The association between subjective job insecurity and job performance across different employment groups

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance, and to assess how this association is different across different employment groups. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a data set owned by TNO and Statistics Netherlands of more than 89,000 Dutch workers and self-employed that is a representative sample of the Dutch workforce. The authors included data from 2014 and 2016 assessing subjective job insecurity in terms of “a concern about the future of one’s job/business” and self-rated job performance. Findings The effect size of the association between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance is small. For temporary agency workers and on-call workers, the association between subjective job insecurity and job performance is weaker compared to permanent workers and fixed-term workers. However for self-employed workers with and without employees, however, the relation between subjective job insecurity and job performance is stronger compared to permanent workers. Research limitations/implications The biggest limitation is the cross-sectional design of the study, which limits conclusions about causality. Practical implications The finding that subjective job insecurity goes together with less work performance shows that job insecurity has no upside for the productivity of companies. Originality/value The study provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance on a national level.