Citation

Probst TM, Jiang L. Safety Sci. 2017; 100: 83-90.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2017.03.010

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Increasing emphasis has been placed within the European Union on the development of flexicurity policies, which seek to simultaneously foster organizational competitiveness while ensuring employment security for workers. The purpose of the current study was to examine how country-level differences in European flexicurity policies impact employee psychosocial reactions to perceived job insecurity. By combining individual-level international survey data from 13,738 individuals nested within 19 European countries with country-level indices of flexicurity, multilevel modeling was used to empirically test whether and how employees in countries with differing levels of employment security protections and flexible work arrangements react differently to the perception that their job may be at risk in terms of their affective and stress reactions. Analyses indicated that employee perceptions of job insecurity were significantly related to greater affective insecurity and higher levels of job stress. However, greater enactment of country-level flexicurity (i.e., high flexibility coupled with high employment security) attenuated those relationships. These findings are discussed in light of recent European events, as well as implications of flexicurity policies on the health and well-being of employees during times of organizational change.

Language: en