Academics’ Responses to Job Insecurity: The Mediating Effect of Job Satisfaction

This study investigates the mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relation between job insecurity and exit, voice, loyalty and neglect (EVLN) responses. Data were collected from 232 academic employees. The authors test whether job satisfaction transmits the effects of the job insecurity on exit, voice, loyalty and neglect using path analyses via structural equation modelling. The analyses reveal that job satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between job insecurity and all of the employee responses (EVLN). However, the mediating role of job satisfaction is marginally significant for job insecurity–voice linkage. Within the insecure working context, our study has relevant implications for the managers/administrators whose aim to increase their staff’s loyalty and to retain qualified employees, which in turn enables their organisations to be competitive. The findings of this study highlight that job satisfaction can be used as a remedy to alleviate the adverse effects job insecurity.