Showing papers on "Job security published in 2016"

The mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between high-performance work practices and job outcomes of employees in Nigeria

Abstract: Purpose This paper aims to examine work engagement as a mediator of the effects of selective staffing, job security, teamwork and career opportunities as the indicators of high-performance work practices on absence intentions, service recovery and creative performances. Design/methodology/approach Data came from 287 frontline employee–supervisor dyads in the international chain hotels in Nigeria. The direct and mediating effects were assessed using structural equation modeling. The Sobel test was also used to test the significance of each mediating effect. Findings The results demonstrate that the simultaneous implementation of selective staffing, job security, teamwork and career opportunities fosters work engagement that in turn leads to reduced absence intentions and results in service recovery and creative performances at elevated levels. Practical implications The presence of selective staffing, job security, teamwork and career opportunities enables management to hire individuals high in work engagement. Management should obtain significant feedback about new service ideas and suggestions for novel customer problems through workshops in which employees effectively participate. Management may also let employees with poor performance leave the organization rather than wasting organizational resources to retain them. Originality/value Little is known about the underlying mechanism through which high-performance work practices are linked to organizationally relevant and valued attitudinal and behavioral outcomes.

Health, Work and Working Conditions: A Review of the European Economic Literature

Abstract: Economists have traditionally been very cautious when studying the interaction between employment and health because of the two-way causal relationship between these two variables: health status influences the probability of being employed and, at the same time, working affects the health status. Because these two variables are determined simultaneously,researchers control endogeneity skews (e.g., reverse causality, omitted variables) when conducting empirical analysis. With these cave at sin mind, the literature finds that a favourable work environment and high job security lead to better health conditions. Being employed with appropriate working conditions plays a protective role on physical health andpsychiatric disorders. By contrast, non-employment and retirement are generally worse for mental health than employment,and over employment has a negative effect on health. These findings stress the importance of employment and of a dequateworking conditions for the health of workers. In this context, it is a concern that a significant proportion of European workers(29%) would like to work fewer hours because unwanted long hours are likely to signal a poor level of job satisfaction andinadequate working conditions, with detrimental effects on health. Thus, in Europe, labour-market policy has increasingly paid attention to jobs ustainability and job satisfaction. The literature clearly invites employers to take better account of the worker preferences when setting the number of hours worked. Overall, a specific “flexicurity” (combination of high employment protection, job satisfaction and activelabour-market policies) is likely to have a positiveeffect on health.

Does job insecurity deteriorate health

Abstract: This paper estimates the causal effect of perceived job insecurity – that is, the fear of involuntary job loss – on health in a sample of men from 22 European countries. We rely on an original instrumental variable approach on the basis of the idea that workers perceive greater job security in countries where employment is strongly protected by the law and more so if employed in industries where employment protection legislation is more binding; that is, in induastries with a higher natural rate of dismissals. Using cross-country data from the 2010 European Working Conditions Survey, we show that, when the potential endogeneity of job insecurity is not accounted for, the latter appears to deteriorate almost all health outcomes. When tackling the endogeneity issue by estimating an instrumental variable model and dealing with potential weak-instrument issues, the health-damaging effect of job insecurity is confirmed for a limited subgroup of health outcomes; namely, suffering from headaches or eyestrain and skin problems. As for other health variables, the impact of job insecurity appears to be insignificant at conventional levels.

Mental Health and Productivity at Work: Does What You Do Matter?

Abstract: Much of the economic cost of mental illness stems from workers’ reduced productivity. We analyze the links between mental health and two alternative workplace productivity measures – absenteeism and presenteeism (i.e., lower productivity while attending work) – explicitly allowing these relationships to be moderated by the nature of the job itself. We find that absence rates are approximately five percent higher among workers who report being in poor mental health. Moreover, job conditions are related to both presenteeism and absenteeism even after accounting for workers’ self-reported mental health status. Job conditions are relatively more important in understanding diminished productivity at work if workers are in good rather than poor mental health. The effects of job complexity and stress on absenteeism do not depend on workers’ mental health, while job security and control moderate the effect of mental illness on absence days.

