The buffering effect of coping strategies in the relationship between job insecurity and employee well-being/ created by Ting Cheng, Saija Mauno and Cynthia Lee

The modern labour market features job insecurity (JI) as an unavoidable stressor. This study considers the influence of personal coping strategies by combining the conservation of resources with spillover theory. Do coping strategies buffer the negative effects of JI on well-being (work engagement, marital satisfaction and emotional energy at work and home)? A cybernetic coping scale distinguishes five coping strategies and a survey of 2764 Finnish employees reveals that changing the situation and symptom reduction buffer the negative effect of JI on emotional energy at work and home, respectively. Devaluation and accommodation have buffering tendencies in relation to work engagement and marital satisfaction. Thus, more engaged coping strategies reduce the negative effects of JI on employee well-being. Employees who use disengaged coping (i.e. avoidance) instead are less likely to remain engaged at work, such that frequent use of avoidance coping strengthens the negative relationship between JI and employee well-being.