Moderating Effects of Perceived Fairness between Job Insecurity and Outcomes in Sport during the COVID-19 Pandemic

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions throughout the sport and recreation industry. Given the heightened levels of stress and uncertainty brought by the pandemic, the purposes of the current study were to (a) examine the structural relationships among job insecurity, job satisfaction, and turnover intention and (b) test the moderation effect of perceived fairness toward governmental policies and actions during the COVID-19 pandemic among these variables for employees in the sport and recreation industry. The conceptual model, including four latent variables—job insecurity, perception of fairness, job satisfaction, and turnover intention—was developed based on uncertainty management theory. A total of 321 sport and recreation managers in South Korea participated in the online survey. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that job insecurity had a partial mediating effect on turnover intention through job satisfaction. The results of the moderated mediation analysis indicated a significant difference for the path from job insecurity to job satisfaction between the group with high fairness perceptions and the group with low fairness perceptions. However, the direction of the effect was contrary to expectations. These results provided an opportunity for empirical examination of the psychological and mental health conditions of sport service employees and relevant implications for governmental policies and actions under conditions of uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.Keywords: COVID-19perception of fairnesspublic policy and supportjob insecurity Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest has to be reported.Additional informationNotes on contributorsSeungmo KimSeungmo Kim (Ph.D., University of Tennessee, USA) is an associate professor in the Department of Sport, Physical Education and Health, Hong Kong Baptist University. His research interests focus on organizational behavior in sport and quality of work life in sport.Adam LoveAdam Love (Ph.D., University of Tennessee, USA) is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies at the University of Tennessee. His research examines the perceptions and experiences of participants and practitioners in sport.Sanghyun ParkSanghyun Park (Ph.D., Yonsei University, Korea) is an Assistant professor in the Department of Sport for all at Korea National Open University. His research interests focus on sport management and statistical method.