Organizational change and job insecurity: The moderating role of employability

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between characteristics of change (frequency of change [FC], impact of change [IC], planning involved in change [PC]) and job insecurity (JIS), as well as the moderating role of employability (EMP) within these relationships. Data were obtained from a sample of 361 permanent employees working at four- and five-star hotels. The hypothesized relationships were tested via structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that employees’ perceptions of JIS are affected positively by FC and IC and negatively by PC. Additionally, this study confirmed that the perception of EMP moderates the relationships between the characteristics of organizational change (FC, IC, PC) and JIS. No causal inference can be made with regard to the relationships in this study by virtue of the cross-sectional data used in the study. Hence, further studies with longitudinal design and wider samples covering different regions and/or tourism destinations need to be carried out to validate the results of this study and to further clarify the direction of the relationships presented here. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study presents the first empirical evidence on the moderating role of EMP in accounting for the JIS resulting from FC, IC and PC, the characteristics of organizational change. Also, the significance of this study lies in the fact that its subject has not been addressed before from the perspective of the hospitality industry.