The relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction and organisational commitment of maintenance workers in a parastatal

Abstract

Worldwide, organisations are characterised by an increasing demand to change in order to improve their performance and become more competitive. Amidst these changes, caused by economic uncertainty and global competition, large-scale workforce reductions are prevalent, even in South Africa. The effects thereof have resulted in unemployment for some whilst those who remain are daunted by feelings of job insecurity, resulting in the demise of the 'job for life attitude" and the once valued ''psychological contract" being reformulated. Job insecurity is important since it deals with the continuing existence of an employee within an organisation. It is underlined by the notion that there is fear and uncertainty in the job situation, and that control over the destiny of the job situation is threatened. Consequently, job insecurity has emerged as an important stressor in modem working life. Studies indicate that job insecurity among employees' leads to job dissatisfaction, an increase in negative physical and psychological health outcomes, and manifests in work withdrawal behaviour and lower organisational commitment. In this study, the phenomenon of job insecurity as it manifests itself in employee attitudinal outcomes is investigated. The empirical objective of this research is to determine the relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction and organisational commitment, including the relationship between job insecurity and demographic variables. Also, whether job insecurity can be predicted by the mentioned constructs. A survey design was used to test the research hypotheses. The study population consisted of 178 maintenance workers and questionnaires were completed. The reliability and construct validity of all three questionnaires used was found acceptable despite some sub-scales reporting marginally low reliability. The findings suggested that no relationship exists between job insecurity, job satisfaction and organisational commitment, which are contrary to findings that job insecurity has been associated with lowered job satisfaction and organisational commitment. This could be ascribed to the fact that high levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment were recorded. Descriptive statistics and effect sizes were used to compare the differences amongst demographical groups for job insecurity, job satisfaction and organisational commitment, including practical significance of differences between means of demographical groups and job insecurity. Practically significant differences of medium to large effect were established for respondents having qualifications less than Std 10, who have been employed for less than 15 years, are graded on CL band, are semi-skilled and affiliated to NUMSA trade union, which implies that they experience more job insecurity compared to other groups. Regression analysis was done which concluded that job satisfaction and organisational commitment explain a total of 14,1% of the variance in job insecurity, hence a practically significant (medium effect) relationship. Limitations and recommendations regarding future research, including recommendations for the organisation, were also made.