Job insecurity (JI) is currently considered one of the most powerful work stressor. Empirical research converges indicating how perceived JI has negative consequences for individual well being and organizational functioning. The focus on the moderating factors that could mitigate the JI-strain relationship represents one of the most important development of this line of research. In the present project, we aim to contribute to this knowledge investigating how individual resources might moderate the negative outcomes of JI. We will focus on two variables, namely Positivity (POS) and Moral Disengagement (MD). In the first study, we aim will study how the negative influence of JI on psychological well-being of employees might be moderated by positivity. We hypothesize that higher JI would be negatively related to well-being while POS would be positively related to well-being. More interestingly, it is expected that the strength of the negative relationship between high JI and well-being will be attenuated in those individuals with higher level of positivity. In the second study, the moderating role of (low) MD in the relationship between JI and Counter-Productive Work Behaviors (CPWB) will be investigated. We expect that both JI and MD would be positively related to CPWB and that the strength of the relationship between high JI and CPWB will be lessen in those individuals with lower level of MD. These studies will contribute to the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms and processes through which JI exerts its influence in an original and innovative way, as POS and MD were never investigated in this domain. Moreover, findings will have also relevant practical implication. In fact, both POS and MD represent individual variables that are subjected to possible change. Therefore, evidence may be useful to design focused interventions aimed to enhance POS and buffer MD in order to improve both individual and organizational well being.
The results of our studies will contribute in different ways to the literature and practices related to job insecurity and well being of workers and organizations by focusing on factors that could mitigate its impact. In fact, since detrimental outcomes of job insecurity are robustly established, investigations have begun to extensively explore the role of variables that could moderate these harmful consequences of job insecurity.
A key explanatory framework is provided by Stress Theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The way individuals cognitively perceive, process, and interpret a given situation represent a crucial factor in whether they consider it as stressful or not (Hart & Cooper, 2001; Folkman, et al., 1986; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984); therefore contextual variables are usually primarily deemed to be important buffering of the job insecurity-strain chain. Social and organizational factors such as social support (Lim, 1997), participation in decision processes (Parker et al.,1997), employment (in)dependence (Ito & Brotheridge, 2007), contract type (De Cuyper et al., 2010), organizational cynicism (Brandes et al., 2008) and in general perceptions of having control over one¿s work (Barling & Kelloway, 1996; Büssing, 1999; Schreurs et al., 2010), have all been found to have a part in buffering the impact of job insecurity.
In the same theoretical perspective, other authors have instead underlined the role of personality traits and individual differences in reducing the negative effects of job insecurity on well-being and organizational outcomes (Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt, 1984; Naswall, Sverke & Hellgren, 2005). Within the interactionist perspective outlined in previous sections, general personality traits and narrow individual differences such as locus of control (Ashford et al., 1989; Ito & Brotheridge, 2007; Naswall, Sverke & Hellgren, 2005), self-esteem and optimism (Makikangas & Kinnunen, 2003), emotional intelligence (Jordan et al., 2002), coping styles such as self-care or task orientation (Bohets & De Witte, 2006; Mak & Mueller, 2000), negative and positive affect (Mak & Mueller, 2000; Naswall et al., 2005; Roskies et al., 1993), cultural values such as individualism and collectivism (Probst & Lawler, 2006), and need for cognitive closure (Chirumbolo & Areni, 2010), have all been investigated as effective personal moderators.
In this project, we propose two new individual traits that could function as a job insecurity moderator. Specifically, we argue that positivity and moral disengagement would play a buffering role in the relationship between job insecurity and, respectively, well being and counterproductive work behaviors.
We believe that our studies will contribute in an original and innovative way to the existing knowledge. They represent a further attempt to outline the important theoretical, conceptual and operational links between job insecurity and its outcomes, both from the individual and the organizational perspective. By examining the extent to which both personality traits and cognitive mechanisms might influence the workers stress and organizational deviant behaviors, we will provide important theoretical and practical implications, with a particular emphasis on the development of effective tools to moderate and reduce the stress of employees due to job insecurity. Positivity and Moral Disengagement were never investigated in this research field; despite they represent individual variables, they are subjected to change. Finding highlighted in this project will be helpful to plan and realize focused intervention that are evidence based. Training could be devoted to enhance individual positive orientation that will help people to more effectively cope with the stress induced by job insecurity, with an impact not only on individual well being but also, indirectly, on organizations and society as a whole. Likewise, acting on the social cognitive mechanisms of Moral Disengagement, organizations facing hard times, and higher job insecurity perceptions in its workforce, might reduce the impact of workplace deviance, saving money and resources.
The implications for good practice, derived from findings, will include suggestions and directions for management on how to mitigate these unwanted negative effects, indicating how to promote individual well being and how to develop positive organizational climate in order to avoid absenteeism, tardiness, theft and other deviant work behaviors that usually impair organizational effectiveness with impact on productivity, conflicts, stress and communication problems.