Suchergebnisse

Fear of the threat of job loss is likely to elicit negative thoughts that have adverse consequences for not only job satisfaction, but also all-around happiness and satisfaction with life. Using nationally representative cross-sectional data, this study provides evidence of the negative effect of perceived job insecurity on life satisfaction in post-communist Albania, an under-researched context. This adverse effect is found to be more pronounced for women and for blue-collar workers: being in a blue-collar job is associated with lower overall life satisfaction, but if this job is perceived as insecure, the negative effect on life satisfaction is magnified. In contrast, workers in well-paying jobs are more satisfied with their lives and, relatedly, higher education also has a positive impact, more so for males. Evidence of the quality-of-life effects of job insecurity can be used to inform workplace policy initiatives and practices, particularly as measures of life satisfaction, well-being, and happiness are increasingly considered appropriate indicators of social progress and the ultimate goal of public policy.

Government regulations are frequently seen as causes of poor economic performance. The goal of this study is to evaluate this claim focusing on one class of regulations, employment protection legislation, and their impact on labor market performance across advanced economies. Even though little is known about the causal effects of employment protection, there is a widely shared consensus that in particular young people suffer from their consequences. Focusing on the youth labor market effects of employment protection should therefore be a generous test for their alleged costs. The empirical analysis draws on two cross-national data sources, uses different estimation strategies and performs a number of robustness checks. The results indicate that there are no robust effects of job security provisions on youth unemployment or employment, neither in the cross-section nor over time. Deregulating temporary employment contracts has brought neither employment gains nor unemployment reductions, but increased labor market insecurity among young people.

Orientation: The psychological empowerment of employees might affect their engagement. However, psychological empowerment and employee engagement might also be influenced by job insecurity. Research purposes: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological empowerment, job insecurity and employee engagement. Motivation for the study: Employee engagement results in positive individual and organisational outcomes and research information about the antecedents will provide valuable information for the purposes of diagnosis and intervention. Research design, approach and method: A correlational design was used. Survey design was conducted among 442 employees in a government and a manufacturing organisation. The measuring instruments included the Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire, the Job Insecurity Inventory, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Main findings: Statistically significant relationships were found between psychological empowerment, job insecurity and employee engagement. A multivariate analysis of variance showed that affective job insecurity had a main effect on three dimensions of psychological empowerment (viz. competence, meaning and impact) and on employee engagement. Affective job insecurity moderated the effect of psychological empowerment on employee engagement. Practical implications: The implication of the results is that interventions that focus on the psychological empowerment of employees (viz. meaningfulness, competence, self-determination and impact) will contribute to the engagement (vigour, dedication and absorption) of employees. If job insecurity is high, it is crucial to attend to the psychological empowerment of employees. Contribution: This study contributes to knowledge about the conditions that precede employee engagement, and shows that the dimensions of psychological empowerment (namely experienced meaningfulness, competence, impact and self-determination) play an important role in this regard