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The purpose of this paper is to test whether households with members that experience job loss shocks are able to protect their previous level of consumption. The paper also tests whether consumption protection is affected when spells persist through time.

The paper estimates an intertemporal consumption model, where households try to smooth their marginal utility over time. For that purpose it analyses Spanish household budget surveys that span a long period, 1999-2012, including the Great Recession. Unlike most consumption datasets, this microdata is designed as a panel and provides detailed information for all consumption categories as well as household members’ labour status.

The paper finds that consumption smoothing is dependent on the household member facing the unemployment transition. In particular, only main breadwinner’s unemployment transitions affects consumption smoothing. It also shows that the consumption drop persists beyond the period of the job loss for ongoing spells, although it follows a decreasing pattern. Finally, the estimation results are stable over the business cycle.

The results suggest that Spanish households are not capable of fully insuring against main breadwinner’s unemployment shocks. Further, the results show that this effect remains up to two years for ongoing unemployment spells. Thus these results highlight a welfare loss by Spanish households with unemployed members.

The paper extends the usual analysis of job loss shocks by the main breadwinner to include the cases of both the spouse and the rest of household members, who tend to account for most unemployment. Further, it tests for unemployment persistence. Finally, it checks the sensitivity of the results to the business cycle, including the Great Recession.

Knowledge loss caused by employee exit has become a significant corporate risk. This paper aims to explore how to measure the impact of knowledge loss. The paper is based on empirical evidence from a five-year longitudinal study.

This paper is based on a longitudinal change project for a large Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant in the period 2008-2013. The method was a single case study using a critical realism paradigm. The project was a transformational change programme which aimed to help make the partner organization a learning organization to minimize the impact of knowledge loss. The partner organization was a large Australian Government Department, which faced the threat of knowledge loss caused by its ageing workforce. The sample was 118 respondents, mainly engineering and technical workers. A total of 150 respondents were invited to participate in the study which involved an annual survey and attendance at regular training workshops and related activities, with a participation rate of 79 per cent.

The results found that knowledge loss has most negative impact in terms of organizational problems including low productivity (morale), strategic misalignment of the workforce (capability gaps), resource cuts (stakeholders unhappy with performance), decreased work quantity and quality (inexperienced employees), work outputs not being used (customers mistrust), longer time to competence (learning cost) and slow task completion (increased search cycle time). The second most significant impact was increased sense of risk associated with work activities and declining capacity to manage the risk. The third main impact was decreased organizational knowledge base: knowledge loss creates knowledge deficit which is unlikely to be filled over time, as shown by the knowledge accounts of surviving employees which remained stable overall. The two remaining measurement constructs – psychological contract and learning organizational capacity – improved, which suggests that the negative impact of knowledge loss may be addressed with appropriate knowledge management.

The research is based on a single case study in a public sector organization. While the longitudinal nature of the study and the rich data collected offsets this issue, it also presents good opportunities for researchers and practitioners to test the ideas presented in this paper in other industry contexts. The complexity and range of the constructs, concepts and scale items is acknowledged. Tables have been used wherever possible to help the reader access the findings.

Knowledge loss is perhaps the greatest corporate risk facing organizations today. This paper provides a method to measure the impact of knowledge loss. Managers may use this to assess the significance of the risk and use this as a business case to take action to minimize the impact of knowledge loss.

Prior research has found knowledge loss has caused decreased psychological contract, lost organizational memory, inefficiency and ineffectiveness and declining capability; however, these concepts are discussed in broad terms only. This paper addresses the need for measurement concepts which helps us understand the nature of the impact of knowledge loss. Five knowledge loss concepts are developed: knowledge resources, psychological contract, learning organization capacity, risk management and organizational problems. The results are based on a large-scale longitudinal study providing empirical evidence of change over a three-year period, situated within the context of a research intervention, i.e. knowledge management programme.

The paper seeks to examine the impact of social exclusion on individuals' propensity to be employed and how, if employed, social exclusion affects individuals' perceived job insecurity and the likelihood of being covered by social insurance in their jobs.

Using the United Nations Development Program/United Nations Children Fund 2009 survey data from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the paper employs comprehensive econometric methods that overcome challenges posed by endogeneity of social exclusion in labour market outcomes, self‐selection into employment, and the interdependency between perceptions of job security and social insurance coverage.

Results suggest that socially excluded individuals face hurdles in securing jobs and exhibit higher risk of job loss. Further, results suggest that a holistic educational policy could help promote social inclusion.

Formulation of policies aimed at promoting social inclusion and improved labour market outcomes should not be done in isolation; rather they should be based on a holistic understanding of the multi‐faceted nature of social exclusion.

