Precarious Job and Union Tendencies among Women and Young Employees: The Relationships between Economic Constraints, Job Security and Trust in Employers

Doğa Başar Sarıipek; Meryem Aybas; Brigita  Stanikūnienė

doi:10.5755/j01.ee.34.3.32994

Authors

Doğa Başar Sarıipek Kocaeli University, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3525-5199
Meryem Aybas Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6133-7238
Brigita Stanikūnienė Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.34.3.32994

Keywords:

Precarious Job, Employment, Decent Work, Trust to Employer, Collective Efficacy, Union Membership

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine whether having a precarious job (low job security) increases union tendencies among female workers and young workers. The study examines the relationship between economic constraints, trust in employers and union attitudes in terms of gender and age in the context of the antecedents and consequences of job security. Data were collected using a survey conducted among 804 Turkish employees working in various sectors and analysed through multi-group path models, t-tests and ANOVA to measure job security objectively and subjectively. Economic constraints increase the acceptance of low job security and decrease trust towards employers. The research also indicates that poorer job security does not affect collective and union tendencies. While precarious jobs are more intense among young and women employees, there is no difference in their union tendencies. This article used the decent work perspective to explore the consequences of having a precarious job among women and young workers in Turkey. We assumed that the perception of precariousness reduces trust towards employers and strengthens collective and union tendencies. We also argue that economic constraints play an important role in choosing precarious jobs. We also test whether women and young employees, as two prominent disadvantaged groups, have collective efficacy and union efficacy in precarious job conditions.

Author Biographies

Doğa Başar Sarıipek, Kocaeli University, Turkey

Doğa Başar Sarıipek is an Assoc. Prof. of Social Policy at Kocaeli University. During his doctoral studies, he was a visiting researcher at the University of Kassel, Germany, and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bath, the UK. His research interests cover welfare theory, social issues such as poverty, discrimination, (un)employment as well as the economics of innovation in welfare states and international/global issues in welfare theory. He has published in many international journals and national/international edited books.

Meryem Aybas, Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University, Turkey

Meryem Aybas received her PhD in Human Resources Management from Istanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration. During her Ph.D, she spent a year as a visiting researcher at Florida State University in the USA. Her research interests are work psychology, organizational behaviour and human resources management. She is the author of book and numerous book chapters, peer-reviewed articles on such topics as job insecurity, employability, HR practices, and women in entrepreneurship. She is currently working in the Department of Business Administration in the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University in Zonguldak, Turkey.

Brigita Stanikūnienė, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Brigita Stanikūnienė is an Associate Professor in Kaunas University of Technology, Panevėžys Faculty of Technologies and Business. Her research interests cover human resource management, competence development in organizations, leadership. She is a member of scientific commitee in International Scientific Forum on Innovative Technologies and Management for Sustainability (ITELMS and CISABE) at Kaunas University of Technology as well as the member of Lithuania Educational Research Association (LETA) and European Educational Research Association (EERA). She is an author of two scientific monographs, a number of research papers in international journals and conference proceedings, the author of courses for professional development in leadership.