A new pathway to job crafting: gratitude, perceived responsiveness, and relational job crafting

It is difficult and sometimes impossible for organizations to design jobs that fit all employees due to increased complexity and uncertainty in the workplace. Scholars have proposed that employees can make changes to their jobs themselves by engaging in job crafting. Job crafting is defined as self-initiated change that employees make in their work to better fit their abilities, needs, and preferences. Employees can craft their jobs individually and collaboratively, as a team. Two main theoretical perspectives have been proposed, which are distinct in how they define job crafting. The application of these two job crafting perspectives has brought some confusion about the construct of job crafting and how it is measured, and has resulted in some challenges in synthesizing empirical studies. To reduce this confusion, scholars have integrated the two distinct job crafting paper; we begin by introducing the definitions and measurements of individual job crafting and team job crafting. Specifically, theories of job crafting are reviewed from two perspectives using three distinct categorizations, with approach crafting versus avoidance crafting identified as the most important. A great number of empirical studies have been conducted to investigate the consequences of job crafting and factors that affect it. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have shown positive effects of approach job crafting for employees, such as increased job satisfaction, motivation, work engagement, organizational commitment, and job performance, and decreased strain and turnover intentions. However, avoidance crafting has been associated with burnout and lowered job performance. Organizational factors and individual factors that affect individual job crafting have been identified, including job autonomy, organizational support, leadership, proactive personality, self-efficacy, and regulatory focus. Beyond antecedents and outcomes of job crafting that have been systematically reviewed in the literature, studies on job crafting have also (a) empirically tested the interrelationships of different job crafting constructs, (b) uncovered new forms of job crafting, (c) unraveled the complicated effects of job crafting, (d) unpacked the influences of social context in job crafting process and outcomes, (e) considered job crafting in different populations and contexts, (f) investigated the effect of cultural differences on job crafting, and (g) investigated antecedents and outcomes of team job crafting. Finally, evidence has shown that job crafting behaviors can be trained: intervention studies show the effectiveness of job crafting interventions in stimulating job crafting behaviors and related positive outcomes such as well-being, engagement, and performance.

Orientation: Work engagement, specific leadership styles, and the willingness to allow autonomous behaviour (viz. job crafting) are essential to foster positive employee outcomes. Research purpose: The study investigates the effect of leadership on an employee’s likelihood to initiate changes to the work environment (viz. job crafting) and how these changes hypothetically contribute to work engagement. Motivation for the study: A paucity of studies focuses on leadership and the nexus thereof with job crafting as mediator towards fostering positive employee outcomes in the South African context. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative cross-sectional research design was implemented by means of a questionnaire. Primary data were collected from 155 participants (N = 155) with at least 2 years of work experience. Statistical analysis included structural equation (direct effects) and mediation modelling (indirect effect) to ascertain the mediating role of job crafting. Main findings: The research study concluded that both leadership styles statistically significantly contributed to job crafting. Self-leadership statistically significantly contributed to work engagement. While empowering leadership did not directly yield a statistically significant effect on work engagement. Job crafting was found to be a statistically significant mediator that mediates the nexus between leadership styles and work engagement. Practical/managerial implications: Results presented emphasised the value of self-leadership in developing a proactive workforce. Moreover, empowering leadership should be investigated further. Job crafting is crucial for empowering leadership to improve work engagement. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the corpus of knowledge regarding the nexus between leadership styles, job crafting, and work engagement.

While many researches have indicated some leader factors (e.g. leaderships) affect employees’ job crafting, whether the job crafting of leaders themselves has a trickle-down effect on their subordinates’ job crafting remains unclear. To fill this research gap, drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, this study explores the explanatory mechanisms and boundary conditions under which the transmitting effect of job crafting from leaders to their subordinates could occur. We examined a multi-level moderated mediation model by collecting the leader-subordinate paired data from 64 work teams in several Chinese companies over 2 time periods. We found team leaders’ job crafting was positively associated with their team members’ job crafting and team leaders’ job resources mediated this relationship. Contrary to our prediction, it is interesting to find that team leaders’ empowering leadership positively predicted team members’ job crafting in general but negatively moderated the mediating effects of leaders’ job crafting on employees’ job crafting through leaders’ job resources. These findings offer interesting implications for research on the trickle-down effect of job crafting from leader to their followers and for the management of employee crafting in teamwork.

