The relationship between job insecurity and well-being among Peruvian workers

The present study’s aims are twofold: to introduce job insecurity research in Peru, and to investigate the relationship between job insecurity and a broad range of well-being indicators, including optimal and impaired, and general and work-related well-being. We hypothesise that job insecurity (1) relates negatively to work-related optimal well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, career satisfaction and work engagement) and positively to work-related impaired well-being (i.e., burnout), and (2) negatively to general optimal well-being (i.e., life satisfaction) and positively to general impaired well-being (i.e., psychological distress). In 2008, we administered questionnaires to employees from eight organizations based in Metropolitan Lima, yielding a convenience sample of 651 respondents. We used hierarchical regression analyses and controlled for organizations, age, gender, job-related (e.g., occupational position) and family-related (e.g., financial contribution to the household) variables. Results supported our hypotheses. We conclude that job insecurity shows a strong association with impaired well-being. A particular strength of this study is that it is situated in Lima, Peru, and in a context of economic growth. It also contributes to understand the association of job insecurity with work-related well-being by including rarely studied variables such as career satisfaction, work engagement and burnout.