Qualitative Job Insecurity and its Impact on Innovative Work Performance and Subjective Well-being: A Serial Mediation Mode

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of qualitative job insecurity on employee innovative work performance and the mediating role of subjective well-being and psychological contract breach in this relationship. The study used the positivist paradigm, cross-sectional research design, and a self-administered structured questionnaire to collect the data from 282-IT professionals working in different software houses of Pakistan. Analysis through the structural equation modeling technique revealed a positive and significant relationship between qualitative job insecurity and employee innovative work performance. Furthermore, the analysis also proved that qualitative job insecurity not only directly affects the innovative work performance, but the sequential-mediation mechanism also exists. The study adds value to the existing literature on job insecurity by considering the ignored causal link between qualitative job insecurity and employee innovative work performance by incorporating the psychological contract breach and subjective well-being as explanatory mechanisms. The study also provides empirical contributions for employers of the IT sector of Pakistan by studying the qualitative aspect of job insecurity, which is more prevalent, and to devise their job security practices.