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40 Years of Job Insecurity: A Review of Research Designs and Scales of Measurement Cover

40 Years of Job Insecurity: A Review of Research Designs and Scales of Measurement

Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
Volume 10 (2025): Issue 1
By: ,  ,  ,   and    
Open Access
|Jun 2025
Figures & tables

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Temporal Trajectories of Research Designs in Job Insecurity Research.

Table 1

Summary of Research Designs by Years.

RESEARCH DESIGN1984–19891990–19941995–19992000–20042005–20092010–20142015–20192020–2023GRAND TOTAL
N%N%N%N%N%N%N%N%N%
1. Correlational, Cross-sectional2251150.01939.62937.25857.49150.615050.59736.545745.7
2. Complex Correlational, Cross-sectional113313.6510.422.622.0116.1248.1207.5686.8
3. Longitudinal113418.2918.82734.61817.84826.76521.99435.326626.6
4. Experimental 014.512.122.622.021.141.331.1151.5
5. Qualitative and mixed methods11314.524.279.087.9116.1227.4207.5727.2
6. Reviews and Meta-Analyses1130.024.222.644.084.4165.4134.9464.6
7. Validation1130.048.311.365.942.282.783.0323.2
8. Conceptual, Editorial, Mathematical modeling11329.1612.5810.333.052.882.7114.1444.4
Total for years81002210048100781001011001801002971002661001000100
Table 2

Key Characteristics of Job Insecurity Scales.

AUTHORSTYPE OF JOB INSECURITYDIMENSION(S)LANGUAGE(S)ITEMSRATING SCALERANGEEDUCATIONAL LEVELFLESCH READING EASE SCORETYPE OF STUDY
Caplan et al., 1975BothCognitiveEnglish4Uncertainty1–5Middle School72.2Empirical
Johnson et al., 1984QuantitativeAffectiveEnglish7Agreement1–5Middle School86.7Validation
Oldham et al., 1986QuantitativeAffectiveEnglish101–7Middle School75.4Empirical
Ashford et al., 1989BothBothEnglish57Importance and likelihood1–5Middle School74.5Validation
Hartley et al., 1991QuantitativeCognitiveHebrew3Likelihood1–5Middle School77.2Empirical
Hartley et al., 1991QuantitativeBothDuch3LikelihoodmixedMiddle School68.3Empirical
Hartley et al., 1991QuantitativeBothEnglish3Likelihood1–5Elementary School88.7Empirical
Borg & Elizur, 1992BothBothGerman9Agreement1–7Elementary School92.6Validation
Hellgren et al., 1999QuantitativeBothSwedish4Agreement1–5Middle School71.3Validation
Hellgren et al., 1999QualitativeBothSwedish4Agreement1–5College34.4Validation
Mohr, 2000QuantitativeCognitiveGerman1Probability1–5High School65.7Empirical
Mauno et al., 2001 (global scale only)QuantitativeCognitiveFinnish3Agreement1–5Middle School79.3Validation
Probst, 2003QuantitativeBothEnglish18 + 20Yes,?, No1–3High School60.6Validation
Sverke et al., 2004QuantitativeBothDutch, Italian, Swedish, Flemish5Agreement1–5Elementary School100Empirical
Probst, 2005QuantitativeBothEnglish, Chinese3Yes,?, No1–3High School69.1Validation
Francis & Barling, 2005BothBothEnglish5Agreement1–5Elementary School94.6Empirical
C. Lee et al., 2008BothCognitiveEnglish, Chinese25Importance and likelihood1–5High School62.9Validation
Chirumbolo & Areni, 2010QualitativeBothItalian5Agreement1–5College43Empirical
De Witte et al., 2010QualitativeCognitiveDutch10Deterioration1–5College Graduate17.9Empirical
Huang et al., 2010QuantitativeAffectiveChinese7Agreement1–5High School69Validation
Staufenbiel & König, 2011QuantitativeBothGerman7Agreement1–7Middle School86.4Validation
Arnold & Staffelbach, 2012QuantitativeBothGerman, French3Intensity1–5Middle School89.1Empirical
Arnold & Staffelbach, 2012QualitativeCognitiveGerman, French7Intensity1–5College34.6Empirical
O’Neill & Sevastos, 2013QuantitativeBothEnglish7Agreement1–7High School69.8Validation
O’Neill & Sevastos, 2013QualitativeBothEnglish7Agreement1–7Middle School75.9Validation
Pienaar et al., 2013QualitativeBothEnglish8Agreement1–7Middle School72.2Validation
Vander Elst et al., 2014QuantitativeBothDutch, Spanish, Swedish, English4Agreement1–5Elementary School96.2Validation
Burr et al., 2019BothAffectiveGerman, French, English, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish2 + 31–100High School51.6Validation
Blotenberg & Richter, 2020QualitativeBothSwedish11Agreement1–5High School68.6Validation
Brondino et al., 2020QualitativeBothDutch, Italian8Agreement1–7High School69Validation
Wang et al., 2021QuantitativeCognitiveChinese15Agreement1–7High School60.3Validation
Fischmann et al., 2022QualitativeBothRomanian, Dutch4Agreement1–5Middle School83.9Validation
Van Hootegem et al., 2023QuantitativeCognitiveDutch1Agreement1–4High School61.3Empirical
Bazzoli & Probst, 2023aQuantitativeBothEnglish9 + 9Agreement1–7High School50.9Validation
Figure 2

Comparison of Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Designs across Time.

