JOB INSECURITY IN MANAGERS - ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES

To date, popular accounts and systematic studies of the effects of job insecurity have focused exclusively on firms in acute crisis. In contrast, this study examines perceptions of the reactions to insecurity as a chronic, ambiguous threat. None of the 1291 managers surveyed was currently facing layoff, but half worked for firms that had laid off managers in the previous five years and half worked in a stable, expanding firm. As in previous studies, concern about any aspect of job insecurity was associated with decreased personal well‐being and deterioration of work behavior and attitudes. However, only a small minority of managers were seriously worried about imminent job loss, with substantially more anxious about a deterioration in working conditions and long‐term security. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.