SUMMARY
Design. A vignette study was conducted to investigate hypotheses. In total 914 workers from the Netherlands responded to 4 different vignettes (n = 3656 vignettes).Purpose. Based on compensation hypothesis, this study formulates several hypotheses about the relationship between work insecurity and preferences for protection. By combining a vignette study with a survey among workers it was possible to address the following questions: How do the preferences for protection relate to labor market insecurities and to what extent are the effect of experimental conditions on preferences for risk governance affected by experiences in the actual work situation?Findings. The findings mainly support the hypotheses derived from the compensation and expand them by showing how insecurities in the workplace cross-over to the experimental setting.Originality. While the compensation hypothesis is investigated in prior research, this is the first (semi-)experimental study allowing for arguing that the link between individual risks and preferences for protection are causal.