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Abstract:

This dissertation consists of three studies and they conceive perceived employability (PE) as a personal resource along the lines of conservation of resources (COR) theory. PE refers to an employee’s perception of how easy it is to find new employment. Following the assumptions of COR theory, antecedents, trajectories and well-being consequences of PE were investigated. Moreover, the relation between PE and perceived job insecurity was examined with specific attention given to contract type. The dissertation uses two different Finnish datasets. The first longitudinal dataset was obtained as part of an interdisciplinary research project, Are Temporary Workers a Disadvantaged group?, and was gathered among employees in two universities between 2008 and 2010 (nTime1 = 2,137, nTime2 = 1,314, nTime3 = 926). The second cross-sectional dataset was part of the Quality of Work Life Survey (QWLS) collected in 2008 (n = 4,392). The university sample was used in Studies I-III and the QWLS sample was used in Study III. The main results revealed, first, that contract type, perceived mobility and optimism interacted in the prediction of PE, and this provided valuable added insight into how PE can be enhanced. More specifically, perceived mobility was an important antecedent of PE only for permanent employees. Second, change in PE across two years was heterogeneous and nonlinear resulting in four trajectories. The stable high PE trajectory was the most common. Third, PE was positively related to several indicators of well-being (i.e., both context-free and work-related, both negative andpositive aspects, and both high and low activation). Moreover, an increase in PE was related to an increase in vigor at work among one small trajectory showing non-linear change. Fourth, the positive relationship between PE and well-being was independent of contract type and level of perceived job insecurity. Altogether these findings suggest that PE can be considered as a personal resource because it is related with well-being and is amenable for changes. However, the trajectory analysis also indicated that the level of PE needs to be relatively high before such relationships occur. Furthermore, change in PE may not have a strong effect on change in well-being, which implies that the importance of PE lies more on its function of maintaining well-being. To conclude, from the perspective of employees’ well-being, PE seems to be a beneficial resource to be invested in.