Too employable to feel well? Curvilinear relationship between perceived employability and employee optimal functioning

Perceived employability has been advanced as critical to employee optimal functioning in today's turbulent labor market. However, evidence for a positive relationship between perceived employability and employee optimal functioning is modest. One possible explanation is that the relationship is not linear but curvilinear. Accordingly, we tested curvilinear relationships between perceived employability and work engagement (vigor and dedication) and burnout (exhaustion and depersonalization). Relationships were tested by means of hierarchical linear regressions in a sample of 459 employees. We found no curvilinear, but a linear and positive relationship between perceived employability and vigor and dedication. A quadratic (curvilinear) relationship was found between perceived employability and exhaustion and depersonalization, so that low and high levels of perceived employability were related to high levels of exhaustion and depersonalization.