HR performance within Saudi Arabian organisations : is the relationship between 'job security and ill-treatment' and job satisfaction moderated by organisational support : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

HR performance, particularly employees’ performance, has been well researched in Western countries. However, many Asian countries, including the region of the Arabic Gulf, are still under-researched in relation to this subject. This present study quantitatively investigated employees’ performance in one of the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia. In addition, it took into consideration the religion (Islam) as well as the cultural characteristics that may affect performance in the workplace. Particularly, the type of society (collectivistic), losing face issue and power distance are the cultural characteristics discussed in this study. Furthermore, the study used four variables, which are considered important in relation to employees’ performance in the Saudi context: job security, ill-treatment (independent variables), perceived organisational support (POS) as a moderating variable and job satisfaction (dependent/outcome variable). The research question for this study is “Is the relationship between job security and ill-treatment, and job satisfaction, moderated by organisational support?” Previous research indicates that relationships between these variables vary in terms of how much they impact employees’ job satisfaction and, therefore, their performance. Some studies suggest that job security increases employees’ job satisfaction which can result in better performance. Others claim that ill-treatment can be a source of job dissatisfaction and lower the quality of job performance as ill-treatment impacts employees physically and psychologically. In addition, POS was found to have positive effects on job satisfaction as a higher level of support from organisations can lead to higher job satisfaction and performance. This cross-sectional, quantitative study used a questionnaire as the data collection method. Measurement scales used in the study were previously used in other studies, which strengthens the internal validity of this study. The 424 participants who completed the survey were Saudi employees who were required to have worked for at least six months for the same employer as full-time employees in Saudi Arabia. Results from this study suggest that, on an individual level, all three variables (job security, ill-treatment, POS) predicted job satisfaction in Saudi organisations. However, the regression analysis showed that job security had the biggest effect on job satisfaction followed by ill-treatment. Also, the moderation analysis revealed that the relationship between job security and job satisfaction was partially moderated by POS. However, POS did not appear to moderate the relationship between ill-treatment and job satisfaction

Do Job Security Guarantees Work?

We investigate the effect of employer job security guarantees on employee perceptions of jobsecurity. Using linked employer-employee data from the 1998 British Workplace EmployeeRelations Survey, we find job security guarantees reduce employee perceptions of jobinsecurity. This finding is robust to endogenous selection of job security guarantees byemployers engaging in organisational change and workforce reductions. Furthermore, thereis no evidence that increased job security through job guarantees results in greater workintensification, stress, or lower job satisfaction.Job insecurity, job guarantees, linked employer-employee data

Job Security Laws and Structural Change in the Japanese Labor Market

There are a number of indications that Japanese job security laws have been relaxed since the end of the 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to establish causality between job security laws and firing costs in the Japanese labor market. The analysis first investigates when and how firing costs changed, and then compares the timing of these changes in firing costs with those of job security laws. The results indicate that gradual changes in firing costs began in about 1992, lagging one or two years behind the bursting of the bubble economy, while job security laws started to change towards the end of the 1990s.Adjustment costs for labor; Gradual switching model; Job security laws

Are flexible contracts bad for workers? Evidence from job satisfaction data

If workers can choose between permanent and flexible contracts, compensating wage differentials should arise to equalize on-the-job utility in the two types of contracts. Estimating job satisfaction using the British Household Panel Survey shows that agency and casual contracts are associated with routinely lower satisfaction. This results because the low job satisfaction associated with less job security is not offset by higher compensation or other job characteristics. Job security is sufficiently important that holding constant this one facet of satisfaction eliminates the overall gap in job satisfaction between flexible and permanent contracts

Job Security as an Endogenous Job Characteristic

This paper develops a hedonic model of job security (JS). Workers with heterogeneous JS-preferences pay the hedonic price for JS to employers, who incur labor-hoarding costs from supplying JS. In contrast to the Wage-Bill Argument, equilibrium unemployment is strictly positive, as workers with weak JS-preferences trade JS for higher wages. The relation between optimal job insecurity and the perceived dismissal probability is hump-shaped. If firms observe demand, but workers do not, separation is not contractible and firms dismiss workers at-will. Although the workers are risk-averse, they respond to the one-sided private information by trading wage-risk for a higher JS. With two-sided private information, even JS-neutral workers pay the price for a JS guarantee, if their risk premium associated with the wage-replacement risk is larger than the social net loss from production.job security; hedonic market; implicit contract theory; guaranteed employment contract; severance pay contract; asymmetric information; prudence

