Doctoral Dissertations

Roger L. Cole

Date of Award

8-1987

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major Professor

Joyce E. A. Russell

Committee Members

John W. Lounsbury

Abstract

This study attempted to develop and validate a reliable measure of perceived job insecurity (PJI). PJI, which refers to individual assessments of threats to job continuity, has become increasingly important requiring a deeper understanding of its meaning and its content. A major obstacle to reaching this deeper understanding has been the lack of a comprehensive, reliable measure of the construct. With such a measure, it may be much easier to identify relationships between the construct and individual and organizational reactions to it.

This study was carried out at a federal agency which had been experiencing budgetary cutbacks and a substantial work force shrinkage. A measure of PJI was administered to 212 full-time, white-collar employees randomly selected from four divisions of this agency. Along with the PJI, the following measures were administered: job future ambiguity, feelings associated with the threat of job loss, responses to the threat of job loss, job satisfaction, job involvement, intention to turnover, health/stress/anxiety, intrinsic work characteristics, and a single item measure of job security.

Results showed that the PJI measure and each of its subscales--severity of threat and powerlessness—were significantly related to previously established measures of perceived job (in)security including Caplan's job future ambiguity scale and the single item measure of job security, along with the measure of responses to threat and the measure of feelings. The measures which were related to PJI were also found to have similar curves of relationship when plotted at three different levels of PJI. Some evidence of discriminant validity was found for the PJI measure by demonstrating its relationship to a measure of intrinsic work characteristics (a measure it should be unrelated to). The PJI measure was also found to be related to several important outcome variables including job satisfaction, intention to turnover and health/stress/anxiety. The PJI measure accounted for a significant amount of variance in several of these outcome measures (feelings, responses, and health/stress/anxiety) when entered into regression equations with job satisfaction and the single item measure of job security.

This research contributed to the development of a measure of perceived job insecurity. Further refinement will be required before the measure will find common usage; however, there is evidence that the PJI construct as defined here with its two dimensions of severity of threat and powerlessness does warrant further research. With a better understanding of the nature, causes and consequences of perceived job insecurity, it may be easier to either prevent it from ever occurring or, at the least, ameliorate its adverse effects on the individual and the organization as a whole.

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