The originality of the analysis is that it takes into account the multi‐dimensional nature of social exclusion by treating social exclusion as an outcome of a diverse set of an individual's socio‐economic characteristics that ultimately shape the way they feel about their exclusion or inclusion in their societies. This gives an indication of the types of people that are socially excluded and form the group for which a further investigation of labour market outcomes is conducted.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between foreign ownership and perceived job insecurity. It takes into account that the link can depend on circumstances and type of firm.

The analysis is based on linked employer-employee data from Germany. The data enable us to account for both employee characteristics and firm characteristics. Most importantly, they allow a detailed analysis of moderating influences.

The estimates show that there tends to be a positive link between foreign owners and perceived job insecurity. The link is specifically strong for foreign-owned firms with high personnel turnover or poor employment growth. It is also stronger if the foreign-owned firm providing managerial profit sharing. However, the link tends to be negative for foreign-owned firms with product innovations.

Econometric examinations on the link between foreign ownership and perceived job insecurity are scarce. The study contributes to the literature by using linked employer-employee data and provides a detailed analysis of interaction effects.

While job insecurity generally impedes performance, there may be circumstances under which it can prompt performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine a specific situation (reorganization) in which job insecurity may prompt task and contextual performance. The authors propose that performance can represent a job preservation strategy, to which employees may only resort when supervisor-issued ratings of performance are instrumental toward securing one’s job. The authors hypothesize that because of this instrumentality, job insecurity will motivate employees’ performance only when they have low intrinsic motivation, and only when they perceive high distributive justice.

In a survey study among 103 permanent employees of a company in reorganization, the authors assessed perceived job insecurity, intrinsic motivation and perceived distributive justice. Supervisors rated employees’ overall performance (task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors).

Multilevel analyses showed that job insecurity was only positively related to supervisor-rated overall performance among employees with low intrinsic motivation and, unexpectedly, among employees who experienced low distributive justice. Results were cross-validated using employees’ self-rated performance, replicating the findings on distributive justice but not the findings on intrinsic motivation.

The results can inform future research on the specific situations in which job insecurity may prompt job preservation efforts, and call for research to uncover the mechanisms underlying employees’ negative and positive responses to job insecurity. The results and associated implications of this study are largely based on conceptual evidence. In addition, the cross-sectional design warrants precaution about drawing causal inferences from the data.

By combining insights from coping responses and threat foci, this study advances the understanding of when and why job insecurity may prompt performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore Finns’ labor market development predictions for the next ten years and shed light on preferred policy responses to the digital economy.

Nationally representative survey data employed in this paper were collected in autumn 2017. The data collection utilized a multiphase sampling, and the interviews (n=1004) were carried out on telephone to minimize selection-bias and produce demographically balanced data.

Over two-thirds (71 percent) of Finns do not expect technological unemployment to constitute a permanent problem in the digital economy. Nevertheless, 74 percent assume that technological unemployment will increase at least temporarily. A considerable majority (85 percent) also believe that future jobs will be more precarious. Younger generations, despite their currently weak position in the labor market, are surprisingly more optimistic in their predictions. Analysis of preferred policy responses support this paper’s main thesis that the Finnish view on the future of work is rather optimistic: education reforms and streamlining the current social security gather dedicated support, whereas more unconventional ideas such as basic income or work-sharing remain contested.

To predict possible barriers to labor mobility stemming from digital economy discourses and to anticipate possible political fluctuations, studies on the public view are needed. This research aims to provide a solid framework for further comparative explorations of the public view.

This exploratory study aims to examine the usefulness of distinguishing between the cognitive and emotional components of job insecurity.

This cross‐sectional survey study was undertaken in a sample of 600 civil servants. A series of regressions are employed to test proposed hypotheses.

Results support the treatment of the components of job insecurity as separate variables. The cognitive and emotional components differed in their associations with predictors and consequences. Locus of control and employment dependence moderated several relationships. For example, employment dependence moderated the relationship between job insecurity and job loss strain.

The study design was cross‐sectional and, thus, cause‐effect relationships cannot be discerned. Also, since it was undertaken in the public sector, it needs to be cross‐validated in the private sector so that the generalizability of its results can be established. The study points to the utility of separately measuring the components of job insecurity in future research. Also, the role of employment dependence deserves further study given its role as a predictor of job loss strain and as a significant moderator variable.

