Moving on Up Now? A Meta-Analysis of the Associations Between Job Insecurity and Career-Related Outcomes

Lena Låstad; Jacobus Pienaar; Katharina Näswall; Anne Richter; Johnny Hellgren; Magnus Sverke

doi:10.16993/sjwop.275

Moving on Up Now? A Meta-Analysis of the Associations Between Job Insecurity and Career-Related Outcomes

Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

Volume 10 (2025): Issue 1

By: Lena Låstad , Jacobus Pienaar , Katharina Näswall , Anne Richter , Johnny Hellgren and Magnus Sverke

Open Access

|Feb 2025

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Variables Included in the Meta-analysis, Examples of Included Variable Names Covered by the Primary Studies, and Average Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) across Samples.

VARIABLE	EXAMPLES OF INCLUDED VARIABLE NAMES	AVERAGE α
Job insecurity	Job insecurity, job security (R), job uncertainty, job security satisfaction	.83
*Career-related attitudes*
Career commitment	Career commitment, advancement motivation	.81
Career satisfaction	Career satisfaction, satisfaction with career development, satisfaction with career progression, career insecurity (R)	.86
Occupational turnover intentions	Occupational turnover intention(s), intention to leave the profession	.85
Organizational turnover intentions	Turnover intention(s), intention to leave, intention to quit, intention to stay (R), intention to remain (R)	.82
Career opportunities	Future career success, promotional opportunity, career advancement, perceived career opportunities, career opportunity	.83
Willingness to participate in training	Willingness to participate in training, intention to participate in training	.87
Employability	Employability, perceived employability, external employability, alternatives in the labor market, perceived labor market opportunities	.84
*Career-related behaviors*
Job search behavior	Job search (behavior), proactive job search (behavior)	.89
Knowledge hiding	Knowledge hiding, knowledge hiding behavior, knowledge hoarding	.87
Knowledge sharing	Knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing behavior	.85
Career planning	Career planning, proactive career planning, career orientation	.83
Networking	Networking behavior, proactive networking	.86
Proactive skill development	Proactive skill development, employee development, career enhancing strategies, proactivity towards the career	.85
Actual turnover	Turnover, actual turnover, voluntary (organizational) turnover	.91

[i] Note: R = reverse scored.

Table 2

Results of Meta-analyses: Main Effects.

OUTCOME	k	N	$\bar{r}$	$\bar{ρ}$	SD_rc	95% CI	80% CR	Q	I²
*Career-related attitudes*
Career commitment	10	5,021	–.11	–.16	.32	[–.38, .07]	[–.59, .27]	266.88***	96.63
Career satisfaction	16	122,384	–.50	–.61	.09	[–.66, –.56]	[–.74, –.49]	1230.13***	98.78
Occupational turnover intention	7	2,371	.26	.30	.13	[.18, .42]	[.13, .47]	30.20***	80.13
Organizational turnover intention	152	230,503	.31	.39	.17	[.36, .42]	[.18, .60]	4775.12***	96.84
Career opportunities	16	22,031	–.13	–.15	.22	[–.27, –.03]	[–.45, .15]	782.09***	98.08
Willingness to participate in training	5	5,394	–.01	–.01	.08	[–.11, .09]	[–.12, .10]	20.93***	80.89
Employability	64	95,261	–.12	–.16	.18	[–.20, –.11]	[–.38, .07]	1907.36***	96.70
*Career-related behaviors*
Job search behaviors	14	10,008	.23	.31	.13	[.23, .39]	[.14, .48]	110.24***	88.21
Knowledge hiding	12	3,919	.34	.39	.16	[.29, .49]	[.19, .59]	88.64***	87.59
Knowledge sharing	5	1,298	.06	.07	.19	[–.17, .31]	[–.20, .35]	26.54***	84.93
Career planning	7	2,759	–.10	–.11	.23	[–.32, .11]	[–.43, .22]	81.78***	92.66
Networking behavior	3	4,562	–.10	–.11	.11	[–.38, .16]	[–.31, .08]	26.59***	92.48
Proactive skill development	13	9,395	–.09	–.11	.16	[–.20, –.01]	[–.31, .10]	159.24***	92.46
Actual turnover	9	2,906	.12	.15	.20	[–.00, .30]	[–.11, .41]	67.99***	88.23

