SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 2005, 31 (4), 41-47

SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 2005, 31 (4), 41-47

LONG-TERM JOB INSECURITY, JOB SATISFACTION

AND ORGANISATIONAL ATTITUDES:
TEST OF WARR’S CURVILINEAR HYPOTHESIS
HANS DE WITTE
[Link]@[Link]
Research Center on Stress, Health and Well-Being
Department of Psychology
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Belgium

ABSTRACT
Research suggests that job insecurity is an important work stressor, negatively affecting well-being and
organisational attitudes and behaviours. This article concentrates on two often ignored issues in this field. First,
the consequences of long-term job insecurity regarding job satisfaction, the evaluation of management and
organisational attitudes are analysed. Secondly, Warr’s assumption of curvilinear associations between job
insecurity and well-being is tested, and extended to the evaluation of management and organisational attitudes.
The hypotheses are tested with data of 769 employees from various branches of a large European multinational
company. In total, 15 reliable scales were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that 48,2% of the
interviewees had worries about their long-term job security. Separate analyses of variance showed that long-term
job insecurity was associated with two thirds of the scales. Long-term job insecurity was associated with lower job
satisfaction, lower organisational attitudes and a lower evaluation of supervisors and management. Warr’s
assumption of curvilinear associations with job insecurity was not corroborated, however. Suggestions for practice
and for future research are discussed.

OPSOMMING
Navorsing stel voor dat werksonsekerheid ’n belangrike werk stressor is en dat dit welstand, organisasie gesindhede
en gedrag negetief affekteer. Die artikel konsentreer op twee onderwerpe in hierdie veld wat gereeld geignoreer word.
Eerstens word die gevolge van langtermyn werksonsekerheid met betrekking tot werkstevredenheid, die evaluering
van bestuur en organisasiegesindhede geanaliseer. Tweedens, is Warr se aanames van kromlynige verhoudings tussen
werksonsekerheid en welstand getoets, en uitgebrei tot die evaluasie van bestuur en organisasiegesindhede. Die
hipotese is getoets met data van 769 werknemers van verskeie takke van ’n groot Europese multinasionale
maatskappy. Daar is in totaal 15 betroubare skale gebruik om die hipotese te toets. Die resultate dui aan dat 48,2%
van die persone angstig was oor hulle lang-termyn werksekuriteit. Afsonderlike analise van variansies toon dat lang-
termyn werkonsekerheid geassosiëer was met twee derdes van die skale. Lang-termyn werkonsekerheid was
geassosiëer met laer van werkstevredenheid, laer organisasie gesindhede en ’n laer evaluasie van toesighouers en
bestuur. Warr se aannames van kromlynige verhoudings met werksonsekerheid was nie bevestig nie. Voorstelle vir
toekomstige navorsing word ook bespreek.

