The building blocks of job insecurity: The impact of environmental and person‐related variables on job insecurity perceptions

This study unites two perspectives concerning the determinants of job insecurity perceptions that exist in the literature and that resemble the classical nature–nurture debate. On the ‘nurture’ side, we investigated the company performance and type of contract, while we focused on negative affectivity and locus of control on the ‘nature’ side. In addition to demonstrating the known main effects of the respective predictors, we examined the proportional reduction in prediction error for both predictor types. Based on L azarus’ stress model, we also hypothesized interactive effects between the environmental and person‐related predictors. Multilevel analyses of 640 employees from 50 companies revealed that all four variables significantly and incrementally predicted job insecurity in the hypothesized direction. Interestingly, the person‐related variables contributed more than twice as much to the reduction in prediction error in job insecurity perceptions when compared with the environmental variables. Among the hypothesized interaction effects, only locus of control significantly interacted with type of contract in predicting job insecurity perceptions (employees on a temporary contract experienced a steeper incline in job insecurity perceptions with increasing levels of external locus of control relative to employees on a permanent contract). We discuss implications for the conceptualization of job insecurity as well as practical implications. Practitioner points The study shows that the person‐related variables negative affectivity and locus of control weigh more heavily in the reduction in prediction error in job insecurity perceptions compared with the environmental variables company performance and type of contract. Above this, external locus of control was more strongly related to job insecurity perceptions among employees on a temporary contract, compared with employees on a permanent contract. To reduce job insecurity perceptions, managers should try to decrease temporary contract arrangements and take employees’ personality dispositions into account (e.g., when assigning employees to work teams). By doing so, employees with extremely high negative affectivity and a strong external locus of control might be ‘positively’ affected by other team members (with less severe levels on these traits). Moreover, managers should try to reduce any negative cues about future employment prospects that employees could interpret the wrong way. Instead, managers should try to give positive feedback concerning employment (if this fits the situation at hand) and/or verbalize negative messages with an unambiguous interpretation.