The impact of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity on employees’ mental health and critical work-related performance: Exploring the role of employability and gender differences

Further investigation is necessary due to the limited research on the long-term effects of job insecurity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this research employs the Self-regulation and JD-R theories to investigate the role of mental health (MH) in mediating the impact of quantitative job insecurity (QNJI) and qualitative JI (QLJI) on employees' task, creative, and pro-environmental performance, while also exploring the potential of perceived employability, considering gender differences, to aid employees in managing JI and mitigating its adverse effects on their MH. Data were collected from employees working in deluxe hotels in China. The findings indicate that individuals' perception of their employability influences the impact of QNJI on MH. However, there is no interaction between QLJI and employability on MH. This study represents one of the initial investigations on QLJI and QNJI and indicates that managers must comprehensively understand JI's impact on employees' productivity, particularly in times of crisis.