The last few decades have been marked by important Research documented the detrimental consequences of job
organisational changes. In Europe and the United States, but also insecurit y for the health and well-being of individual
in South Africa, increasing international competition brought employees (for an overview, see De Witte, 1999; Nolan,
about large-scale restructuring, mergers, downsizing and plant Wichert & Burchell, 2000; Sverke & Hellgren, 2002). Job
closings, in an attempt to reduce costs and to increase insecurity is consistently associated with lower levels of
organisational efficiency (Hitt, Keats, Harback & Nixon, 1994). relevant job attitudes, such as job satisfaction and job
These interventions are usually accompanied by massive staff involvement (for meta-analytic results, see Sverke, Hellgren &
dismissals (Kozlowski, Chao, Smith & Hedlung, 1993). Näswall, 2002). Job insecurity is also associated with higher
Simultaneously, in order to meet the need for more (internal) levels of burnout (Dekker & Schaufeli, 1995; Landsbergis,
flexibility, the number of temporary employees shows a 1988), anxiety and depression (Orpen, 1993; Roskies & Louis-
significant increase (Purcell & Purcell, 1998). These developments Guerin, 1990) and psychosomatic complaints (Van Vuuren,
probably affected employees’ job security, resulting in heightened Klandermans, Jacobson & Hartley, 1991). Longitudinal
feelings of job insecurity in many countries (OECD, 1997). research confirms the causal impact of job insecurity on these
indicators (Burchell, 1994; Heaney, Israel & House, 1994;
Job insecurit y refers to concern about the continued Iversen & Sabroe, 1988; Van Vuuren, 1990).
existence of jobs (Hartley, Jacobson, Klandermans & van
Vuuren, 1991; Sverke & Hellgren, 2002). It involves Job insecurit y also inf luences various organisational
employees’ subjective perception of their fut ure: the attitudes and behaviours. As a consequence, job insecurity
employees concerned are uncertain whether they will keep also affects the organisation (see e.g. De Witte, 2005). The
their job or eventually lose it. Definitions also refer to perception of job insecurity is frequently linked to reduced
feelings of helplessness in retaining desired job continuity organisational commitment (Dav y, Kinicki & Scheck, 1997;
(Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt, 1984), and to the involuntary Lord & Hartley, 1998), mistrust in management (Ashford, Lee
nature of job insecurity (Sverke & Hellgren, 2002). & Bobko, 1989) and intentions to leave the company
(‘turnover intentions’, e.g. Barling & Kelloway, 1996; Dav y et
An extensive research tradition originated on the al., 1997). These effects of job insecurity threaten the
psychological consequences of job insecurity (see e.g. Hartley organisation’s survival (Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt, 1984),
et al., 1991; Klandermans & Van Vuuren, 1999; Sverke, since they reduce the work efforts of the employees
Hellgren, Näswall, Chirumbolo, De Witte & Goslinga, 2004). concerned. Job insecurity is also associated with decreased
safety motivation and compliance, increasing the risks of
Requests for copies should be addressed to: H De Witte,
[Link]@[Link] workplace injuries and accidents (Probst & Brubaker, 2001).