The purpose of this study is to explore the differential effects of regulatory focus on job crafting type(promotion/prevention-focused job crafting) and job crafting type on job satisfaction, turnover intention, innovative behavior. Also, this study assume the mediation model that job satisfaction has a mediation effect on relationship between job crafting and turnover intention/innovative behavior. To do this, we conducted an online survey of 394 workers and used 355 data for the final statistical analysis. The results showed that trait promotion-focus was positively related with promotion-focused job crafting, and trait prevention-focus was positively related with prevention-focused job crafting. Also relationship between trait promotion-focus and prevention-focused job crafting, between trait prevention-focus and promotion-focused job crafting was non-significant. That is, the trait regulatory focus was associated with the type of job crafting corresponding to each trait. Moreover, the results supported the differential effects of job crafting type by showing that promotion-focused job crafting has a positive relationship with job satisfaction/innovative behavior and a negative relationship with turnover intention, while prevention-focused job crafting has a negative relationship with job satisfaction and a positive relationship with turnover intention. Results of the mediation model showed that promotion-focused job crafting was negatively and prevention-focused job crafting was positively related with turnover intention through job satisfaction. There was no mediation effect of job satisfaction on relationship between job crafting and innovative behavior. At the end of this paper this study results, implications and limitations of this study were discussed.

This study aimed to examine the mediating effects of clinical nurses' job crafting on organizational effectiveness based on the job demands-resources model proposed by Bakker and Demerouti (2017). The participants consisted of 393 nurses working in nursing units of a tertiary general hospital located in Cheongju region. The data, collected using questionnaire from August 9 to August 20, 2021, were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 27.0. The goodness-of-fit (GoF) test results on the modified model (χ² = 2.7, GFI = .94, SRMR = .03, RMSEA = .06, NFI = .92, CFI = .94, TLI = .92, AGFI = .90), indicated that the GoF index satisfied the recommended level. Regarding the effects of each variable on organizational effectiveness, job crafting showed statistically significant direct (β = .48, p < .001), indirect (β = .23, p < .001), and total effects (β = .71, p < .001). Burnout showed statistically significant direct effect (β = -.17, p < .001). Work engagement showed statistically significant direct (β = .41, p < .001) and total effects (β = .41, p < .001). The factors explaining organizational effectiveness were job crafting, burnout, and work engagement, which had an explanatory power of 76.7%. Nurses' job crafting is an important mediating factor for enhancing the organizational effectiveness of nursing organizations. Hospitals should develop job-crafting success cases and related education and training programs as a strategy for enhancing the job crafting of nurses and, consequently organizational effectiveness.

BackgroundThis study establishes the relationships among role conflict, positive psychological capital, social support, job crafting, and job embeddedness among clinical nurses. The results are expected to provide a basis for efficient human resource management in hospitals.MethodsConsidering a 15% dropout rate, we distributed 300 copies of our questionnaire, of which 290 were returned. We used 260 responses in the final analysis after excluding 40 responses that were incomplete or showed an identical pattern in the item responses. Participants were clinical nurses with less than one year of experience in general and tertiary general hospitals in G province and D metropolitan city in South Korea. A structured questionnaire was administered from January 10 to February 28, 2022. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0. We assessed the statistical significance using the bootstrapping method.ResultsThe direct and total effects (both β = 0.806, p =.007) of positive psychological capital on job crafting were significant. The direct and total effects (both β = 0.451, p =.004) of social support on job crafting were significant. The direct (γ = 0.292, p =.055), indirect (γ = -. 671, p =.003), and total (γ = − 0.379, p =.008) effects of role conflict on job crafting were significant. The direct (γ = − 0.382, p =.007), indirect (γ = − 0.208 p =.003), and total (γ = − 0.589, p =.006) effects of role conflict on job embeddedness were significant. The direct and total (both β = 0.548, p =.005) effects of job crafting on job embeddedness were significant.ConclusionsNurses’ job embeddedness is directly influenced by their job crafting, which is shaped by high levels of positive psychological capital and social support. When job crafting takes place, role conflict increases, and if job crafting becomes difficult because of severe role conflict, job embeddedness decreases. Therefore, to increase job embeddedness among clinical nurses, hospitals must implement support systems and programs to increase job autonomy, and positive psychological capital to promote job crafting.

