private sectors: a moderated mediation model

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to extend our knowledge of the relationship between quantitative and qualitative job insecurity and performance. On the basis of stress theories, we hypothesised that qualitative job insecurity (QLJI) would mediate the negative effect of quantitative job insecurity (QTJI) on two different indicators of performance: task performance (TP) and counterproductive work behaviours (CPWBs). In addition, the authors hypothesised that the effect of QTJI on QLJI would be moderated by the economic sector (public vs private) in which employees worked. Therefore, the authors empirically tested a moderated mediation model via PROCESS.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants were 431 employees from various Italian organisations. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire measuring QTJI, QLJI, TP and CPWBs.

Findings

The results indicated that economic sector moderated the relationship between quantitative and QLJI. Both quantitative and QLJI were related to performance outcomes. Furthermore, QLJI mediated the effect of QTJI on TP and CPWB. However, this mediation was particularly apparent among employees in the private sector, supporting our hypothesised moderated mediation model.

Practical implications

The results suggest that managers of private and public organisations need to apply different policies to reduce the impact of job insecurity on CPWBs and increase the TP of their employees.

Originality/value

This study attempted to examine the job insecurity–performance relationship in more depth. For the first time, the effects of both job insecurity dimensions on performance were simultaneously investigated, with economic sector as a moderator and QLJI as a mediator.

Exploring Employability Constructions of Migrants in Sweden and Potential Consequences for Labour Market Entrance Recommendations

In the flexible Swedish labour market, the concept of employability has grown important. Within a neoliberal framework, accountability for one’s possibility to successfully obtain or keep employment rests with the individual. In contrast, within a social welfare discourse the individual is offered care and support in order to gain employment. The present study combined intersectional and discourse analytical approaches with the understanding that individual employability is subjectively constructed in the exploration of labour market induction, employability constructions and categorizations in the discourse used by government agencies directly involved in the labour market integration of newly arrived migrants. Public documents comprising information on labour market entrance, employability and associated concepts such as competence building and career development were analysed. The employability constructions were often contradictory—placed at the crossroads of neoliberal and social welfare discourses—and built on tacit assumptions and influenced by stereotypes. Conveying such employability constructions further could lead to exclusion from long-term employment and have detrimental psychological and health repercussions. Instead, it is of importance to work towards reconstructing migrants’ employability in this new context without damaging influence from inflexible categorizations and stereotypes.

Caring for Oneself or for Others? How Consistent and Inconsistent Profiles of Health-Oriented Leadership Are Related to Follower Strain and Health

Health-oriented leadership consists of three dimensions that contribute to employee health: staff care, i.e., health-specific follower-directed leadership, as well as both leaders' and followers' self care, i.e., health-specific self-leadership. This study explores profiles of follower self care, leader self care and staff care, and investigates the relationships with follower health in two samples. We identified four patterns of health-oriented leadership: A consistently positive profile (high care), a consistently negative profile (low care), and two profiles showing inconsistencies between follower self care, leader self care, and staff care (leader sacrifice and follower sacrifice). The high care profile reported the best health compared to both the low care profile and the inconsistent profiles. The follower sacrifice profile reported more strain than the leader sacrifice profile, while strain and health levels were the least favorable in the low care profile. Findings reveal that (in-)consistency between follower-directed leadership and self-leadership contributes to follower strain and health.

Perceived Employability and Entrepreneurial Intentions Across University Students and Job Seekers in Togo: The Effect of Career Adaptability and Self-Efficacy

This study examined the relationship between two personal resources, career adaptability and general self-efficacy, and two career outcomes, self-perceived employability and entrepreneurial intentions in a West African context, characterized by a developing economy. A Togolese sample of 334 university students and 216 job seekers completed French versions of the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Self-Perceived Employability Scale, the Entrepreneurial Intentions Scale and an adapted form of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale. A multi-group path analysis showed that the results are similar for both groups. Career adaptability and general self-efficacy were positively related to self-perceived employability. The contribution of career adaptability was especially strong for job seekers. Only general self-efficacy was related to entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, perceived employability was positively related in some way to entrepreneurial intentions in both groups. Career adaptability seems to be especially important for employability among job seekers (activation of resources), whereas entrepreneurial intentions may be more context-dependent. Finally, perceived employability failed to mediate the relationship between personal resources and entrepreneurial intentions in both samples.

Precariousness Profile and Career Adaptability as Determinants of Job Insecurity: A Three-Wave Study

The present study compares the mean levels and growth in job insecurity across employees’ precariousness profiles as defined by a combination of perceived employability and financial difficulties. Drawing on the labor market precariousness and workplace stress literature, we hypothesized that employees with the most precarious profile would report elevated levels of job insecurity followed by a growth trend. Moreover, career adaptability was expected to act as a resource for counteracting job insecurity. The study was based on three waves of a longitudinal “Professional Paths” survey (National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES) conducted in Switzerland. The data of 799 professionally active adults were analyzed using latent growth modeling. In line with our hypothesis, the findings showed the highest levels of job insecurity and the most pronounced growth trend among employees with the precarious profile. Interestingly, different career adaptability facets played differing roles in predicting job insecurity, potentially revealing some of its under-researched aspects.

Perceived employability trajectories: A Swedish cohort study

Objectives:

This study identified perceived employability trajectories and their associations with sleeping difficulties and depressive symptoms over time.

Methods:

The sample was part of the Swedish Longitudinal Survey on Health from 2008 to 2014 (n=4,583).

Results:

Two stable trajectories (high and low perceived employability over time) and three trajectories with changes (increasing, decreasing, and V-shaped perceived employability over time) were identified. Workers with stable low perceived employability reported more sleeping difficulties and depressive symptoms than those who perceived high or increasing employability.

Conclusion:

Perceived employability is a rather stable personal resource, which is associated with well-being over time. However, changes in perceived employability do not seem to be echoed in well-being, at least not as immediately as theoretically expected.

Employability and Job Performance as Links in the Relationship Between Mentoring Receipt and Career Success

This study developed and tested a model that posited employability and job performance as intervening variables in the relationship between receipt of mentoring and career success. Participants were 207 information technology (IT) professionals employed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in three European countries. Mentoring receipt was related to both employability and job performance. Employability mediated the relationship of mentoring receipt with objective and subjective career success, as well as its relationship with job performance. The findings indicate that receipt of mentoring is connected to job performance, a link that has hitherto lacked empirical evidence. In addition, they suggest a pivotal role for employability in the relationship of mentoring receipt with job performance and career success. Overall, this study helps unveil the mechanism through which mentoring affects career outcomes. Moreover, it shows that the benefits of mentoring hold outside the context of large corporations.

Trajectories of Perceived Employability and Their Associations With Well-Being at Work

The first aim of this study was to identify trajectories of perceived employability (PE) with a longitudinal person-centered approach, accounting for both the level of PE and changes in PE. The second aim was to examine how the trajectories were related to well-being at work (i.e., vigor at work, job satisfaction, and job exhaustion) with a variable-centered approach. The data were collected in two Finnish universities (N = 926) during 2008–2010 with three measurement points. Growth Mixture Modeling identified four trajectories, which differed in level, stability, and change in PE across time: we established two trajectories with stable PE (88% of the participants), and two trajectories with a nonlinear change pattern in PE (12%). Furthermore, variable-centered analyses showed that the level of PE was positively associated with well-being at work. Moreover, in one change trajectory, the increase in PE was associated with an increase in vigor at work. Overall, these results indicate that PE can be seen as a personal resource. However, the effect of PE is minor in terms of change in employee well-being among highly educated employees.