The effect of qualitative job insecurity on work engagement: testing moderating role of organization-based self-esteem

Abstract

Background: According to appraisal theory, when individuals face with a situational stressor such as job insecurity they may perceive it as a challenge or hindrance. Whether they perceive it as challenge or hindrance depends on their personal resources. Sufficient personal resources allow them to appropriately deal/cope with the stressor. The purpose of this study is to test the moderator role of organization-based self-Esteem (OBSE) as a potential personal resource between qualitative job insecurity and work engagement. Method: Quantitative data were collected from 55 employees from Italian healthcare sector via simple random sampling method and utilizing three instruments including qualitative job insecurity, work engagement, OBSE. We applied Pearson correlation to investigate the impact of qualitative job insecurity on work engagement. Process program (Hayes & Press, 2008) was used to test the moderator role of OBSE in the relationship between job insecurity and work engagement. What went wrong: Pearson correlation analysis found a negative link between qualitative job insecurity and work engagement and a positive link between OBSE and work engagement. Moreover, the result of the interaction effect of job insecurity and OBSE revealed that OBSE can significantly reduce the link between qualitative job insecurity and work engagement. It highlights the buffering effect of OBSE in this relationship. It is recommended to future studies consider the role of demographic information in this interaction. Conclusion: This study enriches the job insecurity literature by introducing OBSE as a personal resource which would be able to buffer the negative impacts of job insecurity on outcomes.