Employability as mediator in the relationship between the meaning of working and job search behaviours during unemployment


Abstract


Most of past research on job search has focused on the relationship between individual strategies and perceived quality of re-employment, focusing mostly on effort and intensity of job search behavior during unemployment. Few studies have investigated the role played by individual beliefs, values and representations of work in determining job search behavior during unemployment, while there is a lack of literature about the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between the meaning of working and job search behavior. The aim of this paper was to explore if and to what extent employability activities can mediate the relation between the meaning attached to work, the participation in job activities and the strategies to develop job search behaviors in a group of unemployed. More specifically, the main hypothesis was that employability activities could mediate the relationship between the meaning of work and job search behavior. Data were gathered through public Employment Agencies. Participants (N = 385) were unemployed people living the South of Italy. Results showed that the relationship between the meaning of work and job search behavior was mediated by employability activities.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20705948v9n1p1

Keywords: job search behavior, meaning of work, employability, unemployment

References


Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (1999). Statistics for psychology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Atkinson, T., Liem, R., & Liem, J. H. (1986). The social costs of unemployment: Implications for social support.Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 317-331.

Banks, M. H., & Jackson, P. R. (1982). Unemployment and risk of minor psychiatric disorder in young people: cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence. Psychological medicine, 12(04), 789-798.

Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of personality and social psychology, 51(6), 1173.

Benevene, P., & Cortini, M. (2010). Interaction between structural capital and human capital in Italian NPOs: Leadership, organizational culture and human resource management. Journal of Intellectual Capital,11(2), 123-139.

Blau G. (1993). Further exploring the relationship between job search and voluntary individual turnover. Personnel Psychology, 46(2): 313-330.

Blau, G. (1994). Testing a two-dimensional measure of job search behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 59(2), 288-312.

Brief, A. P., Konovsky, M. A., Goodwin, R., & Link, K. (1995). Inferring the meaning of work from the effects of unemployment. Journal of applied social psychology.

Brummel, B. J., & Parker, K. N. (2015). Obligation and Entitlement in Society and the Workplace. Applied Psychology, 64(1), 127-160.

Callea, A., Urbini, F., & Bucknor, D. (2012). Temporary employment in Italy and its consequences on gender. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 27(6), 380-394.

Callea, A., Urbini, F., Ingusci, E., & Chirumbolo, A. (2014). The relationship between contract type and job satisfaction in a mediated moderation model: The role of job insecurity and psychological contract violation. Economic and Industrial Democracy.

Caska, B. A. (1998). The Search for Employment: Motivation to Engage in a Coping Behavior1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28(3), 206-224.

Cohen, B. H. (2001). Explaining psychological statistics (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley

Cortini, M. Manuti, A. (2008). I valori tra vita lavorativa e vita extralavorativa: uno studio pilota su lavoratori manuali ed intellettuali. Rivista di Psicologia dell’Educazione e della Formazione. Vol. 10, n.3 pp. 5-35

Dew, M. A., Bromet, E. J., & Schulberg, H. C. (1987). A comparative analysis of two community stressors' long-term mental health effects. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15(2), 167-184.

Dollard, M. F., & Winefield, A. H. (2002). Mental health: overemployment, underemployment, unemployment and healthy jobs. Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 1(3), 170-195.

England, G. W., & Whitely, W. T. (1990). Cross-national meanings of working.Meaning of occupational work, 65-106.

Feather, N. T., & Davenport, P. R. (1981). Unemployment and depressive affect: A motivational and attributional analysis. Journal of personality and social psychology, 41(3), 422.

Feather, N. T., & O'Brien, G. E. (1986). A longitudinal study of the effects of employment and unemployment on school‐leavers. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 59(2), 121-144.

Frazier, P. A., Tix, A. P., & Barron, K. E. (2004). Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology research. Journal of counseling psychology, 51(1), 115.

Henwood, F., & Miles, I. (1987). The experience of unemployment and the sexual division of labour. Unemployed people, 94-110.

Holmbeck, G. N. (1997). Toward terminological, conceptual, and statistical clarity in the study of mediators and moderators: examples from the child-clinical and pediatric psychology literatures. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 65(4), 599.

Hoyle, R. H., & Smith, G. T. (1994). Formulating clinical research hypotheses as structural equation models: a conceptual overview. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 62(3), 429.

Ingusci, E. (2015). Employability and job search during unemployment: An explorative study. Sociologia del Lavoro FrancoAngeli. Vol. 137, pp. 130-144.

