The impact of Covid-19 on employee job insecurity and wellbeing: a conservation of resources theory approach

Abstract

Job insecurity is detrimental to employee wellbeing. However, we understand little about how unforeseen external shocks, such as Covid-19, might shape these perceptions. We explore how job changes during the Covid-19 lockdown notification period impacted New Zealand employees’ wellbeing (anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, happiness), hypothesising that these changes heightened job insecurity, leading to poorer wellbeing, using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. Using data from 628 employees, we explore differences in outcomes between pre- and post-lockdown notification respondents and find non-significant differences in wellbeing and job insecurity, but significant increases in Covid-19 job changes. We then used a follow-up survey on N = 323 employees and compared relationships one month later into lockdown using change-over-time analysis. Here, we find relatively stable wellbeing with only life satisfaction dropping significantly, with Covid-19 job changes increasing significantly. Structural equation modelling shows that Covid-19 job changes influence job insecurity, which, in turn, influences wellbeing, and this holds for both data sets, including the change-over-time data. Using COR Principles, we discuss that in such uncontrollable and unforeseeable external events, employees adopt a defensive mode, acknowledging job changes due to Covid-19 but resisting job insecurity perceptions.