41
42 DE WITTE

Here too, meta-analytic results suggest that job insecurity has of plant closures (or retrenchments) and the level of
detrimental consequences for organisational attitudes and unemployment in the region and country during the last few
behavioural intentions (Sverke et al., 2002). years). As a consequence, long-term job insecurity might
affect a larger number of employees than short-term
The consequences of job insecurity for the well-being of unemployment, as shown by Roskies and Louis-Guerin (1990).
individuals and for their job and organisational attitudes, have In their research, about 4% of the respondents stated that they
been studied extensively. This, however, does not mean that expected termination in the short-term, whereas no less than
there is no need for further research on this issue. First of all, 42.9% were concerned about long-term insecurity (e.g. the
it seems worthwhile to replicate research on the consequences inability to keep the present job until normal retirement).
of job insecurity in a large number of countries (e.g. South Roskies and Louis-Geurin (1990) seem to be the only
Africa), in order to check whether the findings of previous researchers who compared the consequences of both long-
research can be generalized across the world (cf. Sverke et al., term and short-term job insecurity. Their results suggest that
2004). Furthermore, various issues still remain unsolved. In both aspects are associated with lower physical health and
this article, two such issues will be addressed. One relates to mental well-being, and with lower levels of work effort and
the measurement of specific facets of job insecurity, and the career satisfaction.
other to the need to test theories in the context of job
insecurity research. Since little research has focussed on the consequences of
long-term job insecurity, this issue will be at the core of this
Consequences of long-term job insecurity study. Research shows that job insecurity has detrimental
Various measurements have been developed in order to assess effects on job and organisational attitudes. Because these
feelings of job insecurity. The measurement used, depends effects are well documented in the literature, one can assume
upon the definition of job insecurity. Some prefer to focus on that they will also apply to long-term job insecurity. The first
a global concept, e.g. the overall concern about the continued hypothesis of this study thus reads: long-term job insecurity
existence of the actual job in the future (e.g. Sverke et al., will be associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and
2004). Others choose to analyse a more complex, with less positive attitudes towards the organisation. In this
multidimensional concept (e.g. Ashford et al., 1989), in which article, a secondary analysis of previously collected data will
they distinguish various aspects of job insecurity. Another be performed. The dataset contained a large number of
distinction relates to quantitative versus qualitative job relevant scales. This enables the formulation of three groups
insecurity (Hellgren, Sverke & Isaksson, 1999). Quantitative of hypotheses. The assumption is made that long-term job
job insecurity refers to the retention (or loss) of the job itself: insecurity will be associated with lower job satisfaction
Workers do not know whether they will be able to keep the job (hypothesis 1a) and lower organisational commitment and
or become unemployed. Qualitative job insecurity refers to related attitudes (hypothesis 1b). The dataset also contained
uncertainty about the potential loss of (valued) aspects of the scales regarding the employees' evaluation of the
job, such as wages, working hours, colleagues or responsibility management of the company in which they work. This aspect
in the job. The distinctions between global versus lies in between the two previous aspects: It relates to
multidimensional measures, and between quantitative versus satisfaction (first aspect) with the management of the
qualitative measurements are independent of each other. organisation (second aspect). This leads to the assumption
Global measures can be quantitative or qualitative. The same that long-term job insecurity is also associated with a less
applies to multidimensional measures. positive evaluation of the management of the company
(hypothesis 1c).
In this article, the focus will be on global measures of
quantitative job insecurity. In the literature, various measures Warr’s assumption of non-linear associations with
of this kind have been proposed. One could focus on affective job insecurity
versus cognitive job insecurity (e.g. Borg & Elizur, 1992), or on Research on the consequences of job insecurity is largely
the strength or severity of the threat imposed by job insecurity descriptive. Scholars mostly analyse whether a given
(e.g. Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt, 1984; Hartley et al., 1991). In measurement of job insecurity is related to a specific outcome
devising scales, however, researchers seem to have ignored the variable. The belief that such an association can be expected, is
issue of the time span. The use of the time frame is unclear or often based on the assumption that job insecurity acts as a work
inconsistent in most scales. Some authors do not specif y a time stressor. Most scholars thus use job stress theory, even though
frame, but simply ask their respondents to “look at the future” they rarely specify its exact nature.
(e.g. Ashford et al., 1989; Kinnunen, Mauno, Nätti &
Happonen, 2000). Others mix various time frames in the same The relative lack of theory in job insecurity research could
scale, which makes it difficult to assess the impact of a specific become problematic in the long run. After some years, most
time span (e.g. Davy et al., 1997; Lim, 1996). When the time associations will have been explored. As a consequence,
span is specified, most global measures seem to focus on scientific knowledge will not increase anymore, and the topic
imminent job loss (Roskies & Louis-Guerin, 1990; Sverke & could disappear from the research agenda, despite its
Hellgren, 2002). Many researchers only use one item to relevance for society. The use of theory will not only enrich
measure this concept, typically phrased as “How do you assess job insecurity research. The opposite is equally true: Job
the probability of losing your job in the near future?” (e.g. De insecurity research is an interesting field for testing (and
Witte, 1999; Mak & Mueller, 2000; Mohr, 2000; Roskies, Louis- further developing) theory as well. In this contribution, an
Geurin & Fournier, 1993). attempt will be made to test one aspect of a recent theory in
work psychology: the ‘vitamin model’ of Peter Warr (Warr,
Surprisingly little research has focused on long-term job 1987 and 1994).
insecurity and its consequences. It is, however, likely that
workers experience more job insecurity in the long-term The ‘vitamin model’ is a broad and comprehensive
compared to the short-term. The perception that one could theoretical framework in which nine environmental features
become unemployed in the near future is probably (‘vitamins’) are identified which impact on mental health
determined by the actual economic situation of the local (Warr, 1987 and 1994). Applied to the work context, the model
company in which one works. The perception of job postulates that aspects such as the availability of money,
(in)security in the long-term is probably influenced by opportunity for control and variety, increase affective well-
additional variables, like the possibilities to find another being. One of these environmental feat ures is called
(similar) job and the general economic climate of the broader ‘environmental clarity’. According to Warr (1987 and 1994),
environment in which ones lives (including e.g. the number this variable covers three categories: feedback about tasks,
 LONG-TERM JOB INSECURITY: WARR’S CURVILINEAR HYPOTHESIS 43

