e, found a systematic relationship between level of job insecurity and measures of psychological stress (depression, job dissatisfaction, anxiety) in a sample of 281 white- and blue-collar workers.
Given that job insecurity is associated with stress and distress, a key question becomes whether the length of time employees experience job insecurity is related to the degree of negativity of the resulting stress/distress. There is some research suggesting that long-term job insecurity may be associated with a particularly problematic level of stress/distress. In this regard, Heaney, Israel and House (1994) examined for the effects of job insecurity on 207 automobile manufacturing workers who responded to two waves of data collection by questionnaire.
Responses given 13 months apart showed that extended periods of job insecurity decreased job satisfaction and increased physical symptomatology, over and above the effects of job insecurity at any single point in time. Based on these findings, the authors concluded that job insecurity acts as a chronic stressor whose effects become more potent as the time of exposure increases.
The study proposed here expands the foregoing findings. Specifically, this study examines workers who have been exposed to high levels of job insecurity over a 15 year period. However, instead of examining for relationships on physical and psychological stress/distress measures, this study will examine whether job insecurity is related to negativity of employee attitude toward the organization and toward their job tasks. To provide content to this research, the next section of the proposal examines studies related to the effects of job insecurity on employees.
This section of the proposal examines the current literature on job insecurity and its impact. This literature is reviewed and discussed in three broad areas. These areas are: (1) the general effects of job insecurity; (2) the effects o...