ارزش امنیت شغلی: آیا داشتن آن مهم است؟ The Value of Job Security: Does Having It Matter?

1 Introduction Job insecurity is defined as ‘‘individual expectations about continuity in working status’’ (Davy et al. 1998), ‘‘general concern about the future existence of the work’’ (Rosenblatt and Ruvio 1996) and an ‘‘employee’s perception of a potential threat to continuing in his or her current job’’ (Heaney et al. 1994). Job security implies keeping employees from the state of unemployment, in which their income declines and they are exposed to the indirect costs of not having a job such as the impact on their psyches and social status (Clark and Oswald 1994; Frey and Stutzer 2001). Much has been written about the negative effects of unemployment on the individual. In the literature there is evidence that unemployment causes more depression than any other factor, including divorce and separation, and that unemployment is one of the worst events in life (Winkelmann and Winkelmann 1988; Clark and Oswald 1994; Oswald 1997; Clark et al. 2001; Frey and Stutzer 2001). Studies from other disciplines have shown that unemployment may lead to an increase in the rate of suicide, mortality and morbidity, a weakening of marital relations, and an increase in criminal activity. Furthermore, the longer one is unemployed, the more prestige one loses in his or her own eyes. Those without jobs develop a sense of inferiority, lose their self-confidence, and become demoralized (Eisenberg and Lazarsfeld 1938). Indeed, even the concern about possibly losing one’s job can harm one’s happiness and well-being (Zussman and Romanov 2005). While worldwide, employees have enjoyed a very high level of job security, in the last two decades, the number of people involved in organized labor in OECD economies has declined, and the proportion of employees who enjoy job security has steadily decreased over this period (Cohen et al. 2007; Hayter and Stoevska 2011; Bank of Israel 2013). Previous studies (Manhardt 1972; Green et al. 2001; Guiso et al. 2002; Anxo 2003; Bo¨ckerman 2004; Postel-Vinay and Saint-Martin 2005; Erlinghagen 2008; Clark and Postel-Vinay 2009; Salladarre´ et al. 2011) showed that variables such as the personal and demographic characteristics of the employee, macroeconomic indicators and institutional factors affect the perception of employment security in Europe. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that these factors will affect the importance of job security in the eyes of the worker.