role ambiguity and job insecurity. In this article, the focus is management had no redundancy plans in the near future.
on job insecurity, as part of the broader dimension of The data collected thus concern a group of branches in which
‘environmental clarity’. Typical for the theory of Warr is that there were no ‘objective’ reasons for job insecurity at the
he postulates non-linear associations between the various time of the survey.
environment features and affective well-being. Regarding
environmental clarity, Warr’s assumption is that too little as Measurements
well as too much clarity is harmful. The association of this First of all, the respondents had to evaluate the item “I am
variable with affective well-being thus has a curvilinear concerned about my long-term job security” on a 5-point scale
shape. Applied to job insecurity, this hypothesis reads as (answering categories: ‘totally agree’, ‘partly agree’, ‘partly
follows: moderate levels of job insecurity will be associated agree, partly disagree’ (neutral midpoint), ‘partly disagree’,
with higher levels of job satisfaction, whereas high as well as ‘totally disagree’.
low levels of job insecurity will be associated with lower
levels of job satisfaction (hypothesis 2a). The view that a high Secondly, the respondents had to evaluate a large number of
level of job insecurity is harmful, is consistent with most job items regarding a large number of workplace topics, such as
insecurity research (e.g. Sverke & Hellgren, 2002). The working conditions, colleagues, job content, supervision and the
assumption that a low level of job insecurity could be management of the company. The questionnaire was developed
harmful too, originates from the assumption that people by scholars outside the company and is used by this
need some pressure in order to feel (and perform) well. The multinational to periodically survey its organisational climate.
hypothesis of curvilinear relationships with well-being has In this article, only a specific selection of scales will be used,
rarely been tested, because most scholars only analyse linear suited to test the hypotheses: Assessments of satisfaction,
associations with stressors (e.g. Warr, 1987 and 1994). Warr evaluations of the management and evaluations of the company
limits his theory to mental health and affective well-being. as a whole (see hereafter). After performing a principal
His hypothesis can however be expanded to attitudes towards components analysis on every separate set of items (followed by
the organisation, in order to explore whether it is possible to separate analyses of reliability), items referring to the same
generalise Warr’s theory. This leads to the formulation of two construct were grouped in a scale. All scales vary between 0
additional hypotheses: a similar curvilinear association will (maximum disagreement with the scale content) and 10
be observed with lower organisational commitment and (maximum agreement with the scale content), with 5 as the
related attitudes (hypothesis 2b), and with the evaluation of neutral mid-point. This resulted in 15 scales, which can be
management (hypothesis 2c). grouped into three categories. These three groups of scales will
be discussed in a slightly different order than in the introduction
of this article. Scales referring to the evaluation of management
RESEARCH DESIGN are listed in between job satisfaction and organisational
attitudes, expressing their ‘in between status’ (see above).
Research approach
Aspects of satisfaction were measured with four scales: job
This study has a cross-sectional design, and makes use of
satisfaction (7 items; alpha = 0,89), wage satisfaction (4 items;
previously collected data (secondary analysis of already
alpha = 0,83) satisfaction with promotion prospects (8 items;
existing data).
alpha = 0,90) and satisfaction with colleagues (7 items; alpha =
0,82).
Procedure and respondents
769 employees of a European multinational company from Six scales related to the evaluation of management: a positive
the metalworking industry completed a written evaluation of the direct supervisor (14 items; alpha = 0,94), a
questionnaire, intended to assess the organisational climate. positive evaluation of the information given by management
The employees originated from seven branches of this (5 items; alpha = 0,69), the evaluation of management as
multinational company, spread across three countries, stimulating (4 items; alpha = 0,83), a positive evaluation of
namely Belgium (2 branches; 27 and 335 respondents local management (7 items; alpha = 0,87), a positive
respectively), Spain (2 branches; 101 and 67 respondents evaluation of international management (4 items; alpha =
respectively) and England (one branch; 139 respondents). 0,84), and the evaluation of the existing performance
Employees in Sales and Marketing (77 respondents) also appraisals as correct (4 items; alpha = 0,83). These scales
participated, even though they were working in various partially overlap and probably cover the most important
European countries. 23 respondents failed to indicate their aspects of the evaluation of the management of this
country or branch. All white-collar workers and managers multinational organisation.
were invited to participate in the research. A random sample
of 20% of the blue-collar workers was selected. The survey Five scales measure aspects of the attitude towards the company:
was commissioned by the company and took place during ‘the company listens to its employees’ (5 items; alpha = 0,84),
working hours, which explains the high response rate (93%; ‘the industrial relations did improve lately’ (4 items; alpha =
varying between 65,5% (Sales and Marketing) and 100%). A 0,79), commitment to the company (2 items; alpha = 0,78), pride
detailed interview procedure was developed in order to in belonging to this multinational company (4 items; alpha =
guarantee the confidentiality and anonymity of the results, 0,85), and the desire to leave the company (2 items; alpha =
so that respondents could freely express their views. The 0,70). The attitudes towards the company thus cover a broader
sample was heterogeneously composed according to range of organisational topics than the traditional concepts in
occupational status: About one third (36,4%) were blue-collar job insecurity research, such as organisational commitment and
workers, 28,4% were white-collar workers and 35,2% were turnover intentions.
(junior or senior) management. About 20% of the sample was
female and nearly all respondents (96,5%) had a permanent Statistical analysis
employment contract. The age distribution was as follows: 7% The hypotheses are tested by univariate analysis of variance. The
were younger than 25 years old, 40,7% were between 25 and averages will be tested pair wise, using Tukey's Studentised
34 years old, 28,6% between 35 and 44 years, 18,7% between Range (HSD)-contrasts. In testing hypothesis 2, the focus will be
45 and 54 years, and 5% were 55 years old or older. Three on the difference between the respondents scoring ‘partly agree,
more or less equal groups were observed regarding tenure: partly disagree’ (the neutral midpoint of the scale) and those
33,5% worked no longer than 5 years in their company, scoring that they (totally or partly) agree or (totally or partly)
30,9% had a tenure between 6 and 15 years, and 35,6% disagree with the job insecurity item, since these differences
worked in their company for at least 16 years. Company indicate curvilinearity.
44 DE WITTE

