Special Issue Editorial on Job Insecurity

Katharina Klug; Anahí Van Hootegem; Katharina Näswall; Hans De Witte; Eva Selenko

doi:10.16993/sjwop.508

Special Issue Editorial on Job Insecurity

Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

Volume 11 (2026): Issue 1

By: Katharina Klug , Anahí Van Hootegem , Katharina Näswall , Hans De Witte and Eva Selenko

Open Access

|May 2026

Antonakis, J., Bendahan, S., Jacquart, P., & Lalive, R. (2010). On making causal claims: A review and recommendations. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(6), 1086–1120. 10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.10.010
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bazzoli, A., Brondino, M., Morgan, A., Phillips, J., & Pasini, M. (2025). 40 Years of Job Insecurity: A Review of Research Designs and Scales of Measurement. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1): 7, 1–17. 10.16993/sjwop.288
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bernhard-Oettel, C., Eib, C., Griep, Y., & Leineweber, C. (2020). How do job insecurity and organizational justice relate to depressive symptoms and sleep difficulties: A multilevel study on immediate and prolonged effects in Swedish workers. Applied Psychology, 69(4), 1271–1300. 10.1111/apps.12222
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bernhard-Oettel, C., Müller, F., & Eib, C. (2025). All Insecure? Insecurity Profiles and Their Antecedents in Employed Gig Workers. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1): 15, 1–18. 10.16993/sjwop.305
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cheng, G. H.-L., & Chan, D. K.-S. (2008). Who suffers more from job insecurity? A meta-analytic review. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57(2), 272–303. 10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00312.x
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Chirumbolo, A., Urbini, F., & Callea, A. (2020). Dimensionality, reliability and validity of a multidimensional job insecurity questionnaire. Preliminary findings in the Italian context. Rassegna Di Psicologia, 37(1), 35–46. 10.13133/1974-4854/16722
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Colakoglu, S. N. (2011). The impact of career boundarylessness on subjective career success: The role of career competencies, career autonomy, and career insecurity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(1), 47–59. 10.1016/J.JVB.2010.09.011
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
De Cuyper, N., & De Witte, H. (2021, June 28). Job insecurity. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.17
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
De Witte, H., & Näswall, K. (2003). ‘Objective’ versus ‘Subjective’ Job Insecurity: Consequences of Temporary Work for Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in Four European Countries. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 24(2), 149–188. 10.1177/0143831X03024002002
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
De Witte, H., Pienaar, J., & De Cuyper, N. (2016). Review of 30 years of longitudinal studies on the association between job insecurity and health and well-being: Is there causal evidence? Australian Psychologist, 51(1), 18–31. 10.1111/ap.12176
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
De Witte, H., Roll, C. L., Coetzee, W., & Rothmann, I. (2025). Epilogue. In L. C. Roll, H. De Witte, & I. Rothmann (Eds.), Global Perspectives on Job Insecurity in Higher Education. Precarity in the Ivory Tower (pp. 299–324). Springer. 10.1007/978-3-031-85772-0_12
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
De Witte, H., Vander Elst, T., & De Cuyper, N. (2015). Job insecurity, health and well-being. In J. Vuori, R. Blonk, & R. H. Price (Eds.), Sustainable working lives: Managing work transitions and health throughout the life course (pp. 109–128). Springer. 10.1007/978-94-017-9798-6_7
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1987). The support of autonomy and the control of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(6), 1024–1037. 10.1037/0022-3514.53.6.1024
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human relations, 7(2), 117–140. 10.1177/001872675400700202
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ford, M. T., Matthews, R. A., Wooldridge, J. D., Mishra, V., Kakar, U. M., & Strahan, S. R. (2014). How do occupational stressor-strain effects vary with time? A review and meta-analysis of the relevance of time lags in longitudinal studies. Work & Stress, 28(1), 9–30. 10.1080/02678373.2013.877096
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Griep, Y., Lukic, A., Kraak, J. M., Bohle, S. A. L., Jiang, L., Vander Elst, T., & De Witte, H. (2021). The chicken or the egg: The reciprocal relationship between job insecurity and mental health complaints. Journal of Business Research, 126, 170–186. 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.045
