Job insecurity, employee anxiety, and commitment: The moderating role of collective trust in management

Abstract

This article examines the moderating effect of collective trust in management on the relation between job insecurity (both objective and subjective) and employee outcomes (work-related anxiety and organisational commitment). This is contextualized in the modern British workplace which has seen increased employment insecurity and widespread cynicism. We use matched employer-employee data extracted from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) 2011, which includes over 16,000 employees from more than 1,100 organizations. The multilevel analyses confirm that objective job insecurity (loss of important elements of a job such as cuts in pay, overtime, training, and working hours) are significantly correlated with high levels of work-related anxiety and lower levels of organizational commitment. These correlations are partially mediated by subjective job insecurity (perception of possible job loss). More importantly, collective trust in management (a consensus of management being reliable, honest and fair) significantly attenuates the negative impact of objective job insecurity on organizational commitment, and reduces the impact of subjective job insecurity on work-related anxiety. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations of these effects are discussed.

Foreign ownership and job insecurity during the recession: The moderating effect of union density in the UK

“…This offers an insight on mechanism between the inconclusive relationship observed between MNCs, employment protection legislation and job deduction (Haaland et al, 2003;Wagner and Gelubcke, 2012) and is particular interest among developed economies where union memberships has declined in the last two decades (Jirjahn, 2017). This finding provokes the debate on the role of trade union when there is increased objective job insecurity (Angrave et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2018) and shed lights on the uprising union organizing carried out by workers in MNCs, such as Uber driver and Ryanair pilots strike (BBC news, 10 August 2018)…”

“…As Hyman (2002:57) stated that "jobs are always at the mercy of economic and technological vagaries". Technological or external economic shocks may cost jobs, but there are a range of softer mechanisms firms have at their disposal, such as redeployment, pay freezes, temporary closures, and unpaid leave (Lai et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2018). Whether or not workers can constrain the imposition of compulsory redundancies is subject to their ability to mobilise countervailing power (Kelly, 2012;Olson, 2009).…”

“…It will be interesting to examine the role of trade union after layoff was prevented, the loyalty argument (Sverke and Goslinga, 2003) and the interplay between objective, subjective job insecurity and staff well-being. This is important with the declining union influence in the UK and parallel developed economy and the increased objective job insecurity (Wang et al, 2018).…”

Flexible working practices and job-related anxiety: Examining the roles of trust in management and job autonomy

“…4. Following Wang et al (2018) and Heaney et al (1994), job insecurity reflected the extent that employees feel their employment is secure (reversely coded as 1 = strongly agree; 5 = strongly disagree).…”

Distrust by design? Conceptualising the role of trust and distrust in the development of Further Education policy and practice in England

“…Relationships based on trust tend to lead to harmonised workplaces which promote agency and cooperation. Indeed, management research has shown that trust is a crucial mediating factor in the smooth running of an organisation; from industrial relations to perceptions of job security and employee wellbeing (Lewicki, Elgoibar, and Euwema 2016;Wang, Mather, and Seifert 2018). However, given the increasing precariousness of the environment in which the Further Education (FE) sector operates, it is worth considering whether the benefits associated with building and maintaining trust in this context are problematic.…”