Job Insecurity Across Borders: An Examination of Job Insecurity, Perceived Organizational Support, and Turnover Intentions in the United States and China

Job insecurity is growing around the world, with employees staying at their jobs for shorter durations and part-time, contract, and even extremely short-term “gig” work becoming increasingly common. Job insecurity has been linked with several undesirable outcomes for both the individual and the organization, such as higher levels of employee burnout and increased turnover. This thesis seeks to extend the job insecurity literature by treating job insecurity as a demand within the Job Demands-Resources model, with perceived organizational support (POS) as its resource opposite. In addition, I utilized data collected in both the United States and China, providing insights into how job insecurity’s effects may differ cross-culturally. Results from this study showed that job insecurity had a direct relationship with turnover intentions in the Chinese sample and POS had a direct relationship in the American sample, suggesting cultural differences do exist regarding experiences of job insecurity. Implications for future research and practice are also discussed