A study examining the relationships between job insecurity, work engagement, burnout, and the moderator role of employability and gender.
Summary
Job insecurity is being seen as an increasing tendency in the global job market, and job insecurity might lead to some undesired effects for the employees. The present study investigated the relationships between employability, gender, job insecurity, burnout and engagement of employees. Additionally, the buffering effect of employability and gender in the relationship between job insecurity and burnout and engagement were also investigated. The participants of this study included 159 female employees and 90 male employees who are currently employed in The Netherlands. Regressions and moderation analysis were conducted to analyse the data. The results of the study show a positive association between quantitative job insecurity and burnout, along with a significant negative relationship between both qualitative and quantitative job insecurity and engagement. Furthermore, external employability appeared to have a moderating effect on the relationship between 1) qualitative job insecurity and burnout; 2) quantitative job insecurity and engagement, while internal employability did not have a moderating effect. No moderating effects of gender appeared. The results have implications for practitioners and future research.