Table 3

Compendium of job insecurity scales.

ORIGINAL SCALESIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS/REFINEMENTSOVERVIEW (ALL ARTICLES)VALIDATED VERSIONS IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Ashford et al. (1989)

  • Original scale consists of 57 items loading on three dimensions (job features, total job, and powerlessness)

  • Abridged (37 items) and bare bones (25 items) versions have been developed

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: confirmatory factor analyses, correlations with relevant predictors and outcomes, correlations with original scale, correlation with other scale measuring job insecurity

English, Chinese
Borg (1992)

  • Borg & Elizur (1992)

  • Huang et al. (2010)

  • Staufenbiel & König (2011)

  • Original scale consists of 10 items in German measuring cognitive and affective job insecurity

  • Shorter versions in English (Borg & Elizur, 1992, nine items; Staufenbiel & König, 2011, seven items) exist

  • Other scales have been generated based on these items (Huang et al., 2010)

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: principal component analysis, reliability analyses, exploratory factor analyses, correlations with relevant predictors and outcomes, confirmatory factor analyses

Chinese, German (items available in English)
Hellgren et al. (1999) – Quantitative

  • Chirumbolo & Areni (2010)

  • Chirumbolo et al. (2020)

  • Original scale consists of three items measuring cognitive and affective job insecurity

  • Other scales have been generated based on these items (Sverke et al., 2004)

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: correlations with relevant outcomes, test-retest correlations, principal component analysis,

Swedish, Italian, (items available in English)
Hellgren et al. (1999) – Qualitative

  • Chirumbolo & Areni (2010)

  • Chirumbolo et al. (2020)

  • Original scale consists of four items

  • A longer version (Chirumbolo & Areni, 2010, five items) exists

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: correlations with relevant outcomes, test-retest correlations, principal component analysis

Swedish, Italian (items available in English)
De Witte (2000) – Quantitative

  • Original scale consists of four items

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: confirmatory factor analyses, measurement invariance across countries and select demographic characteristics, correlations with relevant outcomes, reliability analyses

Duch, Spanish, Swedish, English, Chinese, Croatian, Greek, Lithuanian, Romanian, German (Switzerland)
De Witte (2000) – Qualitative

  • Original scale consists of four items

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: confirmatory factor analyses, measurement invariance across countries and select demographic characteristics, correlations with relevant outcomes, reliability analyses

Duch, English, Chinese, Croatian, Greek, Lithuanian, Romanian, German (Switzerland)
Probst (2003)

  • Bazzoli et al. (2023)

  • Görgens-Ekermans et al. (2024)

  • Original scales consist of 18 items that measure cognitive job insecurity and 20 items that measure affective job insecurity

  • Shortened (nine items each) and rescaled (1–7 rating scale) versions exist (Bazzoli et al., 2023)

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: confirmatory factor analyses, measurement invariance across countries, correlations with relevant outcomes, reliability analyses, item response theory analyses

English, Chinese, Italian, Afrikaans
Hellgren et al., (2002)

  • Scale consists of five items measuring quantitative job insecurity

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: confirmatory factor analyses, measurement invariance across countries, correlations with relevant outcomes, reliability analyses

Dutch, Italian, Swedish (items are available in English)
Burr et al. (2019)

  • Original scale is part of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and consists of three items measuring quantitative job insecurity and five items measuring qualitative job insecurity

  • Shorter versions exist (Burr et al., 2019)

  • Updated from older versions of the same instrument

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: reliability analysis, correlations with relevant outcomes, differential item functioning analyses

German, French, English, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish (items are available in English)
Brondino et al. (2020)

  • Scale consists of eight items measuring valued job features

  • Analyses to support validity arguments: multilevel confirmatory factor analyses, reliability analyses, correlations with relevant predictors and outcomes, measurement invariance across countries and select demographic characteristics

Italian, Dutch (items are available in English)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/sjwop.288 | Journal eISSN: 2002-2867
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Language: English
Page range: 7 - 7
Submitted on: Jan 31, 2024
Accepted on: Apr 7, 2025
Published on: Jun 6, 2025
Published by: Stockholm University Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
Job insecurity,
research designs,
research methods,
measurement,
systematic review

© 2025 Andrea Bazzoli, Margherita Brondino, Ava Morgan, Jason Phillips, Margherita Pasini, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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