Significance Of Life Skills Education

Abstract: Adolescence is a period when the intellectual, physical, social, emotional and all the capabilities are very high, but, unfortunately, most of the adolescents are unable to utilize their potential to maximum due to various reasons. They face many emerging issues such as global warming, famines, poverty, suicide, population explosion as well as other issues like alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual abuse, smoking, juvenile delinquency, anti-social acts, etc. that have an adverse effect on them and others too, to a large extent. The cut-throat competition, unemployment, lack of job security, etc. are some of the major concerns for the educated and as a result, they are caught in the mad race. This new challenge requires immediate and effective responses from a socially responsible system of education. ‘Education’ is important, but education to support and live life better is more important. It has been felt that life skills education bridges the gap between basic functioning and capabilities. It strengthens the ability of an individual to meet the needs and demands of the present society and helps in dealing with the above issues in a manner to get desired behavior practical. Imparting life skill training through inculcating life skill education will help youth to overcome such difficulties in life. The present paper focuses on the importance of life skills education and the benefits of imparting life skill education in our curriculum i.e. developing social, emotional & thinking skills in students, as they are the important building blocks for a dynamic citizen, who can cope up with future challenges, and survive well.

The effects of non-standard forms of employment on worker health and safety

Abstract: The past 40 years have witnessed significant changes to work arrangements globally. Overall, the changes have been characterised by less contract duration and job security, more irregular working hours (both in terms of duration and consistency), increased use of third parties (temporary employment agencies), growth of various forms of dependent self-employment (like subcontracting and franchising) and also bogus/informal work arrangements (i.e. arrangements deliberately outside the regulatory framework of labour, social protection and other laws).

The Psychological Mechanisms of Public Service Motivation A Two-Wave Examination

Abstract: To explore the psychological mechanism of public service motivation (PSM), we used a time-lagged design to examine the mediating effects of organizational identification on the relationship between PSM and work attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction) and behavior (i.e., community citizenship behavior). A two-wave study of 241 public servants from District A of a large metropolitan city in Eastern China was conducted. Controlling job security and demographic variables, results from a structural equation modeling showed the relationship between public service motivation and job satisfaction and the relationship between public service motivation and community citizenship behavior were partially mediated by organizational identification. Results also demonstrated that in comparison with job security, public service motivation contributed more to community citizenship behavior than job satisfaction. The study contributes to our understanding of public service motivation by illuminating a mechanism through which pub...

Does Public Service Motivation Influence the College Students’ Intention to Work in the Public Sector? Evidence From Korea:

Abstract: Previous studies have produced significant distinctions between public- and private-sector employees with respect to public service motivation (PSM) and PSM-related variables. Little, however, is known about whether those variables are associated with employment choice at a pre-entry level. This article will address this gap in the literature by exploring the effect of PSM on college students’ sector choice in Korea. In previous research on PSM, three types of PSM measures—Perry’s PSM scale, work values, and prosocial behaviors—were utilized as a PSM variable. In exploring the association between PSM and sector choice, we employed the three measures. The empirical model showed that PSM and prosocial behaviors were not associated with public-sector choice. Only job security was found to be a main reason why college students intended to enter the public sector in Korea. We will discuss the implications of our findings in this article.

The effect of job insecurity on employee health complaints: A within-person analysis of the explanatory role of threats to the manifest and latent benefits of work.

