How to minimize job insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of proactive and reactive coping over time

Job insecurity has become a major theme for most workers in our new, COVID-19-induced, world of work. While prior research indicates how workers can cope with the experience of job insecurity in order to mitigate its negative consequences (i.e., reactive coping), little research offers insights into preventive measures workers can use to minimize the further development of job insecurity. Therefore, this study investigates whether proactive coping (i.e., future-oriented coping that tries to detect and proactively manage stressors before they can fully develop) can help workers manage their future job insecurity experience. Additionally, to clarify the difference between proactive and reactive coping, this study explores whether theoretically proactive coping behaviors can also function reactively to buffer the negative consequences of job insecurity. Multilevel path modelling results based on weekly data of 266 workers over a 5-week period indicate that proactive coping is generally related to an increase of job insecurity, instead of the expected decrease. Regarding the reactive functioning of proactive coping behaviors, the results indicate no buffering effect in the relationship between job insecurity and its consequences. The discussion elaborates on possible explanations for these results and the (in)difference between proactive and reactive coping.