Proactive strategies for countering the detrimental outcomes of qualitative job insecurity in academia

Against the backdrop of various and sometimes unexpected transformations of working conditions, qualitative job insecurity has become increasingly prevalent in academia and beyond. As a result, there is a great need for identifying factors that may mitigate its detrimental outcomes on employee well-being. To do so, the current study aimed to investigate the role of two proactive participation strategies-participatory decision-making and job crafting-as a means of counteracting the effects of qualitative job insecurity on burnout, work engagement and job satisfaction. The study was based on a sample of higher education employees in Belgium and Switzerland (N = 915). To test the hypotheses, moderation analyses were conducted in the overall sample and across different staff categories (i.e., senior and junior academic staff, administrative employees). Around 30% of the tested moderation effects were statistically significant, revealing that the negative outcomes of job insecurity were less salient at high values of the moderators. In particular, our findings suggest that encouraging participative decision-making may serve as a means to maintain academic employees' job satisfaction and prevent burnout in turbulent times. Moreover, job crafting may be additionally targeted at preserving work engagement, even though its moderator effects were not universal.

Automated summary

This study examined the role of participatory decision-making and job crafting as proactive participation strategies in mitigating the negative impact of qualitative job insecurity on employee well-being. The results showed that these strategies can help maintain job satisfaction and prevent burnout in academic employees during turbulent times, with participatory decision-making playing a particularly significant role.