[i] Note: k = number of studies contributing to meta-analysis; N = total sample size; $\bar{r}$ = mean observed correlation; $\bar{ρ}$ = mean true-score correlation; SDrc = observed standard deviation of corrected correlations (rc); CI = confidence interval around $\bar{ρ}$ ; CR = credibility interval around $\bar{ρ}$ . Correlations corrected individually. Q = Cochran’s χ-squared statistic Q (chi-square test of heterogeneity, I² = estimated percent variance not accounted for by sampling error or other artifacts (attributable to moderators and uncorrected artifacts); *p < .05, ***p < .001. Bold denotes significant corrected correlations based on the 95% CI not including zero.

Table 3

Moderator Results of Meta-analyses: Study Design (Cross-sectional, Longitudinal).

OUTCOME	k	N	$\bar{r}$	$\bar{ρ}$	SD_rc	95% CI	80% CR	DIFF [95% CI]
*Career-related attitudes*
Career satisfaction								–.29 [–.43, –.16]
Cross-sectional	13	121,770	–.50	–.61	.09	[–.67, –.56]	[–.74, –.49]
Longitudinal	3	614	–.27	–.32	.10	[–.57, –.08]	[–.44, –.21]
Occupational turnover intention								.11 [.08, .29]
Cross-sectional	5	1 946	.28	.32	.14	[ .15, .49]	[.12, .51]
Longitudinal	2	425	.18	.21	.06	[–.30, .72]	[.21, .21]
Organizational turnover intention								.15 [.08, .22]
Cross-sectional	138	219,756	.31	.40	.17	[.37, .43]	[.19, .61]
Longitudinal	14	10,747	.21	.25	.12	[.18, .31]	[.10, .39]
Willingness to participate in training	2							.07 [–.21, .37]
Cross-sectional	3	970	.05	.06	.13	[–.26, .29]	[ –.15, .26]
Longitudinal	2	4,424	–.02	–.02	.08	[–.70, .66]	[–.24, .20]
Employability								.08 [–.08, .24]
Cross-sectional	61	91,663	–.12	–.15	.18	[–.20, –.11]	[–.38, .07]
Longitudinal	3	3,598	–.20	–.23	.13	[–.57, .10]	[–.48, .01]
*Career-related behaviors*
Job search behaviors								.02 [–.17, .21]
Cross-sectional	9	4,454	.27	.32	.08	[.26, .38]	[.23, .41]
Longitudinal	5	5,554	.20	.30	.19	[.06, .53]	[.02, .58]
Knowledge hiding								0.07 [–.24, .38]
Cross-sectional	9	2,908	.36	.41	.14	[ .30, .52]	[ .23, .59]
Longitudinal	3	1,011	.30	.34	.23	[–.22, .91]	[–.07, .76]
Proactive skill development								–0.09 [–.31, .13]
Cross-sectional	8	5 478	–.12	–.15	.11	[–.24, –.06]	[–.29, –.01]
Longitudinal	5	3 917	–.05	–.06	.20	[–.31, .19]	[–.37, .25]
Actual turnover								.15 [–.19, .50]
Cross-sectional	4	878	.21	.25	.27	[–.17, .67]	[–.17, .67]
Longitudinal	5	2,028	.08	.10	.14	[–.08, .27]	[–.10, .29]

Table 4

Moderator Results of Meta-analysis: Type of Measure (Affective, Cognitive, Combined).

