: With globalization and increased international competition have come more flexible forms of employment and increased job insecurity. The authors address the impact of perceived job insecurity on employees' work attitudes and intentions. After reviewing relevant research on stress theory and the relationship between job insecurity and its consequences, they test two hypotheses on 942 employees in Spain, namely: first, that job insecurity relates negatively to job satisfaction and organizational commitment and positively to intention to leave; and, second, that job insecurity, economic need and employability interact in the prediction of these outcomes.

Knowledge workers are highly valued by organizations, but there is a lack of evidence about the role of work engagement in the satisfaction and performance of these workers. Harmonization and Person–Job Fit theory state that workers who have similar characteristics to those present in the context (i.e., give similar importance to the characteristics present in the context) perform better. The aim of this paper is twofold: to test the congruence effect between five knowledge characteristics and their rated influence on job satisfaction and job performance; and test the mediational role of work engagement between the knowledge characteristics’ fit and job performance. Using a time-lagged design, 531 Colombian employees from 20 economic sectors answered questionnaires about work engagement (i.e., UWES-9), knowledge characteristics (i.e., WDQ), importance given to knowledge characteristics, job satisfaction, and job performance. Using polynomial regression, surface response methodology, and ordinary least squares path analyses, we found a congruence effect of the relationship between knowledge characteristics and their levels of importance on job performance in four out of five comparisons (i.e., job complexity, information processing, problem solving, and specialization). In addition, we found that knowledge characteristics’ fit indirectly influenced job satisfaction and performance through its effect on work engagement.

In recent decades, transformations in organizations and the labour market have produced an increase in employee job insecurity. In response to this situation, workers present different negative reactions. However, the intensity of these reactions varies across studies that have investigated the outcomes of job insecurity. One possible explanation for this inconsistency may lie in the influence of other factors, such as the occupational group (Sverke et al., 2002). The aim of this study is to provide additional evidence about the relationship between job insecurity and its outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction, job satisfaction, perceived performance and organizational commitment), and examine the moderator role of occupational group in this relationship. The sample was composed of 321 employees from different Spanish organizations. The results showed that job insecurity was directly and negatively related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and they suggest that occupational group moderated relations between job insecurity and three studied outcomes. In the case of life satisfaction and perceived performance, this relationship was stronger among blue collar workers. The relationship between job insecurity and job satisfaction was stronger in white collar workers. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

: Applying an innovative typology based on preference for temporary employment and perceived employability, the authors empirically examine four types of temporary workers (and a group of permanent workers for comparison). In a sample of 1,300 employees from six countries, they find significant differences between the four types on a broad set of variables – including demographic and job characteristics, attitude and insecurity – but not in life satisfaction and well‐being. They conclude with an argument against the equation of temporary employment with low‐skilled workers unable to find a permanent job, stressing the valuable implications of more sensitive research for policy‐making on flexicurity.