Unstable Jobs Harm Performance: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Organizational Commitment in Employees

Abstract

Although previous research has examined the influence of job insecurity on perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of employees, the literature has paid insufficient attention to the impact of job insecurity on organizational performance and the underlying mechanisms of this association. Organizational performance is one of the most critical outcomes in an organization, and studies are needed to examine the influence of job insecurity on organizational performance together with its intermediating processes. Accordingly, this study investigates the intermediating mechanisms between job insecurity and perceived organizational performance with a sequential mediation model. Specifically, this article hypothesizes that levels of employees’ psychological safety and organizational commitment sequentially mediate the job insecurity–perceived organizational performance link. Using three-wave time-lagged data from 321 employees in South Korea, this study found that psychological safety and organizational commitment were sequential mediators in the link. This finding suggests that levels of psychological safety and organizational commitment in employees function as underlying processes in explaining the job insecurity–perceived organizational performance link.