Production Pressure, Cognitive Failures, and Injuries Under an Insecure Job Climate.

With globalization, computerization, and accompanying fast-paced work environments, employees often work under high production pressure and in the context of heightened job insecurity. Although these hostile work conditions often co-occur, their negative synergetic effects have been rarely examined. This study aimed to investigate whether these two hostile work environments (i.e., high production pressure coupled with a qualitative job insecurity climate) are related to workplace cognitive failures and subsequent injuries. In particular, we tested the mediating role of cognitive failures in the above-mentioned relationships as well as the interaction effect between the two hostile work environments on cognitive failures. Using 1-month lagged survey data from N = 176 U.S. workers, we found that both production pressure and qualitative job insecurity climate were significantly and positively associated with cognitive failures, which in turn were related to injuries. Further, it was revealed that workers experienced more cognitive failures in response to production pressure when they perceived higher levels of qualitative job insecurity climate compared to workplaces that reported lower levels of qualitative job insecurity climate. We discuss these results in light of their contributions to advancing theoretical understanding of the multiplicative effect of job demands and the practical implications for workers' health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]