Perceptions of Job Security in Europe’s Ageing Workforce

Using data from the 2004 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, this paper investigates older workers’ perceptions of job security in eleven countries. We describe cross-national patterns and estimate multilevel models to analyse individual and societal determinants of self-perceived job security in the older labour force. While there are considerable cross-country variations around a median value of 23% of workers aged 50 or older ranking their job security as poor, none of our suggested macro-level variables – labour force participation rate, employment protection legislation, mean level of general social trust, and proportion disapproving of working beyond age 70 – bears statistically significant associations with individuals’ job security. Future research should aim at identifying statistically more powerful indicators of the supposed multilevel relationship between social context and older workers’ perceptions of job security. Moreover, supplementary findings indicate that further attention should be paid to the gender dimension of job insecurity.

Are flexible contracts bad for workers? Evidence from job satisfaction data

If workers can choose between permanent and flexible contracts, compensating wage differentials should arise to equalize on-the-job utility in the two types of contracts. Estimating job satisfaction using the British Household Panel Survey shows that agency and casual contracts are associated with routinely lower satisfaction. This results because the low job satisfaction associated with less job security is not offset by higher compensation or other job characteristics. Job security is sufficiently important that holding constant this one facet of satisfaction eliminates the overall gap in job satisfaction between flexible and permanent contracts.

Creative destruction and employee well-being

We examine the effects of establishment- and industry-level labor market turnover on employees’ job satisfaction and perceived job insecurity. Our linked employer-employee panel data contain both information on employees’ subjective well-being and register-based information on job and worker flows. The results show that job destruction and worker outflow measures reduce job satisfaction and, especially, perceived security. These effects are much weaker when the individual-specific fixed effects are taken into account. The evidence also reveals that the establishment-level job and worker flows do not translate into higher wages. These findings speak against the existence of compensating wage differentials for job uncertainty.job flows; worker flows; job satisfaction; perceived security; job instability

How Do Workers Fare During Transition? Perceptions of Job Insecurity among Russian Workers, 1995-2004

Labor market conditions deteriorated substantially in the1990s during Russia’s transition from plan to market, generating pervasive and prolonged economic insecurity. Our objective is to document perceptions of job insecurity among Russian workers over the course of the transition period and evaluate whether these perceptions are consistent with actual economic outcomes. We use RLMS data to examine perceptions of job insecurity among Russian workers between 1995 and 1998, when economic conditions were relatively chaotic, and between 2000 and 2004, when economic conditions had stabilized. We employ two measures to assess worker perceptions of job insecurity: one reflects workers’ concerns about job loss, and the second evaluates their concern about ability to find employment in case of a lay-off. Our descriptive analysis focuses on workers who perceived their job situation as insecure during this period, categorizing workers based on their socio-demographic characteristics, job characteristics and region of residence. Using ordered probit analysis, we study conditional distributions of our measures of perceived job insecurity, and how those varied by worker characteristics, current economic conditions, and over time. Similar to studies conducted in developed market economies, we find that perceptions of job security are higher among workers with more education, among workers with status positions (supervisory responsibilities), and among workers who live in locales that are not adversely affected by economic conditions. Unlike these studies, however, we find that perceptions differ between men and women; age is negatively, rather than positively, correlated with confidence in keeping one’s current job; and longer job tenure does not improve perceptions of job security. We find that worker perceptions are largely consistent with actual labor market conditions. Specifically, perceptions of job security were very low in years of major economic change and uncertainty (1995-1998), but improved during the years of relative economic stability (2000-2004). In both periods, workers with relatively weak positions in the labor market tended to have lower perceptions of job insecurity.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57251/1/wp871 .pd