Contextual factors moderating the relationship between qualitative job Insecurity and burnout:A plea for a multilevel approach

Abstract

The aim of this chapter was to tap into the buffering role of contextual variables in the stressor-strain relationship, as predicted in the basic model of work psychology of Hans De Witte. Previous studies have examined these relationships primarily from an individual perspective, making it impossible to properly investigate variables as contextual factors. In response, this chapter specifically addressed and tested the buffering roles of organisational communication and procedural justice—both modelled at the individual- and organisational-level—in the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and burnout. Multilevel path analysis was conducted on a sample of 35,558 Belgian employees clustered within 83 organisations from various sectors. In line with previous findings, it was found that organisational communication and procedural justice modelled at the individual level attenuated the positive relationship between qualitative job insecurity and burnout. There was one exception: organisational communication did not moderate the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and the burnout dimension of emotional exhaustion. Besides this, collective organisational communication and procedural justice, modelled at the organisational level, buffered the qualitative job insecurity-burnout relationship (i.e., cross-level interactions). Despite the small effect sizes for the interaction effects, the multilevel approach allows inferences to be made at both the individual and the organisational level