RESULTS ‘partly disagreed’ are labelled as the ‘secure’, and those who
partly ‘agreed’ as the ‘insecure’. The category stating ‘partly
Table 1 shows that 48,2% of the respondents were concerned agree, partly disagree’ was labelled ‘in between’. In discussing
about their long-term job security. About 20% felt very the results, the results regarding hypothesis 1 will be discussed
insecure, and 28,2% reported to feel somewhat insecure. In first. All results regarding the test of hypothesis 2 will be
addition to this, 29,1% were not sure, scoring between discussed afterwards.
concerned and not concerned (‘partly agree, partly disagree’;
the neutral midpoint). About 22,7% of the respondents did not Regarding the satisfaction scales, a statistically significant
report worries about long-term employment. They are the ‘job association between long-term job insecurity and three of the
secure’ respondents. Note that the group which stated that they four satisfaction scales is observed. The strongest differences
are ‘very secure’ (total disagreement with the item) is rather occur with regard to job satisfaction and satisfaction with
small: only 5,5% (or 42 respondents). This means that some promotion prospects, with insecure respondents scoring lower
caution is needed when comparing this category with the other on these attitudes, as expected. There is also a significant
categories (each covering a larger number of respondents, association with the scores on the scale ‘wage satisfaction’, with
between e.g. 132 and 223 persons). insecure respondents scoring lower than secure respondents too.
Finally, it is interesting to note that there is no statistically
TABLE 1 significant difference between the five groups regarding
EVALUATION OF THE ITEM “I AM CONCERNED ABOUT MY satisfaction with their colleagues. Hypothesis 1a is for the
LONG-TERM JOB INSECURITY” (N = 769) greater part confirmed.

There are also significant associations between long-term

% job insecurity and four of the six scales measuring the
Total agreement (very insecure) 20,0
evaluation of (departmental or company) management.
Long-term insecurity is associated with a less favourable
Partial agreement (insecure) 28,2 evaluation of the direct supervisor, the information
provided by management, the stimulation offered by
Partial agreement, partial disagreement (in between) 29,1 management, and a less positive evaluation of the correctness
Partial disagreement (secure) 17,2
of the performance appraisals of the direct supervisor.
Contrary to expectations, however, no statistically significant
Total disagreement (very secure) 5,5 association with the evaluation of local and international
management is observed. This means that hypothesis 1c is
Total group 100,0 only partially confirmed.