Abstract: The current study contributes to the literature on job insecurity by highlighting threat to the benefits of work as an explanation of the effect of job insecurity on health complaints. Building on the latent deprivation model, we predicted that threats to both manifest (i.e., financial income) and latent benefits of work (i.e., collective purpose, social contacts, status, time structure, activity) mediate the relationships from job insecurity to subsequent mental and physical health complaints. In addition, in line with the conservation of resources theory, we proposed that financial resources buffer the indirect effect of job insecurity on health complaints through threat to the manifest benefit. Hypotheses were tested using a multilevel design, in which 3 measurements (time lag of 6 months between subsequent measurements) were clustered within 1,994 employees (in Flanders, Belgium). This allowed for the investigation of within-person processes, while controlling for variance at the between-person level. The results demonstrate that job insecurity was related to subsequent threats to both manifest and latent benefits, and that these threats in turn were related to subsequent health complaints (with an exception for threat to the manifest benefit that did not predict mental health complaints). Three significant indirect effects were found: threat to the latent benefits mediated the relationships between job insecurity and both mental and physical health complaints, and threat to the manifest benefit mediated the relationship between job insecurity and physical health complaints. Unexpectedly, the latter indirect effect was exacerbated by financial resources.

Housing in Chinese Urban Villages: The Dwellers, Conditions and Tenancy Informality

Abstract: While it is widely acknowledged that Chinese urban villages provide an important source of rental housing for low-income populations, the composition of their dwellers, housing conditions and rental contracts has not been adequately studied. Drawing from surveys of sixty urban villages in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, this study finds that housing in urban villages is more family oriented; that over half of dwellers work in the tertiary sector; and that although they have relatively stable jobs, few have job security with contracts. In predominantly rental housing, the housing unit is small. Tight control by the city government over housing development has led to quite expensive rentals measured by unit space as well as poorer housing conditions. Tenancy informality in terms of the absence of formal contracts is widespread and most severe in Shanghai. The lack of formal contracts is largely independent of the status of dwellers or their job status but is rather dependent upon the rent value.

A multilevel examination of affective job insecurity climate on safety outcomes.

Abstract: Previous research has established a causal link between individual perceptions of job insecurity and safety outcomes. However, whether job insecurity climate is associated with safety outcomes has not been studied. The purpose of the current study was to explore the main and cross-level interaction effects of affective job insecurity climate on safety outcomes, including behavioral safety compliance, reporting attitudes, workplace injuries, experienced safety events, unreported safety events, and accident underreporting, beyond individual affective job insecurity. With 171 employees nested in 40 workgroups, multilevel analyses revealed that the negative impacts of individual affective job insecurity on safety outcomes are exacerbated when they occur in a climate of high affective job insecurity. These results are interpreted in light of safety management efforts and suggest that efforts to create a secure climate within one's workgroup may reap safety-related benefits. (PsycINFO Database Record Language: en

Non-profits and the 'hollowed out' state: the transformation of working conditions through personalising social care services during an era of austerity

Abstract: This article explores the impact of state reforms to increase customer authority in social care at a time of public sector austerity in Scotland. The article focuses on the implications of these reforms for state–non-profit relations and the latter’s employment policies. The study proposes a theoretical framework to explore these themes using insights from the ‘hollowing out’ thesis and the customer-orientated bureaucracy concept. Non-profits respond to increased customer authority from personalization and public expenditure cuts by adopting more competitive relations with each other. They also introduce contradictory ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ Human Resource Management (HRM) reforms. Workers face multiple demands to be more flexible and exhibit commitment to ‘fit’ with customer needs. Despite some increases in skills, the increasing influence of customer authority and efficiency savings mean employees experience multiple degradations in employment conditions affecting pay, job security, skills and work intensific...

Unraveling the impact of workforce age diversity on labor productivity: The moderating role of firm size and job security

Abstract: Summary Previous literature has suggested both positive and negative effects of age diversity on labor productivity: positive because of the potential knowledge complementarities between employees of different ages and negative because of the age-related value differences that might reduce cohesion and cooperation, hampering firm performance. Using a Belgian sample of 5892 organizational observations (2008–2011), we unraveled these countervailing effects in two ways. First, we built on prior studies to suggest that the effect of age diversity depends on the particular shape of the age distribution: positive when it is heterogeneous (i.e., variety) and negative when it is polarized (i.e., polarization). This was supported by our findings. Second, we explored the moderating impact of two contextual contingencies, firm size and job security. As expected, the positive effect of age variety is reinforced in large firms and in firms where job security is high. Although firm size also emphasizes the negative effect of age polarization on productivity, job security, unexpectedly, does not moderate this relationship. Our study offers a valuable contribution to the literature as it reveals the boundary conditions of the competing implications of age diversity and, thus, allows one to account for the inconclusive findings reported in previous literature. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Employment Flexibility and Job Security as Determinants of Job Satisfaction: The Case of Polish Knowledge Workers