With the advancement of global economic restructuring and China's economic transformation, structural employment contradictions have intensified amid increasingly competitive labor markets. The frequent occurrences of "degree devaluation" and talent "downskilling" have made perceived overqualification increasingly prevalent in organizations. This study, based on the Cognitive-Affective Personality System theory, investigates the differential mechanisms through which perceived overqualification drives approach and avoidance job crafting via cognitive and affective pathways. Data from a two-wave survey of 556 Chinese employees produced several key findings: (1) Perceived overqualification significantly enhances approach job crafting while suppressing avoidance job crafting by elevating role breadth self-efficacy (cognitive pathway), demonstrating a proactive breakthrough effect. (2) Perceived overqualification inhibits approach job crafting and exacerbates avoidance job crafting through triggering emotional exhaustion (affective pathway), revealing a passive exhaustion trap. (3) Perceived overqualification exerts a positive and significant overall indirect effect on approach job crafting through the combined mechanisms of cognitive gains from role breadth self-efficacy and affective costs from emotional exhaustion, whereas the overall indirect effect on avoidance job crafting is non-significant. (4) Idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) function as a dynamic boundary mechanism that amplifies the positive impact of role breadth self-efficacy and mitigates the negative effects of emotional exhaustion, while moderating the mediating roles of both pathways. This research develops a dual-path integrated model of perceived overqualification and job crafting by classifying job crafting categories, incorporating cognitive-affective pathways, and introducing i-deals as a contextual element. These findings respond to scholarly demands for elucidating the intricate connections between perceived overqualification and job crafting through integrative perspectives; in addition, they offer theoretical and practical insights for organizations to leverage the potential of overqualified individuals appropriately.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of perceived supervisor’s job crafting on employee’s creative behavior and the mediating role of employee’s job crafting. In addition, this study examined the moderating role of identification with supervisor in the relationship between supervisor’s job crafting and employee’s job crafting which is called “behavioral contagion” in this study. The results from 317 participants provided evidence that (1) perceived supervisor’s job crafting was positively related to employee’s job crafting, (2) employee’s job crafting was positively related to employee’s creative behavior, (3) employee’s job crafting mediated the relationship between supervisor’s job crafting and employee’s creative behavior, (4) identification with supervisor moderated the relationship between perceived supervisor’s job crafting and employee’s job crafting which is called behavior contagion in this study, (5) identification with supervisor also moderated the indirect effect of perceived supervisor’s job crafting on creative behavior. Based on the results, general discussion such as implications of these findings, limitations, and future research were discussed in the last section.

Despite the considerable focus on job characteristics and individual differences in job crafting research, the influence of social factors on job crafting has not been well-acknowledged. Based on social interaction and job crafting literature, this meta-analysis estimates the associations between social factors (i.e., organizational insiders and outsiders) and job crafting, and how these social factors contribute to employee outcomes through their job crafting. Based on a sample of 51 empirical studies that included 54 independent samples (N = 17,863), we found that social factors of positive leadership styles (e.g., empowering and transformational) and coworker support were positively related to employee job crafting. Moreover, leadership showed a stronger correlation with employee job crafting than coworker support and Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX). Further, our study showed that employee job crafting positively mediates the relationships between social factors and work outcomes (e.g., job performance and well-being). Our study contributes to job crafting literature by integrating social factors into the job crafting model and demonstrating that the social context of work (in particular organizational insiders) plays a crucial role in shaping employees’ job crafting behavior. We also emphasize the critical role that job crafting plays in transmitting valuable social resources into improved work outcomes. Building on our results, we provide future direction for job crafting research and discuss how our results can imply practice in terms of job crafting training.