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513–524. 10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hofer, A., Spurk, D., & Hirschi, A. (2021). When and why do negative organization-related career shocks impair career optimism? A conditional indirect effect model. Career Development International, 26(4), 467–494. 10.1108/CDI-12-2018-0299/FULL/PDF
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Höge, T., Brucculeri, A., & Iwanowa, A. N. (2012). Career insecurity, goal conflicts, and well-being among young scientists: A study in three countries. Zeitschrift Fur Arbeits- Und Organisationspsychologie, 56(4), 159–172. 10.1026/0932-4089/a000088
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hollywood, A., McCarthy, D., Spencely, C., & Winstone, N. (2020). ‘Overwhelmed at first’: the experience of career development in early career academics. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(7), 998–1012. 10.1080/0309877X.2019.1636213
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
ILO. (2019). Work for a brighter future. In Work for a brighter future: Global Commission on the Future of Work. 10.20396/rbest.v1i0.12537
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jiang, L. (2025). An integrative review of moderators attenuating or exacerbating negative outcomes of job insecurity. Academy of Management Annals, 19(2), 565–601. 10.5465/annals.2024.0040
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jiang, L., & Lavaysse, L. M. (2018). Cognitive and affective job insecurity: A meta-analysis and a primary study. Journal of Management, 44(6), 2307–2342. 10.1177/0149206318773853
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jiang, L., Xu, X., & Wang, H.-J. (2021). A resources–demands approach to sources of job insecurity: A multilevel meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 26(2), 108–126. 10.1037/ocp0000267
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Keim, A. C., Landis, R. S., Pierce, C. A., & Earnest, D. R. (2014). Why do employees worry about their jobs? A meta-analytic review of predictors of job insecurity. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 19(3), 269–290. 10.1037/a0036743.
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Klandermans, B., & van Vuuren, T. (1999). Job Insecurity: Introduction. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8, 145–153. 10.1080/135943299398294
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Klug, K., Bernhard-Oettel, C., & Sverke, M. (2024b). The Paradox of Job Retention Schemes: A Latent Growth Curve Modeling Approach to Immediate and Prolonged Effects of Short-Time Work on Job Insecurity and Employee Well-Being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 25(6), 72. 10.1007/s10902-024-00787-y
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Klug, K., Decius, J., & Van Hootegem, A. (2025). Precarious Work in Europe: Latent Classes of Economic Stressors in Relation to Well-Being and Training, and the Moderating Role of Country-Level Prevalence. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1): 14, 1–27. 10.16993/sjwop.341
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Klug, K., Selenko, E., Van Hootegem, A., Sverke, M., & De Witte, H. (2024a). A lead article to go deeper and broader in job insecurity research: Understanding an individual perception in its social and political context. Applied Psychology: International Review, 73(4), 1960–1993. 10.1111/apps.12535
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kottwitz, M. U., Otto, K., Elfering, A., Garrido Vásquez, M. E., Braun, S., & Kälin, W. (2021). Why do illegitimate tasks cause pain? Qualitative job insecurity as an underlying mechanism. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 6(1), 1–12. 10.16993/SJWOP.125
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Låstad, L., Pienaar, J., Näswall, K., Richter, A., Hellgren, J., & Sverke, M. (2025). Moving on up now? A meta-analysis of the associations between job insecurity and career-related outcomes. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1), 1–22. 10.16993/sjwop.275
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. Springer.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lee, C., Huang, G.-H., & Ashford, S. J. (2018). Job Insecurity and the Changing Workplace: Recent Developments and the Future Trends in Job Insecurity Research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5(1), 335–359. 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104651
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Llosa, J. A., Menéndez-Espina, S., Agulló-Tomás, E., & Rodríguez-Suárez, J. (2018). Job insecurity and mental health: A meta-analytical review of the consequences of precarious work in clinical disorders. Anales de Psicología, 34(2), 211–223. 10.6018/analesps.34.2.281651
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lyons, S., & Kuron, L. (2014). Generational differences in the workplace: A review of the evidence and directions for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(S1), S139–S157. 10.1002/job.1913
