The Relationship Between Job Insecurity and Work Engagement, with Job Satisfaction as a Mediator, Among Non-Permanent Employees

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FORMOSA NEWS - Surabaya - Leadership Support Counteracts Job Anxiety Caused by Government Contract Reforms. As governments globally transition to new employment frameworks, the psychological well-being of public sector employees hangs in the balance. A new study published in 2026 by researchers at Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya reveals that high-quality supervision serves as the ultimate line of defense in maintaining the professional dedication of non-permanent public employees facing severe job insecurity. The research, led by Andi Agung Prabowo, Suryanto, and Dyan Evita Santi, examines how shifting civil service regulations disrupt the emotional connection that contract workers have with their jobs. Published in the Formosa Journal of Applied Sciences, the findings prove that while systemic employment anxieties erode motivation, supportive and effective managers can entirely neutralize these destructive effects, ensuring that crucial front-line public services remain efficient and uninterrupted.

The Blueprint of Bureaucratic Anxiety

The relevance of this study is rooted in a major legislative shift within the Indonesian public sector: the transition from Law No. 5 of 2014 to Law No. 20 of 2023. This regulatory overhaul triggered massive institutional restructuring by abolishing traditional honorary staff statuses. These positions are being replaced by Government Employees with Work Agreements (PPPK), a transition managed through a highly competitive and stressful selection process. Data from the East Java Regional Civil Service Agency (BKD) highlights the scale of this structural shift, revealing a workforce composed of 54,021 permanent civil servants (ASN) alongside 26,914 non-permanent employees. Because the number of available permanent positions is strictly limited compared to the vast pool of contract workers, severe job insecurity has spread across government agencies. Employees who have dedicated decades to public service now face the imminent threat of sudden job loss. Compounding this legal instability, the researchers identified a widespread mismatch between employee qualifications and actual workloads. For instance, university graduates with degrees in Information Technology were found working as personal aides, while general administrative staff were burdened with complex financial management duties. This extreme role ambiguity forces non-permanent staff to take on burdens outside their formal training, driving administrative inefficiency and psychological exhaustion across the Regional Secretariat of the East Java Provincial Government.

Mapping the Workforce Dynamics
To investigate these workplace dynamics, the research team at Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya deployed a quantitative correlational survey design. Out of a total population of approximately 8,000 Non-Permanent Employees (PTT) within the East Java Provincial Government, the sampling focused specifically on individuals aged 27 to 42 years. Data collection was executed digitally through Google Forms distributed directly via the General Affairs and Personnel Subdivision of various government agencies. A final sample of 406 valid respondents participated in the study. Demographic analysis showed that the participant base consisted of 277 men (68.23%) and 129 women (31.77%), with a mean participant age of 34.68 years. The researchers utilized established psychometric tools to measure three distinct variables: job insecurity, job satisfaction, and work engagement. The collected data were analyzed using Path Analysis and Mediation Analysis via JASP statistical software (version 0.18.2.0). This methodology allowed the team to map both direct psychological impacts and the underlying indirect mechanisms that dictate worker dedication.

Key Findings: The Power of Strong Supervision
The statistical path analysis yielded several critical insights into how organizational stress factors interact within public institutions:

• Job Insecurity Directly Lowers Satisfaction: High levels of perceived job insecurity show a direct, statistically significant negative relationship with overall job satisfaction ($z = -9.810, p < 0.001$).
  
• Job Satisfaction Fuels Employee Engagement: Employees who maintain high job satisfaction exhibit significantly stronger, positive work engagement ($z = 5.511, p < 0.001$).
  
• The Mediating Shield of Workplace Satisfaction: Mediation testing verified that job satisfaction acts as a vital partial mediator between job anxiety and professional engagement ($z = -4.804, p < 0.001$). This proves that structural anxieties do not automatically ruin worker performance if their overall satisfaction can be sustained through other workplace factors.
  
• Supervision is the Primary Driver of Dedication: Among all tested dimensions of workplace satisfaction including salary, promotions, and coworkers satisfaction with supervision emerged as the single most powerful positive predictor of employee vigor ($z = 3.595$), dedication ($z = 4.256$), and absorption ($z = 2.687$).
  
• Full Mediation Achieved by Leaders: In-depth dimensional testing showed that satisfaction with supervision achieves a full mediation effect regarding threats to job features. This means the negative impacts of changing benefits or volatile regulations on an employee's energy and focus are completely determined by how well their supervisor manages the transition.

Strategic Implications for Public Policy
The real-world impact of this Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya study extends directly to public policy design, human resource strategy, and public service optimization. When macro-level regulatory updates create inevitable systemic stress, micro-level leadership interventions within government offices become the final barrier protecting workforce stability. The researchers conclude that public institutions must urgently design and implement specialized leadership training programs tailored specifically for the direct supervisors of non-permanent staff. Managers must look past technical corrections and view themselves as pillars of emotional support and living representations of institutional stability. Additionally, government leaders need to establish localized regulations that secure baseline work facilities and benefits, thereby directly capping the psychological damage caused by macro-level contract transitions. Resolving qualification mismatches and eliminating role ambiguity through structured job placement reviews will further protect public service quality.

Author Profiles
Andi Agung Prabowo is a lead researcher affiliated with the Faculty of Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya. His primary field of expertise centers on Industrial and Organizational Psychology, with a specific focus on human resource management strategies within public sector institutions.
Suryanto is a senior co-author and researcher at Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya. He specializes in behavioral psychology, organizational culture, and quantitative research methodologies in labor dynamics.
Dyan Evita Santi is an expert researcher at Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya. Her academic work focuses on workplace mental health, employee satisfaction systems, and the psychological impacts of structural policy transformations.

Source
Andi Agung Prabowo, Suryanto, Dyan Evita Santi (2026), The Relationship Between Job Insecurity and Work Engagement, with Job Satisfaction as a Mediator, Among Non-Permanent Employees, Formosa Journal of Applied Sciences (FJAS) (2026), Vol. 5, No. 4 2026: 1073-1086
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/fjas.v5i4.47
URL: https://journalfjas.my.id/index.php/fjas