UNEMPLOYED AND EXHAUSTED? FATIGUE DURING JOB-SEARCH AND ITS IMPACT ON REEMPLOYMENT QUALITY

Abstract

Premised upon Hobfoll’s (1989) Conservation of Resources Theory, this study examined how the depletion of financial and social resources (financial difficulties and social exclusion), and the availability of a personal psychological resource – Psychological Capital (PsyCap) – can influence job seekers’ fatigue. The relationship between fatigue that unemployed job seekers experienced at Time 1 and their reemployment quality at Time 2 was also examined. Finally, the relationships between reemployment quality at Time 2 and intentions to quit and organizational commitment were examined. Financial difficulties and social exclusion were found to be positively related with fatigue, while PsyCap was negatively related with fatigue. Fatigue at Time 1 was negatively related with reemployment quality at Time 2. In turn, reemployment quality was positively related with organizational commitment and negatively related with intentions to quit. Fatigue at Time 1 and reemployment quality at Time 2 mediated the relationships between the three independent variables - financial difficulties, social exclusion and PsyCap – and the two dependent variables – intentions to quit and organizational commitment. Implications of these findings are discussed.