THE MODERATING EFFECT OF FUTURE WORK SELVES SALIENCE ON JOB INSECURITY AND ITS OUTCOMES

Abstract

Re-employment has recently dominated news headlines and has been strongly promoted as an alternative to retirement. As workers approach the age of retirement, their work roles undergo the process of weakening and they experience job insecurity (Barnes-Farell, 2003). At the same time, with lengthened careers, workers are able to envision their future work selves in their potential re-employed jobs, which provides them with the hopes and aspirations to achieve a more desirable work self. This study examines how individuals’ mental pictures of their future work selves interact with job insecurity to affect employee outcomes, namely (i) job performance, (ii) individual job crafting, (iii) interpersonal deviance, and (iv) organizational deviance. Using a sample of 182 police officers who were approaching the stage of retirement, we found that future work selves salience buffered the impact of job insecurity on negative outcomes, such as interpersonal deviance. However, contrary to our predictions, employees with high future work selves salience engaged in less job crafting in times of job insecurity. Implications of this study are discussed.