Finally, there are also significant associations between long-

Table 2 contains the results of the univariate analyses of term job insecurity and three out of five scales measuring
variance in which the averages of the five groups in table 1 on organisational attitudes. Long-term insecurity is associated
all scales are compared and tested. These five groups are with a lower evaluation of the capacity of the company to
renamed in table 2. Those in ‘total disagreement’ with the item listen to its employees, with the view that the industrial
in table 1 are labelled the ‘very secure’, and those in ‘total relations in the company did not improve lately, and with
agreement’ the ‘very insecure’. Those who stated that they lower organisational commitment. Contrary to expectations,

TABLE 2
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FIVE (IN)SECURE GROUPS REGARDING STATISFACTION, EVALUATION OF MANAGEMENT AND
ORGANISATIONAL ATTITUDES (ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE)

Long-term job insecurity

Scales (1) Very secure Secure In between Insecure Very F-value (2) Degrees of P-value
insecure freedom

Satisfaction
Job satisfaction 6,4 a,b 7,3 a 6,4 b 6,5 b 6,2 b 6,08 (4,692) 0,000
Wage satisfaction 3,6 4,7 4,5 4,4 3,9 2,48 (4,548) 0,036
Satisfaction with promotion prospects 3,9 a,c 5,2 b 4,6 a,b,c 4,7 a,b 4,1 c 7,15 (4,686) 0,000
Satisfaction with colleagues 6,1 6,7 6,6 6,5 6,7 0,88 (4,580) 0,662

Evaluation of management
Positive evaluation of the direct supervisor 5,4 a,c 6,9 b 6,1 a,c 6,2 a,c 6,2 a,c 5,04 (4,695) 0,000
Management gives good information 5,8 a,b 6,5 a 6,0 a,b 5,9 b 5,7 b 3,69 (4,640) 0,008
Management is stimulating 6,4 a,b 7,0 a 6,3 b 6,4 a,b 6,3 b 2,43 (4,726) 0,023
Positive evaluation of local management 5,4 6,0 5,7 5,7 5,5 1,29 (4,625) 0,698
Positive evaluation of international management 6,1 6,5 5,9 6,0 6,2 1,20 (4,430) 0,758
Performance appraisals are correct 5,1 a,b 5,9 a 4,9 b 5,0 b 4,9 b 4,28 (4,734) 0,003

Organisational attitudes
The company listens to its employees 5,9 a,b 6,8 a 6,3 a,b 6,1 b 5,8 b 4,12 (4,730) 0,004
Industrial relations have improved lately 5,6 a,b 6,0 a 5,7 a 5,3 a,b 4,7 b 3,64 (4,572) 0,008
Commitment to the company 4,9 5,6 5,3 4,9 4,9 2,50 (4,729) 0,028
Pride in belonging to this multinational 7,5 7,7 7,3 7,2 7,6 1,52 (4,651) 0,852
Desire to leave the company 7,9 7,3 7,5 7,5 7,7 0,70 (4,723) 0,751

(1) All scales are 10-point scales (‘0’=maximum disagreement with the content of the scale; ‘10’=maximum agreement with the content of the scale; ‘5’=neutral mid-point).
(2) Means in the same row that do not share subscripts differ at p < .05 in the Tukey honestly significant difference comparison. Means that share subscripts are not different from each other.
 LONG-TERM JOB INSECURITY: WARR’S CURVILINEAR HYPOTHESIS 45