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Marcotte, D. E. (1999). Has job stability declined? Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 58(2), 197–216. 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1998.tb03467.x
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Mauno, S., Cheng, T., & Lim, V. (2017). The far-reaching consequences of job Insecurity: A review on family-related outcomes. Marriage & Family Review, 53(8), 717–743. 10.1080/01494929.2017.1283382
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Messioui, A., & van Vuuren, T. (2025). The Effects of Sickness Absence on Job Insecurity via Skills Obsolescence: A Longitudinal Study. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1): 6, 1–13. 10.16993/sjwop.287
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Mutz, D. C., & Mondrak, J. J. (2006). The workplace as a context for cross-cutting political discourse. The Journal of Politics, 68(1), 140–155. 10.4324/9780203094693-9
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
OECD. (2022). OECD Employment Outlook 2022: Building Back More Inclusive Labour Markets. 10.1787/1bb305a6-en
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Otto, K., & Kleszewski, E. (2025). Lack of Detachment, Affective Rumination or Problem Solving Pondering? Decoding the Connection Between Job Insecurity and Exhaustion. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1): 9, 1–13. 10.16993/sjwop.280
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Piccoli, B., & De Witte, H. (2015). Job insecurity and emotional exhaustion: Testing psychological contract breach versus distributive injustice as indicators of lack of reciprocity. Work & Stress, 29(3), 246–263. 10.1080/02678373.2015.1075624
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Probst, T. M., Jiang, L., & Benson, W. (2018). Job insecurity and anticipated job loss: A primer and exploration of possible interventions. In U.-C. Klehe & E. A. J. Van Hooft (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search (pp. 31–53). Oxford University Press.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rokkanen, M., & Uusitalo, R. (2010). Changes in job Stability: Evidence from lifetime job histories. IZA Discussion Papers (No. 4721). 10.2139/ssrn.1545148
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Roll, L. C., De Witte, H., & Wang, H. J. (2023). Conceptualization and Validation of the Occupation Insecurity Scale (OCIS): Measuring Employees’ Occupation Insecurity Due to Automation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3). 10.3390/ijerph20032589
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rousseau, D. M. (1995). Psychological contracts in organizations: Understanding written and unwritten agreements. SAGE. https://books.google.de/books?hl=de&lr=&id=xz9CCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=rousseau+psychological+contracts+in+organizations+1995&ots=8OTorpbzKn&sig=MgZ3uLKP0XDNpOWIjougUb9assg#v=onepage&q=rousseaupsychologicalcontractsinorganizations1995&f=false
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Selenko, E., & De Witte, H. (2021). How Job Insecurity Affects Political Attitudes: Identity Threat Plays a Role. Applied Psychology, 70(3), 1267–1294. 10.1111/apps.12275
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Selenko, E., Mäkikangas, A., & Stride, C. B. (2017). Does job insecurity threaten who you are? Introducing a social identity perspective to explain well-being and performance consequences of job insecurity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(6), 856–875. 10.1002/job.2172
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Selenko, E., Schilbach, M., Brieger, S. A., Van Hootegem, A., & De Witte, H. (2025). The Political Consequences of Work: An Integrative Review. Journal of Management, 51(6), 2355–2388. 10.1177/01492063241301337
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Selenko, E., Van Hootegem, A., Shoss, M., & De Witte, H. (2024). Work changes caused by the pandemic: A threat to identification and compliance with health regulations? Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9(1), 1–15. 10.16993/sjwop.278
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Shoss, M. K. (2017). Job Insecurity: An Integrative Review and Agenda for Future Research. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1911–1939. 10.1177/0149206317691574
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Shoss, M. K., Su, S., Schlotzhauer, A. E., & Carusone, N. (2023). Working Hard or Hardly Working? An Examination of Job Preservation Responses to Job Insecurity. Journal of Management, 49(7), 2387–2414. 10.1177/01492063221107877
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Sora, B., De Cuyper, N., Caballer, A., Peiró, J. M., & De Witte, H. (2012). Outcomes of job insecurity climate: The role of climate strength. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 62, 382–405. 10.1111/j.1464-0597.2012.00485.x
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Spurk, D., Hofer, A., Hirschi, A., De Cuyper, N., & De Witte, H. (2022). Conceptualizing career insecurity: Toward a better understanding and measurement of a multidimensional construct. Personnel Psychology, 75(2), 253–294. 10.1111/peps.12493