Abstract: A number of empirical studies have shown a positive influence of employment stability on job satisfaction. Employment stability, usually measured by the type of contract an individual has, may affect one’s job satisfaction directly, as well as through its impact on other relative variables, such as job security, since a stable position seems to bring individuals a sense of security. The aim of our research is to investigate the relationships between job security, employment stability and job satisfaction of workers in Poland. In the study, we strive to show how these factors impact knowledge workers and other workers differently. In order to conduct analysis, we propose two logistic models, separate for these two groups, with job satisfaction as a dependent variable and type of contract and three items denoting different dimensions of job insecurity: an insecure source of income, too many duties to cope with and being treated unjustly at the workplace, as independent variables. The robustness of the models has been defended by the introduction of the time dimension. The results show that job insecurity is the most influential factor in the model of job satisfaction for all employees. However, this impact differs depending on the employment arrangements. Flexible workers are much more vulnerable to job insecurities in terms of job satisfaction. Another finding is that the job satisfaction of knowledge workers is more influenced by job security.

Mind the gap: gender disparities still to be addressed in UK Higher Education geography

Abstract: This paper evidences persistent gender inequalities in UK higher education (HE) geography departments. The two key sources of data used are: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data for staff and students, which affords a longitudinal response to earlier surveys by McDowell and McDowell and Peake of women in UK university geography departments, and a qualitative survey of the UK HE geography community undertaken in 2010 that sought more roundly to capture respondent reflections on their careers, choices, status and experiences. Findings show that although the gender gap is closing within HE geography in the UK there are significant ongoing gender disparities. Therefore, the paper argues that the long and demanding process of reducing gender inequalities (alongside other, equally vital intersectional inequalities) requires continued commitment. Furthermore, respondents evidence the cost of these inequalities: enablers and barriers to job security and career progression can have long-term impacts on quality of life and financial security, and affect personal life decisions. In recent years the UK-based Athena Swan and Gender Equality Charter Mark agendas have prompted universities to address gendered disparities and the authors note a changing zeitgeist. The survey findings point to the need for sustained leadership within geography departments to address the day-to-day gender – and other – inequalities experienced in the workplace.

Creating facades of conformity in the face of job insecurity: A study of consequences and conditions

Abstract: This study investigates creating facades of conformity (i.e., suppressing personal values and pretending to embrace organizational values) as a coping strategy associated with perceived job insecurity in workplace. In two survey-based studies, we examined the conditions under which such a strategy is more likely, and the consequences of its use. The results show in Study 1 (N = 404) and in Study 2 (N = 622) that facades of conformity, although employed as an agentic response to protect one's status, is paradoxically associated with negative employee outcomes including increased intention to leave and reduced affective commitment. Furthermore, the results show that age attenuates the relationship between perceived job insecurity and facades of conformity, such that older workers are less likely than younger workers to engage in facades under higher job insecurity. Our research contributes to theory on job insecurity, authenticity, and lifespan development. Managerial implications are discussed. Practitioner points The current study found that employees who feel their job security threatened were more likely to suppress personal values and pretend to embrace organizational values, and such responses were linked to their intention to leave and reduced affective commitment. The results from this study highlight the importance of fostering organizational environments that encourage authenticity such that members are not compelled to suppress personal values and pretend to embrace organizational values in job-insecure environments. The results also highlight how employees will enact their careers at different stages of their lives. In job-insecure environments, older workers are more likely than younger workers to express divergent points of view.