no differences with regard to the desire to leave the company, DISCUSSION

and with pride in working for this multinational company In this article, two unresolved issues in job insecurity
are found. This means that also hypothesis 1b is only research were addressed. First of all, the hypothesis is tested
partially confirmed. that long-term job insecurity, a neglected issue in job
insecurity research, is associated with lower job satisfaction,
We can conclude that the findings mostly (although not a less positive evaluation of management and less positive
fully) confirm hypothesis 1, as 10 out of 15 tests show organisational attitudes. Next, a hypothesis was derived from
the expected associations. Long-term job insecurity seems the Vitamin-model of Peter Warr (1987 and 1994), in an
to be associated with lower satisfaction, a less favourable attempt to broaden and enrich actual job insecurity research
evaluation of management, and less positive attit udes with the test of contemporary theory in work psychology.
towards the organisation. These findings, however, do not The hypothesis stated that (long-term) job insecurity will
yet allow conclusions regarding hypothesis 2. In order to show a curvilinear association with various outcome
test this hypothesis, the various scores of the five groups variables, such as job satisfaction and organisational
in table 1 are compared (pair wise test, using Tukey's attitudes. Secondary data, collected for 769 employees of a
Studentised Range (HSD)-contrasts). As stated before, the multinational company in the industrial sector, were used to
focus is on the differences between the respondents who test both hypotheses.
place themselves into the ’neutral’ middle category of the
scale and those who (totally or partly) agree or (totally or
Conclusions and interpretation
partly) disagree with the job insecurity item, since these
The results corroborated the first hypothesis to a large extent.
differences indicate curvilinearity.
Ten out of 15 scales, used to test the association with long-
Hypothesis 2a relates to the satisfaction scales. The middle term job insecurity, showed the expected relationships.
category does not differ significantly from the insecure Insecure workers were less satisfied regarding their job, wage
or from the very insecure on any of the satisfaction and promotion prospects, evaluated their management less
scales. The comparison with the secure respondents shows favourable, were less committed to their company, and were
that the middle category only once differs from the less positive regarding a variety of company policies and
secure: the secure are more satisfied with their job in practices (e.g. provision of information, application of
comparison to the middle category. These findings suggest performance appraisals, the capacity of the organisation to
little evidence in favour of hypothesis 2a. Instead, two out listen to its employees, and industrial relations). These
of the three significant associations with the satisfaction findings are in line with the job insecurity literature, which
scales produce a linear association, with the secure showing documents the negative consequences of job insecurity for job
higher scores. and organisational attitudes (e.g. Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt,
1984; Sverke & Hellgren, 2002; Sverke et al., 2004). These
Hypothesis 2b relates to the organisational attitudes. The results, however, also extend the results of previous research,
results in table 2 do not corroborate the hypothesis of because they show that the detrimental consequences of job
curvilinearity either. The middle category only differs from insecurity can also be observed when one focuses on long-
the very insecure regarding the evaluation of the industrial term job insecurity, an aspect that has been neglected in
relations in the company, with a less positive score among the previous research.
very insecure. No difference between the middle category and
the secure categories is found. Instead, a linear trend is It is interesting to note that not all scales, used to test
apparent, with secure respondents showing higher scores on hypothesis 1, showed the expected association with long-term
most scales. job insecurity. No significant association was found between
job insecurity and satisfaction with colleagues. Such an
Hypothesis 2c relates to the evaluation of management. Here association would perhaps be implausible, however, unless
again, no differences are found between the middle category and colleagues were to be held responsible for the experienced job
those who feel insecure. Again, a clear linear trend seems insecurity. This lack of a significant association could suggest
apparent, with the secure expressing more positive evaluations that dissatisfaction because of job insecurit y is not a
than the middle category or the insecure. generalised phenomenon. Rather, it seems to be limited to
specific work related areas that are relevant to job insecurity
In sum, the results do not corroborate hypothesis 2, stating (e.g. organisational commitment and the evaluation of
that long-term job insecurit y will show a curvilinear management). The absence of a significant association with
association with satisfaction scores or with attitudes towards the evaluation of local and international management is
the organisation or management. Most reported associations striking, and contrary to expectations. This finding could be
show a linear trend, with secure respondents expressing caused by the focus on long-term job insecurity. It is possible
higher satisfaction or more favourable organisational that employees do not hold their company (e.g. local or
attitudes than the middle category or the insecure. It is international management) responsible for long-term job
striking that the middle category often does not differs in insecurity, since this phenomenon is caused by global
score compared to the insecure or the very insecure category. evolutions in the international economy. Finally, and equally
The finding that the insecure and the very insecure do not contrary to expectations, no association with turnover
differ from each other (with the exception of satisfaction intentions was observed. Neither did the pride in working for
with promotion) is also striking. These findings will be this multinational company differ between the secure and the
discussed in the final part of this article. insecure. Both findings could also be due to the focus on long-
term job insecurity. When one experiences insecurity in the
Finally, the position of the (small) category of ‘very secure’ long run, because of global evolutions in the economy,
respondents is striking, because this (small) category seems to moving to another company might not be evaluated as a good
refute the idea of a linear association between long-term job coping strategy, because this new company will not be able to
insecurity and outcomes. This category practically always scores protect the job either.
lower on the various scales than their secure counterparts. These
differences, however, are only statistically significant on two The second hypothesis, derived from Warr’s vitamin-model
occasions. In comparison to the secure, the very secure are (Warr, 1987 and 1994) is not supported in this study. Most
significantly less satisfied with their promotion prospects and associations between outcome variables and long-term job
with their direct supervisor. For all other comparisons, no insecurity are linear rather than curvilinear. The secure
statistically significant differences are found. respondents exhibit positive scores, and the insecure
46 DE WITTE

