Job insecurity among Israeli schoolteachers:Sectoral profiles and organizational implications

In light of environmental and organizational trends toward privatization, and in response to changes in sectoral traditional differences, this paper investigated job insecurity (JI) of secondary schoolteachers in the public and private sectors in Israel. The study sample consisted of 326 Israeli schoolteachers. Using a multi-dimensional measure of JI, where various job facets were addressed, two distinct JI profiles were found: public-sector schoolteachers tended to emphasize intrinsic job features, while private-sector schoolteachers tended to emphasize extrinsic ones. Sectoral differences were also found in regard to the adverse effect of JI on work attitudes: in the public sector JI affected organizational commitment, perceived organizational support, and tendency to quit, and in the private sector only tendency to quit was affected. These findings are partly explained by differences in employment structures, and have implications for human resource strategies regarding the provision of job security.