Appreciation From Supervisors, Colleagues, and Clients: Its Differential Impact on the Qualitative Job Insecurity–Organizational Loyalty Link

Abstract: Organizational loyalty is associated with positive behaviors in organizations. Therefore, organizations need to avoid negative situations that may make maintaining or increasing employee loyalty difficult. One negative situation that can harm organizational loyalty is the perception that valued job characteristics are at stake. This phenomenon, which is called qualitative job insecurity, is associated with negative outcomes. On the basis of the job demands–resources theory, we examined the negative consequences of qualitative job insecurity on organizational loyalty operationalized by organizational trust, affective commitment, and turnover intentions. In addition, we explored whether appreciation at the workplace moderates the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and organizational loyalty. We conducted an online study with two waves of data collection ( N = 115 participants) and a time lag of 6 weeks. Our results revealed that qualitative job insecurity has a negative impact on organizational loyalty and that appreciation moderates this relationship. Moreover, the moderating role of appreciation depends on its source (whether it is from supervisors, colleagues, or clients). This paper discusses the implications of the different sources of appreciation in managing the risk of worsening job conditions.