Unemployment threat: Stress and coping in different cultures of work organizations: The case of banking

Abstract

Examined whether organizational culture can be seen as a moderator factor on people's perception of losing their job and can also have an active role on people's choice of the best way to cope with that situation. This study focused on 2 different levels: (1) an individual perspective concerning the perception of threat of losing one's job and the coping strategies people use to face that situation, and (2) an organizational level to what concerns the organizational culture of the different organizations. This study was run at the Portuguese banking sector. The sample was gathered within 6 different banks to come to a comparative approach of the individual and organizational variables involved. Results show that the threat of being fired was directly associated to the perception of the organizational culture as oriented toward goals, and inversely related to its perception as oriented towards support and innovation. The evaluation of resources to deal with the threat was directly related with a perception of organizational culture oriented towards support, innovation and goals. Contrary to the hypothesis, no clear pattern of association between coping strategies and organizational culture was found.