Unemployment represents one of the most significant stressors that people can encounter in their working lives. Previous research has shown that unemployment can have a serious impact on an individual's physical and mental well-being. However, there are significant differences from one individual to the next with respect to coping strategies during job loss. A related strand of research has looked at what aspects of searching for employment are most difficult and what intervention strategies are most useful for individuals seeking new employment opportunities. In this project, the researchers will bring together these different strands of inquiry to develop a cross-national investigation of the key determinants, processes, and outcomes of self-regulation during unemployment. National labor departments and international agencies have sought ways to shorten the time of unemployment in order to minimize monetary and mental health costs to individuals. Governments spend millions of dollars/euros annually on services for unemployed individuals, and rely on academic information to help them design effective services. Research that can help to understand the problems individuals have in their job search and interventions designed to help individuals speed a sustainable reemployment success are highly important.
The data will be collected in a five-wave longitudinal design from job seekers in the Netherlands, U.S., and Germany. This large scale project will provide important insight into how unemployment insurance systems interact with individual characteristics to promote or deter job search activity on the part of individuals. Accompanying projects in this grant similarly expand current knowledge in significant ways, aiming in particular at understanding the reasons behind (and solutions for) unintentional (as well as intentional) procrastination and lack of persistence in the job search process. Subproject 1 will integrate macro-level (systems-based, economic) with micro-level (individual, psychological) perspectives by investigating to what extent system-based Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits plays a role in unemployed individuals' job search, mental health and quality of reemployment (finding a suitable job). Subproject 2 will examine unemployed individuals' self-regulatory responses to setbacks and rejections. Subproject 3 will focus on job seekers' career adaptability as a form of proactive coping with job loss. Subproject 4 will take a refined look at the causes, content, dynamics, and outcomes of procrastination as an important form of self-regulatory failure.