Kenny, D. A., Kashy, D. A., & Bolger, N. (1998). Data analysis in social psychology. In D. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (4th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 233–265). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kooij, D., Jansen, P., De Lange, A., & Dikkers, J. (2007). Age-related factors in the motivation to work: What we know and where we need to go. Small Group Event, Tilburg.

Liem, R., & Liem, J. H. (1988). Psychological effects of unemployment on workers and their families. Journal of Social Issues, 44(4), 87-105.

Lo Presti, A. & Pluviano, S. (2015). Looking for a route in turbulent waters Employability as a compass for career success. Organizational Psychology Review.

Mannetti, L., & Tanucci, G. (1993). The meaning of work for young people: the role of parents in the transmission of a social representation. Empirical approaches to social representations. Pp. 298-314.

Manuti, A., Pastore, S., Scardigno, A. F., Giancaspro, M. L., & Morciano, D. (2015). Formal and informal learning in the workplace: a research review. International Journal of Training and Development, 19(1), 1-17.

McArdle, S., Waters, L., Briscoe, J. P., & Hall, D. T. T. (2007). Employability during unemployment: Adaptability, career identity and human and social capital. Journal of vocational behavior, 71(2), 247-264.

Mor-Barak, M. E. (1995). The meaning of work for older adults seeking employment: the generativity factor. The International Journal of Aging & Human Development.

Moser, K. A., Fox, A. J., & Jones, D. R. (1984). Unemployment and mortality in the OPCS longitudinal study. The Lancet, 324(8415), 1324-1329.

MOW International Research Team. (1987). The meaning of working. Academic Pr.

Muller, J., Hicks, R., & Winocur, S. (1993). The Effects of Employment and Unemployment on Psychological Well‐Being in Australian Clerical Workers: Gender Differences. Australian Journal of Psychology, 45(2), 103-108.

Peiró, J. M., García‐Montalvo, J., & Gracia, F. (2002). How Do Young People Cope with Job Flexibility?: Demographic and Psychological Antecedents of the Resistance to Accept a Job with Non‐Preferred Flexibility Features. Applied Psychology, 51(1), 43-66.

Petrocelli, J. V. (2003). Hierarchical multiple regression in counseling research: Common problems and possible remedies. Measurement and evaluation in counseling and development, 36(1), 9-22.

Platt, S. (1986). Parasuicide and unemployment. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 149(4), 401-405.

Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., & Claes, R. (2000). MOW research programs. Databases for the study of entrepreneurship, 4, 335-391.

Scholarios, D., Lockyer, C., & Johnson, H. (2003). Anticipatory socialisation: the effect of recruitment and selection experiences on career expectations. Career Development International, 8(4), 182-197.

Snir, R., & Harpaz, I. (2002). To work or not to work: Nonfinancial employment commitment and the social desirability bias. The Journal of Social Psychology,142(5), 635-644.

Sutton, S. (1998). Predicting and explaining intentions and behavior: How well are we doing?. Journal of applied social psychology, 28(15), 1317-1338.

Uçanok, B. (2009). The effects of work values, work-value congruence and work centrality on organizational citizenship behavior. International Journal of Behavioral, Cognitive, Educational and Psychological Sciences, 1(1), 1-14.

Van Dam, K. (2004). Antecedents and consequences of employability orientation. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 13(1), 29-51.

Van Dam, K., & Menting, L. (2012). The role of approach and avoidance motives for unemployed job search behavior. Journal of Vocational behavior,80(1), 108-117.

Van Hooft, E. A., Born, M. P., Taris, T. W., & van der Flier, H. (2005). Predictors and outcomes of job search behavior: The moderating effects of gender and family situation. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67(2), 133-152.

Vinokur, A., & Caplan, R. D. (1987). Attitudes and Social Support: Determinants of Job‐Seeking Behavior and Well‐Being among the Unemployed1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17(12), 1007-1024.

Wampold, B. E., & Freund, R. D. (1987). Use of multiple regression in counseling psychology research: A flexible data-analytic strategy. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34(4), 372.

Warr, P., Jackson, P., & Banks, M. (1988). Unemployment and mental health: Some British studies. Journal of social issues, 44(4), 47-68.

Witte, H. D., & Cuyper, N. D. (2015). Job Insecurity and Employability. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management.

Wrzesniewski, A. E. (1999). Jobs, careers, and callings: Work orientation and job transitions. University of Michigan.

Zacher, H. (2013). Older job seekers' job search intensity: the interplay of proactive personality, age and occupational future time perspective. Ageing and Society, 33(07), 1139-1166.


Full Text: pdf
کاغذ a4

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.