Suchergebnisse

Previous research suggests that contract preference (volition) is more important in predicting job satisfaction among temporaries than formal employment status (temporary vs permanent employment). This study provides an advanced test of this assumption by (1) investigating whether volition either mediates or moderates the relationship between employment status and outcomes, and (2) considering multiple outcomes: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, irritation and turnover intention. Analyses were based on a sample of 189 temporaries and 371 permanents. No evidence was found for mediation by volition. However, the interaction terms between employment status and volition were significant for all outcomes, except for organizational commitment: volition was positively related to the outcomes among the permanent sample, but not among the temporary sample. Implications for future research are discussed.

In this paper, we provoke the strong focus on personal agency in employability research. We counter three dominant assumptions in the literature, namely, (a) that employability is an individual asset, (b) that employability is owned by the individual, and (c) that employability leads to positive outcomes. A key observation is that the three dominant theories that are being used in employability studies, namely, human capital theory, conservation of resources theory, and social exchange theory, also question these core agency assumptions that form the basis of those studies. Based on these theories, we identify three blind spots in employability research: Employability is (a) contextual, (b) relational, and (3) polarising. Taken together, we make the case that the agency perspective overlooks a potential dark side of employability: The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall. We outline a future research agenda on this potential dark side of employability.

This study aims to examine how contract type, perceived mobility and optimism are linked to perceived employability (PE). The pattern of results was investigated first cross-sectionally ( n = 1379, Time 1) and then longitudinally with a one-year time lag ( n = 803, Time 2) with a sample of Finnish university researchers and teachers. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceived mobility was positively associated with PE among permanent workers but not among temporary workers, whereas optimism was positively related to PE among all the workers at both Time 1 and Time 2. In light of these results, it seems that permanent employees especially benefit from perceived mobility in terms of higher PE, whereas optimism is beneficial for all employees' PE.

Employees who feel insecure about their job participate less in work-related learning. This is paradoxical given that work-related learning is advanced as a way to prepare for upcoming change. This may induce a cycle in which job insecurity leads to gradual more insecurity and less participation in work-related learning, yet this has not yet been probed in much detail. We study this cycle. In doing so, we account for different forms work-related learning, both formal and informal, and we focus upon felt insecurity about how the job might look like in the future, coined qualitative job insecurity: this has particular resonance in the public sector. Hypotheses were tested using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model among 922 Flemish public sector employees Employees who experience higher qualitative job insecurity participate less in formal work-related learning and participation in formal learning decreases feelings of job insecurity. This aligns with the idea of cycles.