Promoting employability in a job insecurity context: the impact of training on affective commitment

Abstract

The current socio-economic context instability and precariousness of jobs have raised new problems for human resources management, since the perception of labor insecurity has shown impact on attitudes and behaviors of employees, reflected not only in reducing welfare and overall satisfaction, but also often falls in productivity of the organization itself. Being now more important than ever, companies remain competitive, it is essential to find alternatives to job security. Employability emerges as one of these alternatives, stressing the importance of encouraging appropriate training, to enable employees to remain competitive and employable, given the volatility of labor markets. This study aims to investigate the effect of training promoting employability on the affective commitment of employees towards the employer organization, yet distinguishing internal Employability (value in the organization) and external Employability (value in the job market). Additionally we sought to evaluate the possible existence of a mediating effect of job insecurity in this relationship. A total of 156 participants, professionally active in different organizations participated in this study . Data were analyzed using the structural equations modeling. The results demonstrate a positive association between training as a promoter of employability and affective commitment. It was also found that job insecurity negatively influence affective commitment. But no significant relationship between training and job insecurity was found what invalidate the existance of a mediation effect. The study concludes the importance of minimizing the negative impact of job insecurity perceptions by employees and highlight training as an important predictor of organizational affective commitment.