Correlates of job insecurity among recent business school graduates
| Published date | 01 February 1998 |
| Date | 01 February 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459810369850 |
| Pages | 92-98 |
| Author | Ronald J. Burke |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employee
Relations
20,1
92
Correlates of job insecurity
among recent business school
graduates
Ronald J. Burke
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The last two decades have witnessed considerable interest in the experience of
workplace stress (Cooper and Payne, 1988; Schabracq et al., 1996). This has
resulted in increased understanding of antecedents as well as consequences of
stress at work. During this period of time, specific work stressors that have
been considered have also undergone some change to reflect changing realities
of the workplace. Thus the 1980s showed increasing interest in the experiences
of job loss, job insecurity and stressors associated with organizational
restructuring, merging and downsizing (Burke, 1988; Schabracq et al.,1996).
There has also been an interest in work stress research to capture some of the
experiences of different groups of employees. As the workforce has become
increasingly diverse, more research attention has been devoted to
understanding the experiences of women (Burke, 1996) and members of other
non-traditional employee groups (e.g. members of racial and ethnic groups).
Typically, stress research has focused on the experiences of established and
long tenured employees. Relatively little attention was paid to particular work
stressors associated with early stages of career development. As a result,
studies of job insecurity and job loss have traditionally focused on men and
women fairly established in their jobs and careers (Leana and Feldman, 1992).
This was realistic since these employees were impacted first by organizational
responses to economic realities of the 1980s and 1990s that resulted in
downsizing, retrenchment and decline.
A decision was made to examine job insecurity which was believed to have
increasing relevance for recent business school graduates’ work and career
experiences (Feldman and Turnley, 1995; Hall, 1996). Until recently they were
almost assured of some degree of job and career security. Roskies and her
colleagues (Roskies and Louis-Guerin, 1990; Roskies et al.,1993) have shown
evidence of increasing prevalence of job insecurity as well as its consequences
for professionals and managers. Do recent business school graduates report job
insecurity? If they do, what are some of the consequences of this?
There is a considerable body of literature reporting a relationship between
job dissatisfaction and intentions to quit (Hom and Griffeth, 1991; Mobley,
Employee Relations,
Vol. 20 No. 1, 1998, pp. 92–98
© MCB University Press, 0142-5455
Received July 1997
Revised November 1997
Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by the Sc hulich School of Business, York
University. Graeme MacDermid assisted with data collection, Cobi Wolpin helped with data
analysis and Mary Amati prepared the manuscript.
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