Do Employees Leave Just Because They Can? Examining the Perceived Employability–Turnover Intentions Relationship

Abstract: The relationship between perceived employability and turnover intentions seems much more complicated than what the common sense would suggest. Based on the reviewed literature, it was expected that job satisfaction, affective commitment, and perceived job security would moderate this relationship. Using a sample of working individuals from different occupations and sectors (N = 721), it was found that employees who perceived themselves as highly employable were more likely to have turnover intentions when their affective commitment was low and perceived job security was high; and the relationship was negative for employees with shorter tenures. Understanding the conditions under which perceived employability is associated with turnover intentions may help organizations design human resource policies that allow them to retain an educated and competent workforce.

Work and social well-being: the impact of employment conditions on quality of life

Abstract: This paper aims to extend our understanding of the impact of management practises and employment conditions in the contemporary workplace on the broader social realm. The study provides an analytic account of how these employment conditions impact on the social well-being of a representative sample of individuals and households. We assess the propensity of working arrangements that are manifested in various high performance work systems either to enhance or to diminish quality of life. The paper indicates that certain management practises and employment conditions have impacts that extend beyond the workplace and influence the broader well-being of individuals and families.

The Public Sector as the Employer of Choice among Youth in Egypt: The Relevance of Public Service Motivation Theory

Abstract: Young people in Egypt want to work in the public sector, even if they get less pay there than at the private sector. This article seeks to explain the attractiveness of public-sector jobs to this group, embedding this experience within the literature and theorization on public service motivation (PSM) and discussing its relevance. Issues of trust, respect, and social status are reflected in the discourse of interviewed youth about this job preference. A generation-held and culturally-ingrained appreciation among the educated to work in the public sector also contributes to this sector preference. Qualitative and quantitative data also show that extrinsic benefits of job security and stability are also pivotal to this preference. The analysis in the article suggests a holistic reading of motivational factors to join the public sector in contexts of job scarcity and labor surplus.

The Decline of the Male Breadwinner and Persistence of the Female Carer: Exposure, Interests, and Micro–Macro Interactions

Abstract: Although female labor force participation is rising across the world, men's share of unpaid care work has not increased commensurately. Why has there been a major change in one domain of gender relations yet marked continuity in another? This article tries to answer this question by doing three slightly unusual things. It uses the same theoretical concepts (exposure and interests) to analyze change and continuity across different domains of gender relations. It examines long-term processes of social change through ethnographic (rather than social survey) data from Zambia. Additionally, it explores commonalities in the Global North and South—thereby bringing together silos of knowledge. The argument is that flexibility in gender divisions of labor increases when there is a shift in both interests and exposure. This has occurred in the case of paid work: A decline in men's incomes and job security has led many to regard women's employment as advantageous. The resulting critical mass of women performing soci...

The Ability of Unions to Adapt to Innovative Workplace Arrangements

Abstract: The 1980s have witnessed considerable experimentation in compensation practices, worker participation, labor-management cooperation, and the organization of production. Collectively, such practices at the local or plant level have become known as "workplace innovations." One concern that has been raised repeatedly both within the academic community and within the labor movement, is how, and in fact whether, such innovations can coexist with unions and collective bargaining as currently constituted (see for example, Charles Heckscher, 1988; Thomas Kochan, Harry Katz, and Robert McKersie, 1986). Profit sharing, gainsharing, and other compensation changes pose certain issues for unions-how to define profits or gains to protect workers and minimize management finagling, for instance-but these probably require mainly increased access to financial information and the technical sophistication to deal with that information. Labor-management cooperation programs that involve union leaders or activists in joint problem solving with management could create the perception that the union is "cozying up" with management and is unwilling to push worker demands or grievances. But as with profit sharing and gainsharing, the union sector has long experience with cooperation committees and can presumably make the necessary political adaptations. Innovations that establish a "second channel" of communication between workers and managers are more problematic according to some observers insofar as they possibly could lead to less worker interest in unionism. Some could preempt the union's expansion into new areas of collective bargaining or might threaten to supplant bargaining over traditional issues. And they might exacerbate existing divisions within the workforce or the union (Donald Wells, 1987). Further issues arise with the more extensive innovations like "team production systems" that combine the radical reduction of separate production job classifications, team decision making in work or overtime assignments, and pay by knowledge. Experience in some auto plants indicates teams can lead to fundamental changes in the operation of the grievance system and the union's day to day role in the plant (Katz, 1985). Indeed it has been argued that team production systems require a modification of the system of "job control" unionism-" management manages and the union grieves" (Kochan et al., p. 161)-which has predominated in the United States since World War II. The concerns discussed above do not mean that these programs offer no benefits to workers and unions. Benefits such as increased job security, enhanced job satisfaction, reduced alienation, and greater control over the work environment may result from many of these programs. In fact, it is the differential weighting of these potential benefits and costs that has in part led to the variety of union responses to workplace innovations.