In supporting the treatment of job security and job loss strain as separate variables, this study suggests that one should consider how to reduce the negative effects of a lack of job security on job loss strain. This is especially important since job loss strain is associated with negative psychological and physiological symptoms. In today's rapidly changing environment, people who feel they have limited extra‐organizational opportunities appear to be particularly vulnerable. Human resource management practices that enhance employee mobility may help to manage their sense of dependence.

This paper addresses two major gaps in the job security literature: it develops a comprehensive model using a two‐component approach to job insecurity; and investigates the potential role of employment dependence as both a cause of insecurity's components and a moderator in the causes → insecurity → consequences model.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate a reduced form model of expectations-based reference-dependent preferences to explain job retention of older workers in Europe in the context of the 2009 economic crisis.

Using individual micro-economic longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe between 2006 and 2011, the authors derive a measure of “good, bad or no surprise” from workers’ anticipated evolution of their standard of living five years from 2006 (reference point) and from a comparison of their capacity to make ends meet between 2006 and 2011.

The authors find that the probability to remain on the labour market in 2011 is significantly higher for individuals who experienced a lower than expected standard of living. The effect of a “bad surprise” on job retention is larger than the effect of a “good surprise” once netted out from the effects of expectations at baseline, change in consumption utility, and the usual life-cycle determinants on job retention of older workers.

The authors interpret this result as an evidence of loss aversion in the case the reference point is based on individuals’ expectations. The authors also find that loss aversion is more common among men, risk-averse individuals and those with a higher perceived life expectancy.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how candidates' expectations of salary in relation to job offers as expatriates in developing societies are related to country image and to age.

Data were collected from over 500 engineers living in France, Portugal and Spain, evaluating two hypothetical expatriate proposals to six different African and Latin American countries. Multivariate hierarchical regression was applied to statistically detect significant predictors, with a broad range of control variables, to investigate expatriate salary expectations.

Results evidence the role of age, seniority, previous international experience and culture attraction for the host country in influencing salary expectations for potential expatriate postings. These results are discussed at the light of selection, optimisation and compensation theory (SOC), conservation of resources theory (COR) and social identity theory.

Findings call for multinational companies to consider age, individual background, career attributes and location concerns when evaluating salary expectations involved in expatriation to developing countries.

The study shows how individual expectations about required salaries for accepting expatriate job offers in developing countries (hardly addressed in the extant literature) result from the potential for professional development opportunities and the responsibility of the jobs being offered, the country image, and the age and motivation of the individuals. Furthermore, it integrates research through use of SOC and COR theories.

The purpose of this paper is to test a process model of coping with job loss by examining the impact of distal to proximal variable sets for incrementally explaining two distinct subjective well‐being variables: life satisfaction and unemployment stigma. A second purpose is to test for mean differences between study scales for increasingly long‐term unemployed individuals.

A unique sample of unemployed victims completed an online survey investigating the impact of six variable sets on life satisfaction and unemployment stigma. These sets fall within the McKee‐Ryan et al. taxonomy and included: human capital and demographics; personal and financial coping resources; cognitive appraisal; escape‐focused coping; problem‐focused coping; and job search effort.

Results partially supported the hypothesized variable set impact order on both life satisfaction and unemployment stigma. In addition some significant differences on study variables were found comparing four unemployed groups: up to six months; and three progressively long‐term unemployed groups, i.e. seven to 12 months; 13 to 24 months; and over 24 months, with the over 24 month unemployed respondents (23 per cent of the sample) suffering the most.

The cross‐sectional self‐report study research design is the foremost limitation. However, given the challenges of collecting unemployment related‐data on such a diverse sample, the unemployment agency/job services recent‐job‐loss‐respondent longitudinal data collection approach used in previous research was not an option. The one‐factor test found that only 15 per cent of “common method variance” was explained by the first factor, suggesting that this is not an overriding limitation. Survey constraints necessitated using shortened validated scales in several instances. However, the authors did select the highest loading items when shortening scales and such scales were generally reliable.

Implications of study results for careers and steps to prevent longer‐term unemployment are discussed. There seemed to be a general “disconnect” between unemployed respondent self‐ratings of positive skill assessment, networking comfort, and proactive search, all of which were fairly high, against recent behavioral job search which was lower. This disconnect suggests that it may be hard for many unemployed to objectively look at their job search process.

A unique unemployed sample, primarily executives, middle managers and professional, salaried individuals, with most being longer‐term unemployed, was utilized. Initial psychometric support for several new scales was found, including unemployment stigma and behavioral job search. This study represented a fairly comprehensive test of the McKee‐Ryan et al. taxonomy for correlates of psychological well‐being during unemployment specifically applied to life satisfaction and unemployment stigma. An innovative on‐line data collection approach, snowball sampling, was used.