Quartet of Sustainable Job Security, Job Performance, Organizational Commitment, and Motivation in an Emerging Economy: Focusing on Northern Cyprus

Abstract

High-performing employees are essential for an organization to achieve its goals and gain a competitive advantage. Hence, human resource factors are crucial drivers of an organization’s success. These factors include organizational commitment, which is an employee’s sense of belonging to an organization; motivation, which pushes employees to act in line with the organization’s goals; perceived job security; and sustainable job performance. In particular, job security, including excess job security, has significant effects on sustainable job performance, and policymakers and managers must continuously monitor this relationship via their employment policies. However, the legal and social dimensions of employment policies lack clarity, particularly in developing countries, affecting the development of sustainable economic and social structures. This study focuses on the public and private banking sectors of Northern Cyprus, which operate in a developing economy and cannot provide a sustainable political–social work balance. It analyzes and separately compares data collected from 582 public- and private-sector bank employees, examining the mediating effects of organizational commitment and motivation on the relationship between perceived job security and sustainable performance. The study found that job security positively affects sustainable job performance, with organizational commitment and motivation positively mediating this relationship. Moreover, the positive effects of job security on organizational commitment and motivation and, hence, on sustainable job performance differ across the public and private sectors. The findings of this study can provide a reference for labor employment policies in developing countries aiming to build a sustainable economic structure.