Perceived employability, an asset to employee performance? Why and when (not)

Perceived employability (PE; an employee’s perceived chance to finding a new job elsewhere) has gained resonance in a labor market context in which employers can no longer ensure lifelong employment: They feel a pressure to pursue flexible personnel staffing in order to stay competitive. While PE is an established asset to employee health and career success, it is not clear if it also benefits employers, especially in terms of higher employee performance. To date, empirical inquiry into the PE-performance relationship is scarce and leaves questions unanswered as to a) whether PE affects performance and b), if so, whether PE always boosts performance.

In response, we aimed to test whether (i.e., with which directionality), why (i.e., via which mechanisms) and when (i.e., upon which conditions) PE does (not) enhance performance in the current job/organization. We took a broad approach to PE and performance: We included the perceived chances to another and a better job elsewhere (i.e., quantitative vs. qualitative PE) and task performance, citizenship and counter-productivity. Moreover, we also took a look at the effects of PE on employees’ workgroup functioning: This stakeholder has so far received little attention in employability research.

More specifically, across four empirical studies with different designs (i.e., cross-sectional and repeated-measure survey; experimental research), we established that PE has the potential of being an asset to performance (cf., whether). Moreover, PE related positively to performance via stronger feelings of control, power and particularly affective commitment to the current organization and workgroup (cf., why). Still, caution is warranted. The performance win to PE was smaller when employees felt treated less fairly: Then the feelings of control and power associated with PE no longer related (as strongly) to higher performance. Importantly, the win turned into a loss when employees perceived chances to better (i.e., qualitative PE) rather than merely other (i.e., quantitative PE) jobs elsewhere (cf., when (not)).

In all, this dissertation informs employability research on the directionality, nature and underlying mechanisms of, and the conditions to, the PE-performance relationship. Employers may use this knowledge to make most out of employability, for themselves and their employees. That is, they may want to ensure that their staff perceives high quantitative, but not qualitative, employability and meanwhile invest in fair treatment.