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BUACC5931 Assignment 1 Questions
Associations between Quantitative,
Qualitative Job Insecurity and Well-being
Research questions
De Witte et al. (2010) investigated the association of employee's
perception of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity with job
satisfaction, and psychological distress in the Belgium banking
sector.
Job insecurity is defined as the employees' concerns about their
work-related future. There are two kinds of job insecurities, the
quantitative job insecurity and the qualitative job insecurity. The
quantitative job insecurity is about the threat to the continuation
of the job in the future. The qualitative job insecurity is about
threat to the various valued aspects of the job, such as job
content or working conditions.
Data collection and respondents
In total, there were 69,000 employees working in the 63 Belgian
banks affiliated to the sector's joint industrial committee in
2001. As questioning all employees would be too expensive, the
researchers decided to survey a sample of 15,000 employees
(roughly 21 %).
All the 63 banks participated in the survey. About 21% of
employees in each bank were invited to participate in the survey.
Within each bank, the respondents were selected at random with
no particular quota for gender, age or employee level. The
survey was based on addresses which had been provided by the
banks (name, language, address) and each randomly selected
employee received a personalized envelope through regular
mail, sent to him/her by the employer. The completed
questionnaire needed to be returned (free of charge) through the
@ 88%
questionnaire needed to be returned (free of charge) through the
internal post within each bank. The researchers travelled to each
bank to collect the completed survey.
The sample was representative for employees in the banking
sector, however, not for the total working population. More men
(58.5 percent) than women (41.5 percent) participated. About
two in three respondents were between 35 and 44 years old or
between 45 and 54 years old, while about one in four was
between 25 and 34 years old. Only a minority (4 percent) was
younger than 24 or older than 55. Most respondents had an
education beyond high school (63.9 percent), had partners with
an income and children (72.4 percent), and worked full-time (85
percent). There were about as many white-collar workers (54.4
percent) as executives (45.6 percent).
Measures
Quantitative job insecurity was measured with four items
developed by De Witte (2000) on a scale from I (strongly
disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Sample items were -I feel
insecure about the future of my job-' and -l am sure that I will
be able to keep my job- (reverse coded). Reliability (Cronbach's
alpha) equalled .89.
Qualitative job insecurity was measured with ten items from the
17 item measure that was originally proposed by Ashford, Lee,
and Bobko (1989). These job features concerned four broad
dimensions previously distinguished to describe the various
characteristics of a job: job content (autonomy, skill utilization,
and specific tasks), working conditions (workload and quality of
working conditions), employment conditions (wage, working
hours, and opportunities for promotion), and social relations at
work (relations with colleagues and supervisors, respectively).
Respondents had to indicate whether each of the job features
would likely improve or deteriorate in the near future (I —
strongly deteriorate; 5 = strongly improve). We recoded the
items so that a high score reflected qualitative job insecurity.
Cronbach's alpha equalled .87.
Job satisfaction was measured with one item: -Overall, how
satisfied are you with your current job?- (l = very dissatisfied; 5
= very satisfied).
Psychological distress was measured with the 12-item version of
Job satisfaction was measured with one item: -Overall, how
satisfied are you with your current job?- (l = very dissatisfied; 5
= very satisfied).
Psychological distress was measured with the 12-item version of
the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1978). A sample
item was -Have you recently lost much sleep over worry?-
Responses varied from 1 (-less than usual-) to 4 (-much more
than usual-). Reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was .89.
Control variables. The following social demographics and work-
related factors were included: gender (0 men; 1 women), age
18-24; 2 = 25-34; 3
35—44; 4 = 45—54; 5
education (O = no education beyond high school; 1 = education
beyond high school), extra income (0 no partner with extra
income; I —
partner with extra income), children (O = no
children; 1 = children), occupational position (0 = white-collar
worker; I executive), working hours (0 = part-time; 1 = full-
time).
The demographics were used as control variables in data
analysis.
Instructions for answering the questions
Use at least four academic sources in English to answer the
questions. The sources can be books or peer reviewed journal
articles or a combination of both books and peer reviewed
journal articles. The academic sources as well as responding to
the questions will be around 2000 words in total.
QI: Sample size
The sample size for this study is fifteen thousand employees
selected from a total of 69,000 bank employees (about 21% of
the employees). Is a sample of this size necessary? Give your
reasons.
Q2: Sampling method
What is the current method of sampling? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of the current sampling method?
Q3: Measures of variables
Give your comments on the reliability and validity of measures
of the variables.
Q2: Sampling method
What is the current method of sampling? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of the current sampling method?
Q3: Measures of variables
Give your comments on the reliability and validity of measures
of the variables.
Q4: Collection of data on social demographics
The purpose of this research is to find the associations between
quantitative and qualitative job insecurity and well-being.
However, data on variables such as gender, age, education level,
extra income were also collected. What is the purpose of
collecting data on variables such as gender, age, educational
level etc.?
Q5: Research design
What research design is used for current research? What are the
positive and negative side of the current research design?
References
Ashford, S. J., Lee, C., & Bobko, P. (1989). CONTENT, CAUSE,
AND CONSEQUENCES OF JOB INSECURITY: A THEORY-
BASED MEASURE AND SUBSTANTIVE TEST. Academy of
Management Journal, 32(4), 803-829. doi:10.2307/256569
De Witte, H. (2000). Arbeidsethos en jobonzekerheid: meting en
gevolgen voor welzijn, tevredenheid en inzet op het werk
(Work Ethic and Job Insecurity: Measurement and
Consequences for Well-Being, Satisfaction, and Performance
at Work). In van groep naar gemeenschap, ed. R. Bouwen, K.
De Witte, H. De Witte, and T. Taillieu, 325—350. Leuven:
Garant. Goldberg, D. P. (1978). Manual ofthe General Health
Questionnaire. Windsor, UK: NFER-Nelson.
De Witte, H., De Cuyper, N., Handaja, Y., Sverke, M , Näswall, K.,
& Hellgren, J. (2010). Associations between quantitative and
qualitative job insecurity and well-being A test in Belgian
banks. International Studies of Management & Organization,
40(1), 40-56. doi:10.2753/1M00020-8825400103
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