Title: How might the socio-moral climate buffer the job insecurity stressor? A multilevel study in Spain and Austria

Authors: Beatriz Sora; Thomas Höge; Amparo Caballer; Rubén Nieto

Addresses: Faculty of Psychology, Open University of Catalonia, Rambla Poblenou, 156, 08018 Barcelona, Spain ' Faculty of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52 f, Zi.Nr. 60503, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria ' Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Avda. Blasco Ibañez, 21 46010, Valencia, Spain ' Faculty of Health Sciences, Open University of Catalunya, Rambla Poblenou, 156, 08018, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: A major current work stressor is job insecurity, which presents a well-established negative impact on wellbeing. In this vein, the aims of this study were: 1) to provide additional evidence on this relationship; 2) to examine the socio-moral climate as a potential situational buffer to ameliorate its detrimental effect. A multilevel approach was adopted to examine the socio-moral climate at higher levels (i.e., organisational level). The sample was composed of 1,435 employees from Spain and Austria. Random coefficient model results corroborated the negative relationship between job insecurity and employee affective wellbeing, the positive relationship between job insecurity and emotional exhaustion, and the buffer role of the socio-moral climate. On the basis of our findings, we suggest that an atmosphere of respect, empathy, communication, cooperation and trust in organisations could mitigate the detrimental association between the work stressor of job insecurity and employee wellbeing and emotional exhaustion.

Keywords: job insecurity; socio-moral climate; wellbeing; emotional exhaustion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLC.2021.115204

International Journal of Learning and Change, 2021 Vol.13 No.3, pp.301 - 321

Received: 31 Jul 2018
Accepted: 03 May 2019
Published online: 24 May 2021 *

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