Expanding Job Opportunities in Ghana

Abstract: Ghana was, until very recently, a success story in Africa, achieving high and sustained growth and impressive poverty reduction. However, Ghana is now facing major challenges in diversifying its economy, sustaining growth, and making it more inclusive. Most of the new jobs that have been created in the past decade have been in low-earning, low-productivity trade services. Macroeconomic instability, limited diversification and growing inequities in Ghana’s labor markets make it harder for the economy to create more jobs, and particularly, better jobs. Employment needs to expand in both urban areas, which will continue to grow rapidly, and rural areas, where poverty is still concentrated. The current fiscal and economic crisis is heightening the need for urgent reforms but limiting the room for maneuver and increasing pressure for a careful prioritization of policy actions. Going forward, Ghana will need to consider an integrated jobs strategy that addresses barriers to the business climate, deficiencies in skills, lack of competitiveness of job-creating sectors, problems with labor mobility, and the need for comprehensive labor market regulation. Ghana needs to diversify its economy through gains in productivity in sectors like agribusiness, transport, construction, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) services. Productivity needs to be increased also in agriculture, in order to increase the earnings potential for the many poor who still work there. In particular, Ghana’s youth and women need help in connecting to these jobs, through relevant skills development and services that target gaps in information about job opportunities. Even with significant effort, most of Ghana’s population will continue to work in jobs characterized by low and fluctuating earnings for the foreseeable future, however, and they will need social safety nets that help them manage vulnerability to income shortfalls. More productive and inclusive jobs will help Ghana move to a second phase of structural transformation and develop into a modern middle-income economy.

Underpaid but Satisfied The Protective Functions of Security

Abstract: Roughly half of American workers report feeling underpaid. Equity and distributive justice theory and research suggests that perceived underpayment is associated with more job dissatisfaction. Howe...

Stressing academia? Stress-as-offence-to-self at Danish universities

Abstract: Academic work has traditionally been seen as relatively stress free. However, a growing number of studies have reported increases in occupational stress experienced by university researchers. In order to explain stress among this group, we build on a new perspective in occupational stress research: the so-called stress-as-offence-to-self perspective. In line with this perspective, we have investigated the incongruence between the researchers’ work values and their perceptions of the working conditions provided by the organisation. The analysis is based on a sample of 2127 Danish university researchers. The results show that person-organisation incongruence with regard to freedom and independence in the job, job security, personal and professional development at work, and receiving peer recognition are associated with higher levels of stress among the researchers. Based on these results, we suggest three strategies for managers at universities to mitigate stress among academic employees: a tough re...

Improving workers’ health in project-based work: job security considerations

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of health promotion interventions in Queensland, Australia During the research period, the workers’ employing organization, a large contracting organization, was engaged in a competitive tender to renew their service contract The research therefore provided an opportunity to examine the impact of health promotion interventions in project-based work environments under conditions of job insecurity Design/methodology/approach – The sample comprised of workers contracted to provide facility maintenance and management services for a power station Data were collected using a longitudinal survey of workers’ health, weekly logs recording health behaviour, and a post-intervention evaluation workshop Health interventions implemented sought to encourage workers to eat more fruit and participate in a physical exercise programme Findings – Findings revealed that workers’ health was generally lower than the Queensland male population when measured u