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Spurk, D., Hofer, A., Nixon, N. S. R., Barthauer, L., & Kauffeld, S. (2025). Adapt to survive? Attenuating indirect effects of career adaptability on exhaustion via career insecurity. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1): 8, 1–11. 10.16993/sjwop.281
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Spurk, D., Kauffeld, S., Meinecke, A. L., & Ebner, K. (2016). Why Do Adaptable People Feel Less Insecure? Indirect Effects of Career Adaptability on Job and Career Insecurity via Two Types of Perceived Marketability. Journal of Career Assessment, 24(2), 289–306. 10.1177/1069072715580415
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Sverke, M., & Hellgren, J. (2002). The nature of job insecurity: Understanding employment uncertainty on the brink of a new millennium. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 51(1), 23–42. 10.1111/1464-0597.0077z.
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Sverke, M., Hellgren, J., & Näswall, K. (2002). No security: A meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7(3), 242–264. 10.1037/1076-8998.7.3.242
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Sverke, M., Låstad, L., Hellgren, J., Richter, A., & Näswall, K. (2019). A meta-analysis of job insecurity and employee performance: Testing temporal aspects, rating source, welfare regime, and union density as moderators. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(14), 2536. 10.3390/ijerph16142536
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tajfel, H., Turner, J. C., Worchel, S., Austin, W. G., & others. (1986). Psychology of intergroup relations. Nelson-Hall.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Taulla, O., Sora, B., Höge, T., Mauno, S., & Boada, J. (2025). How Can a Job Insecurity Climate Emerge in an Organization and Associates with Organizational Antecedents? Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(1): 17, 1–17. 10.16993/sjwop.296
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Van Hootegem, A., Nikolova, I., Van Ruysseveldt, J., Van Dam, K., & De Witte, H. (2021). Hit by a double whammy? Trajectories of perceived quantitative and qualitative job insecurity in relation to work-related learning aspects. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 30(6), 915–930. 10.1080/1359432X.2021.1891890
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Van Hootegem, A., Sverke, M., & De Witte, H. (2021). Does occupational self-efficacy mediate the relationships between job insecurity and work-related learning? A latent growth modelling approach. Work and Stress, 36(3), 229–250. 10.1080/02678373.2021.1891585
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Van Hootegem, A., Van Hootegem, A., Selenko, E., & De Witte, H. (2022). Work Is Political: Distributive Injustice as a Mediating Mechanism in the Relationship Between Job Insecurity and Political Cynicism. Political Psychology, 43(2), 375–396. 10.1111/pops.12766
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Vander Elst, T., Griep, Y., Sverke, M., & De Witte, H. (2024). The relationship between job insecurity and psychological contract breach as conditional upon causal attributions: A within-person approach. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9(1), 1–18. 10.16993/sjwop.277
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Vander Elst, T., Näswall, K., Bernhard-Oettel, C., De Witte, H., & Sverke, M. (2016). The effect of job insecurity on employee health complaints: A within-person analysis of the explanatory role of threats to the manifest and latent benefits of work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 21(1), 65–76. 10.1037/a0039140
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Vander Elst, T., van den Broeck, A., de Witte, H., & de Cuyper, N. (2012). The mediating role of frustration of psychological needs in the relationship between job insecurity and work-related well-being. Work and Stress, 26(3), 252–271. 10.1080/02678373.2012.703900
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wroe, A. (2014). Political trust and job insecurity in 18 European polities. Journal of Trust Research, 4(2), 90–112. 10.1080/21515581.2014.957291
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Zaki, B. L., Pattyn, V., & Wayenberg, E. (2024). Policymaking in an age of polycrises: emerging perspectives. Policy Design and Practice, 7(4), 377–389. 10.1080/25741292.2024.2432048
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/sjwop.508 | Journal eISSN: 2002-2867

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 7 - 7

Submitted on: Apr 14, 2026

Accepted on: Apr 15, 2026

Published on: May 8, 2026

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

context,

careers,

© 2026 Katharina Klug, Anahí Van Hootegem, Katharina Näswall, Hans De Witte, Eva Selenko, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 11 (2026): Issue 1