respondents score less favourably. Warr’s assumption that ‘too reliable scale. Note that meta-analytic research leads to the
much security’ could be as harmful as ‘too little security’ has conclusion that the use of single items underestimates the
thus been refuted. This finding adds to previous research in at associations between job insecurity and outcome variables. As
least two ways. First, it shows that it can be useful to introduce a consequence, the association of long-term job insecurity and
work psychological theory into the job insecurity domain, in outcome variables could be stronger than those reported in
order to clarify its meaning and consequences. Next, it extends this article. Finally, only an item regarding long-term
previous research, because Warr’s vitamin-model has rarely insecurity could be used in this study, as no items measuring
been tested in empirical research. short-term insecurity were available. This limits the
conclusions, because the effects of both kinds of insecurity
The test of hypothesis 2 revealed three additional findings, could not be compared. Future research should try to analyse
which need to be discussed. First, no significant differences are the differential effects of short versus long-term job insecurity.
found between the two ‘insecure’ categories (the ‘insecure’ and
the ‘very insecure’ respondents), with the sole exception of Importance for practice and recommendations
satisfaction with promotion prospects. This suggests that The core issue of this study relates to long-term job insecurity.
insecurity as such appears to be problematic, irrespective of its Two findings of this study highlight the importance of this
intensity. The next finding adds to this conclusion. It was kind of job insecurity for practice. The findings first of all
striking that the middle category, who expressed an ‘in between’ suggest that a large amount of the workforce experiences long-
attitude (in between concerned and not concerned), did not term job insecurity. In this study, no less than 48% of the
differ much from the two insecure categories. This ’neutral’ respondents reported worries regarding their long-term job
category showed the same unfavourable attitudes as those who security. This percentage is similar to the percentage reported
felt insecure. These findings are not uncommon in the literature by other scholars (e.g. Roskies & Louis-Guerin, 1990), and
(see e.g. De Witte, 1999), and suggest that ’not feeling secure’ is clearly exceeds the percentage of those expressing short-term
stressful, regardless whether one feels ‘in between’, ‘rather job insecurity, as reported in the literature (see e.g. De Witte,
insecure’ or ‘very insecure’. This is clearly illustrated by the 1999; Roskies & Louis-Guerin, 1990). Secondly, the findings of
scores of the ‘secure’ respondents, who differed markedly from this study suggest that long-term job insecurity is also
the three latter categories. detrimental to job satisfaction and to the evaluation of the
organisation. Taken together, both conclusions suggest that
Finally, it is worthwhile to note that the (small) category of
long-term job insecurit y is a much more important
‘very secure’ respondents often showed a more negative
phenomenon than short-term job insecurity, since it affects
attitude than the category of ‘secure’ respondents. This
more workers and seems equally detrimental for work and
difference within the secure category is noticeable, since it
organisation related attitudes. As a consequence, it seems
does indicate a trend towards a curvilinear relationship
important to develop specific policies in order to tackle this
between job insecurity and various outcome variables. Some
problem. First of all, companies should be aware of the
caution in interpretation is warranted here, however, as the
importance of this topic, and should develop sensitivity for
differences between the very secure and the secure were only
this subject. This includes screening their workforce regarding
statistically significant on two occasions. In comparison to the
signs of insecurity, because these perceptions might hamper
secure, the very secure are significantly less satisfied with their
employee and organisational functioning. Next, specific
promotion prospects and with their direct supervisor. For all
practices devised to reduce job insecurity and its harmful
other comparisons, no significant differences are found.
effects, should be developed and implemented. These
Perhaps it is not so much job security that is a problem for this
practices have been described elsewhere (see e.g. Sverke &
category, but rather their blocked promotion prospects in the
Hellgren, 2002; Sverke et al., 2004). Examples are practices to
near future. Maybe these employees have the feeling that their
increase communication and to reduce feelings of
direct supervisor is obstructing their promotion prospects. As
organisational injustice, and policies to enhance participation
a consequence, their evaluation of their direct supervisor is
in decision making.
rather negative. Given the limited size of this divergent group,
further research is needed to find out whether these findings
can be replicated.
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