Get a little help from your perceived employability: Cross-lagged relations between multi-dimensional perceived employability, job insecurity, and work-related well-being

Based on a two-dimensional perspective of job insecurity and perceived employability, the present study examines the role of perceived employability in preventing job insecurity and subsequent work-related well-being (i.e., emotional exhaustion and vigour). Building on the Job Demands-Resources Model, our hypotheses were tested with 3-wave panel data of 1,233 Chinese employees with six months in between each measurement time. Results showed that: 1) perceived internal employability had a cross-lagged relation with qualitative job insecurity, and perceived external employability had a cross-lagged relation with quantitative job insecurity; 2) there was no cross-lagged relationship between job insecurity and work-related well-being indicators, while emotional exhaustion was positively related to both qualitative and quantitative job insecurity; 3) the relationship between perceived external employability and vigour was reciprocal; perceived internal employability was positively related to future vigour, but not the other way around. Hence, the present study contributes to the job insecurity and perceived employability literature by identifying perceived employability as a critical antecedent of job insecurity and work-related well-being as well as finding the reverse relationship between job insecurity and emotional exhaustion.