A note on job insecurity worries in the context of an MBA questionnaire survey design
With regard to my MBA dissertation research theme of
"the influence of AI usage on the project team employees' worries on job
insecurity in ABC telecom company, I would like conduct a questionnaire survey
to my company's colleagues. I am not familiar with the topic of
"worries" on job insecurity from the perspective of psychology and
not sure how to formulate 1 to 2 questionnaire survey questions on this topic,
notably using the five-point rating scale in this case. Could you give me some
concept clarification and advice?
In psychology, job insecurity worry is
usually the emotional/affective side of job insecurity, meaning the employee’s
fear, anxiety, or concern about possible job loss or reduced role value in the
future. In your dissertation, this fits well if you want to measure not only
whether people think AI may affect their job, but also whether that possibility
makes them feel uneasy.
Concept clarification
Job insecurity is
often treated as having two parts. The cognitive part is the
person’s judgment that their job may be threatened, while the affective part
is the feeling of worry, fear, or anxiety about that threat.
For your topic, “worries” should therefore be framed as an emotional response
to AI-related uncertainty, not as a technical evaluation of AI itself.
That distinction helps you avoid writing items that mix up “I think AI may
change my work” with “I feel worried about what that means for my job”.
How to phrase items
For a
questionnaire, it is usually better to write items that are:
·
Simple and
specific.
·
About the
respondent’s own feelings.
·
Focused on the
future.
·
Neutral enough to
avoid sounding accusatory or too dramatic.
A five-point
agreement scale is suitable here, for example:
1.
Strongly disagree.
2.
Disagree.
3.
Neither agree nor
disagree.
4.
Agree.
5.
Strongly agree.
Possible items
You could use
these two items:
1.
“I feel worried
that increased AI use in my company may affect the security of my job.”
2.
“When I think
about AI being used more in my company, I feel anxious about my future job
prospects.”
These items
capture the emotional worry aspect directly, which is
consistent with how job insecurity is commonly described in the literature as
fear, alarm, or anxiety about future job loss.
If you want a slightly more conservative wording, you can replace “anxious”
with “concerned,” which is often easier for survey respondents to answer
honestly.
Practical advice
Because you are
studying AI usage, it is best not to make the item too broad. “AI usage” could
mean automation, decision support, monitoring, or customer service tools, and
these may affect employees differently.
So your item should ideally link AI to the respondent’s own job security
perception, rather than asking generally whether AI is “good” or “bad”.
Also, two items are acceptable for a small dissertation survey, but if
possible, three to four items usually give you a more reliable measure than
just one or two.
Suggested final wording
If you want a
clean, thesis-friendly version, I would recommend:
·
“I feel worried
that the increased use of AI in my company may threaten my job security.”
·
“I feel anxious
about my future job prospects because of the increasing use of AI in my
company.”
These are directly
aligned with the emotional dimension of job insecurity discussed in the
literature.
Suggest two related academic references
Here
are two key academic references that directly support the distinction between
cognitive and affective (worry-based) job insecurity, as well as validated
questionnaire items using Likert scales for the affective dimension.
1. Chirumbolo, A., Callea, A., & Urbini, F. (2025). The assessment of job
insecurity: Dimensionality, reliability, and validity of the Multidimensional
Job Insecurity Questionnaire – Revised (MJIQ-R). Economic and Industrial Democracy, 46(3), 742-765.
This paper validates a 16-item scale with affective items like "I fear
losing my job" and "I am worried about not being able to keep my
job," ideal for five-point agreement scales in your AI-job insecurity
context.
2. Pienaar, J., De Witte, H., Hellgren, J., & Sverke, M. (2013). The
cognitive/affective distinction of job insecurity: Validation and differential
relations. Southern African Business Review, 17(2), 1-22.
This study clarifies the affective component as "feelings and fears"
about job loss, with empirical validation of scales distinguishing worry from
mere perception, and links it to outcomes like emotional exhaustion.
