“Don't you worry ‘bout a thing” – the moderating role of age in the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and career sustainability

Purpose

Building on a stress-related view, this study examines the impact of qualitative job insecurity on three indicators of career sustainability. It also examines the moderating role of employee age in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Dutch respondents (N = 398) working in various sectors responded to an online survey. Our hypotheses were tested using path modeling with Mplus.

Findings

Qualitative job insecurity was negatively related to job satisfaction, general health, and employability. Moreover, a moderating effect of employee age on the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and job satisfaction was found.

Practical implications

Organizations need to take measures to prevent qualitative job insecurity, as this appears to be an essential hindering factor that might endanger an employee's career sustainability. Especially younger workers (<40 years) seem to suffer from qualitative job insecurity as this decreases their job satisfaction, urging management and HR professionals to protect them against it.

Originality/value

By focusing on qualitative job insecurity, this study helps to close an essential gap in the literature that so far has mainly focused on quantitative job insecurity. Besides, this is the very first empirical work investigating the link between qualitative job insecurity and multiple indicators of career sustainability. Finally, this research adds a developmental approach to sustainable careers by comparing younger and older workers.