Setting a research agenda for job insecurity in South African organisations

Abstract

In the current South African context, job insecurity has become a phenomenon to be reckoned with. Although research on this phenomenon is still scarce, a growing interest in the perceived experience of job insecurity and its different underlying constructs is obvious from the increase of job insecurity research. A comprehensive summary of previous research studies and relevant outcomes is therefore relevant. Up to now, South African studies on job insecurity have accepted the assumptions and context of international research studies on job insecurity. It is now time to investigate the influence of the South African context on this phenomenon and to include this background in future studies. The main objective of this study was to review, investigate, compare, evaluate and interpret existing research, conducted internationally and nationally, in order to set a research agenda through proposing a theoretical model for job insecurity in South African organisations. The model will primarily serve as an academic tool to new research scholars to identify new research problems, existing sources of information, relevant measuring instruments, and contextual variables that may be of interest. The model will also be applicable as a management tool to understand and deal with job insecurity in South African organisations. A qualitative, descriptive research design was followed to perform content analysis and an extensive literature review. Results of the qualitative content analysis were enhanced with semi-structured interviews with managers from different organisations (N = 24). Results indicated gaps between international and South African research studies as well as the gaps indicated between theory and practice. This was indicated by a comparison between the South African research results and the results from the semi-structured interviews with selected managers. These results were integrated into a proposed model for job insecurity in order to serve as a guideline for future research. It also serves as a tool for managers to be aware of the presence of job insecurity, and to enable them to improve their management intervention. Conclusions and limitations of the study were discussed and recommendations for organisations and for future research were made.