Journal article
The Ripple Effects of Leader Job Insecurity: How and When Job Insecure Leaders are Detrimental to the Team
Personnel psychology
04/10/2026
DOI: 10.1111/peps.70026
Abstract
The existing job insecurity research predominantly focuses on general employees, viewing job insecurity as an intrapersonal phenomenon that primarily affects the person experiencing it. Shifting this focus to leaders, this research aims to examine how and when leader job insecurity may have interpersonal implications on team outcomes. Integrating the job insecurity literature and the emotion as social information (EASI) model, we theorize that job insecurity experienced by team leaders renders their frequent display of anxiety, which in turn induces two parallel emotion‐based mechanisms—higher team anxiety and lower team perception of leader effectiveness—that subsequently influence team outcomes (i.e., team task performance and team citizenship behavior). Further, we examine emotional stability of the leader and emotional stability of team members as two important contingencies for such ripple effects. Findings from a field survey study and four vignette‐based experiments in different cultural contexts largely support our hypotheses. Our research offers novel insights into the complex ripple effects of leader job insecurity in teams.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Ripple Effects of Leader Job Insecurity: How and When Job Insecure Leaders are Detrimental to the Team
- Creators
- Weipeng Lin - Shandong UniversityYiduo Shao - University of IowaShanshan Qian - Guangdong University of Foreign StudiesLixin Jiang - University of AucklandXiaojun Zhan - Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Personnel psychology
- DOI
- 10.1111/peps.70026
- ISSN
- 0031-5826
- eISSN
- 1744-6570
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Grant note
- National Natural Science Foundation of China: 72171135, 72362019 Taishan Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province: tstp20221110
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 72171135 and 72362019) and the Taishan Scholar Foundation (No. tstp20221110). We thank Drs. Bonnie Hayden Cheng, Trevor Spoelma, and Mo Wang for providing valuable feedback to an earlier version of this article. We thank Nic Lowery for his assistance in the research process. Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Shanshan Qian, School of Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 2 Baiyun Avenue, Guangzhou 510420, China, or to Xiaojun Zhan, Research Center of Cluster and Enterprise Development, Jiangxi University of Finance & Economics, 169 East Shuanggang Road, Nanchang 330013, China. Email: qianshanshanhit@126.com or xjzhan@163.com.
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 04/10/2026
- Academic Unit
- Management and Entrepreneurship
- Record Identifier
- 9985153359702771
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