Perceiving and responding to job insecurity: a workplace spirituality perspective

Abstract

With unemployment at record highs and rising job insecurity due to the fear of unemployment, it is important to understand the behavioral, physical, psychological, and social ramifications of such insecurity. More importantly, it is crucial to identify variables that may help to prevent and/or alleviate the effects of such job insecurity. To date, there has been scant theorizing or empirical research examining how spirituality may influence the experience of job insecurity or fear of job loss. The purpose of our paper is to develop theoretical propositions regarding the roles that spirituality may play in the appraisal of and response to job insecurity. We begin by briefly reviewing known correlates of job insecurity. Next, we define spirituality for the purposes of this paper; and finally, we develop propositions regarding the role of spirituality in these processes and suggest avenues for empirically testing these propositions. As research on the efficacy of spirituality is growing, investigators look to non‐traditional but complementary methods of treating disease, trauma, and other adverse life events. In a similar vein, we call upon researchers to examine the role that spirituality may play in how employees react to the stressor of job insecurity.