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A model is presented that summarizes existing knowledge concerning job insecurity, points at its deficiencies, and identifies further research needed to understand the nature, causes, and consequences of this increasingly important phenomenon. Such knowledge is crucial because job insecurity is a key element in a positive feedback loop that accelerates organizational decline. Four recent phenomena in the United States have made job insecurity a particularly important variable for organizational scholars to understand. First, the prolonged economic downturn beginning in the mid-1970s resulted in the highest rates of job loss since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Second, there has been an upsurge of mergers and acquisitions since the mid-1960s. These events often result in job loss or a curtailment in the privileges and expectations of job incumbents. Third, the rapidly changing industrial structure-from a predominantly manufacturing economy to a service economy and from the predominance of basic industries to the rise of high-technology industries-has changed many people's assumptions about the stability of their employers. Fourth, the trend toward decreasing union representation of the U.S. workforce means that an increasing number of workers are vulnerable to the effects of unilateral decisions from which they have little recourse. These phenomena can be threatening to workers. The threat is experienced as some degree of job insecurity, which is defined as perceived powerlessness to maintain desired continuity in a threatened job situation. Furthermore, workers react to job insecurity, and their reactions have consequences for organizational effectiveness. Despite its increasing importance, job insecurity has yet to receive significant attention from organizational researchers. The variable has been included as a facet of job satisfaction in numerous studies-for example, Hackman and Oldham (1974)-but few scales have been specifically developed to investigate

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The research reported here adopted a multidimensional approach to studying job insecurity, using Israeli teachers as a case in point. Based on two determinants of job insecurity—unionization and kibbutz affiliation—four distinct employment types were identified: unionized city teachers, unionized kibbutz members, unionized kibbutz hirees, and non‐unionized personal contract teachers. The a priori job insecurity status of the four employment types matched the subjective reports of these teachers, supporting the external validity of the job insecurity scale used. The study explored the effect of job insecurity on work attitudes. Results indicated that job insecurity had an adverse effect on organizational commitment, perceived performance, perceived organizational support, intention to quit and resistance to change, supporting predictions in related literature. The results of this study have implications on the management of job insecurity in changing environments.

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