OUTCOME	k	N	$\bar{r}$	$\bar{ρ}$	SDRC	95% CI	80% CR	DIFFERENCE TEST
OUTCOME	k	N	$\bar{r}$	$\bar{ρ}$	SDRC	95% CI	80% CR	AFF-COGNDIFF [95% CI]	AFF-COMBDIFF [95% CI]	COGN-COMBDIFF [95% CI]
*Career-related attitudes*
Career commitment								–.37 [–1.96, 1.22]	–.06 [–.57 .45]	.31 [–.82 1.44]
Affective	2	1,443	–.22	–.30	.07	[–.92, .32]	[–.45, –.15]
Cognitive	2	1,109	.08	.07	.52	[–4.58, 4.72]	[–1.51, 1.65]
Combined	4	1,815	–.19	–.24	.35	[–.81, .32]	[–.81, .33]
Career satisfaction								–.23 [.13, .33]	–.13 [–.27, .02]	–.36 [–.51, –.20]
Affective	3	4,911	–.34	–.40	.04	[–.50, –.31]	[–.45, –.35]
Cognitive	4	114,561	–.52	–.63	.07	[–.74, –.52]	[–.74, –.52]
Combined	7	2,457	–.23	–.27	.16	[–.42, –.13]	[–.48, –.07]
Organizational turnover intention								.25 [–.29, –.21]	.05 [–.11, .01]	.20 [.14, .25]
Affective	26	35,152	.20	.23	.08	[.20, .26]	[.14, .33]
Cognitive	48	132,232	.37	.49	.09	[.46, .51]	[.37, .60]
Combined	63	57,969	.22	.28	.19	[.23, .33]	[.04, .52]
Career opportunities								–.23 [–.51, .05]	–.43 [–.92, .07]	–.19 [–.61, .22]
Affective	2	334	–.32	–.37	.14	[–1.60, .87]	[–.71, –.03]
Cognitive	5	14,277	–.12	–.14	.11	[–.28, .00]	[–.31, .03]
Combined	6	3,625	.04	.06	.44	[–.40, .51]	[–.58, .70]
Employability								–.15 [–.30, .01]	–.13 [–.19, –.06]	.02 [–.13, .17]
Affective	3	21,854	–.20	–.27	.04	[–.36, –.17]	[–.34, –.20]
Cognitive	15	15,105	–.09	–.12	.27	[–.27, .03]	[–.48, .24]
Combined	42	52,617	–.11	–.14	.16	[–.19, –.09]	[–.35, .07]
*Career-related behaviors*
Job search behaviors								–.06 [–.24, .12]	–.13 [–.32, .06]	–.07 [–.27, .13]
Affective	3	5,194	.17	.24	.08	[.04, .44]	[.11, .38]
Cognitive	5	1,382	.24	.31	.13	[.14, .47]	[.14, .47]
Combined	6	3,432	.33	.37	.16	[.21, .54]	[.15, .60]
Knowledge hiding								–	–	–.15 [–.21, –.03]
Cognitive	2	711	.23	.27	.02	[.09, .45]	[.27, .27]
Combined	10	3,208	.37	.42	.16	[.30, .54]	[.21, .63]
Proactive skill development								–	–	–.04 [–0.59, 0.69]
Cognitive	3	1,302	–.05	–.07	.49	[–1.29, 1.15]	[–.99, .85]
Combined	8	7 622	–.09	–.11	.04	[–0.15, –0.08]	[–.14, –.09]
Actual turnover
Affective	2	585	.07	.08	.08	[–.65, .82]	[–.05, .22]	–.13 [–.47, .22]	–	–
Combined	5	1,367	.17	.21	.27	[–.12, .54]	[–.19, .61]

Table 5

Results summary table.

OUTCOME	MAIN EFFECTS	MODERATOR EFFECTS
OUTCOME	$\bar{ρ}$	DESIGN	MEASURE
*Career-related attitudes*
Career commitment	–.16
Career satisfaction	–.61	Cross-sectional stronger than Longitudinal	Cognitive stronger than Affective and Combined
Occupational turnover intention	.30	Cross-sectional stronger than Longitudinal
Organizational turnover intention	.39	Cross-sectional stronger than Longitudinal	Cognitive stronger than Affective and Combined
Career opportunities	–.15
Willingness to participate in training	–.00
Employability	–.16		Affective stronger than Cognitive and Combined
*Career-related behaviors*
Job search behaviors	.31
Knowledge hiding	.39		Cognitive weaker than Combined
Knowledge sharing	.07
Career planning	–.11
Networking behavior	–.11
Proactive skill development	–.11
Actual turnover	.15

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/sjwop.275 | Journal eISSN: 2002-2867

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Language: English

Page range: 2 - 2

Submitted on: Dec 20, 2023

Accepted on: Jan 19, 2025

Published on: Feb 19, 2025

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

career,

© 2025 Lena Låstad, Jacobus Pienaar, Katharina Näswall, Anne Richter, Johnny Hellgren, Magnus Sverke, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 10 (2025): Issue 1