Job insecurity, employee anxiety, and commitment: The moderating role of collective trust in management

Wang, Wen; Mather, Kim; Seifert, Roger

Abstract

This article examines the moderating effect of collective trust in management on the relation between job insecurity (both objective and subjective) and employee outcomes (work-related anxiety and organisational commitment). This is contextualised in the modern British workplace which has seen increased employment insecurity and widespread cynicism. We use matched employer-employee data extracted from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) 2011, which includes over 16,000 employees from more than 1100 organisations. The multilevel analyses confirm that objective job insecurity (loss of important elements of a job such as cuts in pay, overtime, training, and working hours) are significantly correlated with high levels of work-related anxiety and lower levels of organisational commitment. These correlations are partially mediated by subjective job insecurity (perception of possible job loss). More importantly, collective trust in management (a consensus of management being reliable, honest and fair) significantly attenuates the negative impact of objective job insecurity on organisational commitment, and reduces the impact of subjective job insecurity on work-related anxiety. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations of these effects are discussed.

Citation

Wang, W., Mather, K., & Seifert, R. (2018). Job insecurity, employee anxiety, and commitment: The moderating role of collective trust in management. Journal of Trust Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2018.1463229

• Acceptance Date: Apr 4, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 25, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Trust Research
• Print ISSN: 2151-5581
• Publisher: Routledge
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2018.1463229
• Keywords: Job insecurity; employee anxiety; collective trust in management; organisational commitment; multilevel analysis
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21515581.2018.1463229