Job insecurity and remuneration in Chinese family‐owned business workers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of job insecurity (past job downsizing and anticipated job downsizing) and current remuneration – via wellbeing (burnout and work engagement) – on organizational outcomes (organization commitment and low turnover intention) of Chinese family‐owned business. Design/methodology/approach – The Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model is used as a conceptual framework and data from 585 workers of three Chinese family‐style factories were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings – Results confirm the hypothesized model indicating that in accordance with the JD‐R model: job resources (i.e. job downsizing and current remuneration) are associated with organizational outcomes through wellbeing (burnout and work engagement) and; anticipated job downsizing fully mediates the relation of past job downsizing with wellbeing. Originality/value – The current study examined the effects of job insecurity (i.e. downsizing) and current remuneration on organization outcomes of workers in Chinese family‐owned business using a questionnaire survey. To date, studies using the JD‐R model focused on other work characteristics but overlooked the potential role of job insecurity and current remuneration. The study demonstrated the importance of anticipated and past downsizing and current remuneration for employee wellbeing and organization outcomes.