Some researchers refer to job insec

Some researchers refer to job insecurity as the perceived threat of job discontinuity or job loss ([10] Davy et al. , 1997; [12] Ferrie, 1997). Others ([48] Rosenblatt et al. , 1999; [26] Holm and Hovland, 1999; [47] Rosenblatt and Ruvio, 1996) portray job insecurity as the uncertainty an individual has about job continuity, and also about the continuity of specific features of the job including promotions and probability of getting laid off. Based on the aforementioned definition, job insecurity comprises both the threat of losing a job and a desirable job feature.

Historically, [19] Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt (1984, p. 440) defined job insecurity as "the perceived powerlessness to maintain the desired continuity in a threatened job situation", while [28] Joelson and Wahlquist (1987) advocated job insecurity as an individual's perception of probable threat of discontinuity in the current job, and accentuated the clear distinction between job insecurity and simple unemployment or real job loss. Later, [22] Heaney et al. (1994, p. 1431) defined it as the "perception of a potential threat to the continuity of the current job." Recently, [54] Sverke et al. (2002, p. 243) described it as "subjectively experienced anticipation of a fundamental and involuntary event related to job loss." In sum, job insecurity can be experienced at the personal level or related to some external situation such as uncertainty of future employment ([55] Sverke et al. , 2006).

According to [3] Ashford et al. (1989), job insecurity entails five basic components:

the sternness of threat with regards to job continuity and desirable features;

the significance of job features including promotion, current pay and constructive feedback: the higher the significance the greater the job insecurity;

the presumed threat of changes that are more likely to induce negative effects on the job situation including early retirement, layoff and dismissal;

the significance of those changes; and

powerlessness portrayed as feebleness of job control ([4] Barling and Kelloway, 1996).

Since there is disagreement among scholars about the definition of job insecurity, our study will refer to it as a complex phenomenon of perceived "powerlessness" to protect beloved permanence in an endangered job position ([19] Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt, 1984, p. 440). This subjective judgment is based on two components: cognitive "fear of job loss" and affective "likelihood of job loss" ([59] Wong et al. , 2005). Accordingly, individuals may diverge in their perception of job insecurity even under identical objective work conditions. There are more issues related to job insecurity than just the potential of termination of the whole job; thus, an employee who might be at risk of losing one of the job features involuntarily shows a high "perception" of job insecurity ([35] Lim and Sing, 2006).