Are we seeing “eye to eye” on qualitative job insecurity in healthcare? Employee–teammates perceptual (in)congruence and individual well-being

Abstract

Background: In healthcare, employees are exposed to continuous change when new methods are implemented to optimize care. Such changes may result in qualitative job insecurity (QJI), i.e., a fear concerning the potential loss of important job features. QJI is an individual experience; however, it may be shared within a team to a varying extent. This study examines how QJI perceptual (in)congruence between individuals and their teammates relates to individuals' well-being. Method: Healthcare employees (N = 305) from 30 healthcare units completed questionnaires measuring QJI, work engagement, and recovery. Results: Multi-level polynomial regression analyses showed that QJI congruence had a curvilinear relationship with well-being: employees reported higher work engagement when QJI perceptions were in agreement, both when QJI was low and high. We observed a negative relationship between QJI congruence and recovery. Recovery was lower when perceptions of QJI were in agreement and were high (vs. low). Finally, we found support for the effects of perceptual incongruence: when employees reported higher QJI than their teammates, they experienced lower recovery and engagement. Conclusions: To understand how employees' QJI relates to their well-being, it is essential to consider their teammates' perceptions. The social context can augment or reduce individuals' stress reactions to job insecurity.

Qualitative job insecurity and extra-role behaviours: The moderating role of work motivation and perceived investment in employee development

“…This way we also complement prior research that has focused on the mediation mechanism of basic need satisfaction, as a form of motivation, in the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and employee performance-related indicators (Stynen et al, 2015; Van den Broeck et al, 2014). Recent contributions (Long et al, 2021; Roczniewska and Richter, 2021) demonstrate the increasing interest in the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and employee motivation or similar concepts; yet, thus far, motivation has been mostly studied as an outcome of qualitative job insecurity. Adding to the still limited evidence on employee motivation as a moderator, our findings indicate that employee motivational type is a meaningful boundary condition that co-shapes the effect of qualitative job insecurity on ERBs.…”

How to Alleviate Hotel Employees’ Job Stress in the Associations between Job Stressors and Its Consequences

“…Job insecurity factors were found to affect not only mental illness, but also physiological variables, such as physical symptoms and various physical fatigue [19,20]. In addition, it is confirmed that job insecurity has a negative relationship with psychological well-being, such as job enthusiasm and life satisfaction [21][22][23][24]. In this research, in the field of hotel organization management, well-being was selected, in which the job insecurity factor is a result variable.…”