Purpose The objective of this study was to investigate the link between ethical leadership and followers’ job crafting. Based on social learning theory and the job demands-resources model, we expected that followers’ role-breadth self-efficacy and work engagement would serially mediate the association between this leadership style and followers’ job crafting. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative analysis was conducted among a sample of 458 subordinates that assessed the ethical leadership of their direct supervisor and reported on their own role-breadth self-efficacy, engagement and job crafting behaviours. Findings Ethical leadership was positively associated with followers’ increasing structural resources, increasing social resources and increasing challenging demands. The mediation hypothesis was supported for increasing challenging demands but not for increasing social resources. Results unexpectedly suggested that the indirect positive effect suppresses the direct negative effect of ethical leadership on followers’ increasing structural resources, the total effect becoming positive. This leadership style was not associated with followers’ decreasing hindering demands. Practical implications The research highlights the possibility that ethical leadership trainings may stimulate followers' job crafting. Originality/value The study explores for the first time the relationship between this leadership style and job crafting behaviours of subordinates and, moreover, provides an explanatory mechanism for the relationship between these variables.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the predictive effects of social context and its interaction effects with individual differences on job crafting behaviors. Specially, this paper draws on the purposeful work behavior theory to outline how the four social characteristics (social support, interdependence, interaction outside the organization and feedback from others) and the moderation effects of neuroticism predict task crafting, relational crafting and cognitive crafting.Design/methodology/approachThe current study examined four social characteristics as antecedents of job crafting behaviors. The moderating effects of neuroticism were explored as well. By conducting a three-wave survey, the authors received a sample of 253 full-time incumbents in Japan. The data analysis used multiple regressions by using R language. Correlational and moderated regression analyses were performed to test this study’s hypotheses.FindingsEmpirical analysis of this study’s data shows some initial support for the application of the purposeful work behaviors theory to job crafting. The findings indicate that all four social characteristics promoted particular job crafting behaviors. Neuroticism was a significant moderator for the relationships between social support, interaction outside the organization, feedback from others and relative job crafting dimensions. The current study extends existing models of job crafting.Originality/valueThe current study makes significant theoretical contributions for both work design and job crafting literature. The present framework enriches our understanding of job crafting by demonstrating a picture of a moderated model between social characteristics and job crafting by uncovering the moderator – neuroticism. This study’s findings also contribute to managerial practices. Managers should build a supportive context and provide interdependence, interactions outside the organization and interpersonal performance feedback. To motivate employees with different personalities, offering different social context is necessary.

PurposeScholars highlight the lack of research that explains the mechanisms leading to knowledge sharing, which appears complex and involves many variables. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the direct effect of organizational support for innovation on job crafting behaviors and knowledge sharing. The second objective is to assess the mediating role of job crafting in the relationship between organizational support for innovation and knowledge sharing. The third aim is to compare the direct effects of organizational support for innovation on job crafting behaviors and knowledge sharing between teleworkers and office workers.Design/methodology/approachBased on an empirical study involving 193 teleworkers and 191 office workers, the structural equation modeling method was employed to examine the direct and indirect effects of organizational support for innovation on knowledge sharing via job crafting behaviors. The comparison between teleworkers and office workers was investigated using a multigroup approach in AMOS software. This research is grounded in the conservation of resources theory and social exchange theory to elucidate these relationships.FindingsThe results indicate that organizational support for innovation has a positive influence on job crafting activities, manifested by the increase in structural and social resources, as well as the amplification of work-related challenges. The results also indicate that organizational support for innovation directly promotes knowledge sharing behavior and indirectly through job crafting. Furthermore, the findings reveal that these effects on job crafting and knowledge sharing are stronger among teleworkers compared to office workers.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has limitations. Its cross-sectional design does not establish causality, potentially leading to common method variance. However, after implementing many procedural and performing statistical tests, common method variance was not significant in this research. Replicating the study longitudinally would be valuable. Additionally, considering personality traits and technology characteristics in job crafting behaviors would be beneficial. Lastly, the study focuses only on accountants and predates COVID-19, which may impact its findings and generalizability.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings underscore the practical significance of supporting innovation and fostering job crafting to enhance knowledge sharing, particularly for remote workers. It highlights that the extent of employees’ engagement in job crafting depends on the level of innovation support provided in their workplace. To mitigate potential negative outcomes such as increased absenteeism, reduced productivity and retention challenges, organizations could benefit from training supervisors to prioritize and encourage job crafting and knowledge sharing behaviors among employees, especially in telework settings. Ensuring alignment between organizational messaging and managerial attitudes is crucial. Without autonomy or flexibility for job crafting, the positive effects of organizational innovation support may be limited.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that job crafting behaviors serves as mechanisms between organizational support for innovation and knowledge sharing. The findings further advance the literature by revealing three psychological and motivational processes that may explain this relationship, particularly when comparing teleworkers to office workers. Our results reveal that the effect of organizational support for innovation on job crafting and knowledge sharing is stronger among workers who telework compared to office workers. This advances the theory of conservation of resources, especially the significance of resource gains, particularly in contexts where employees need resources, such as in telework.

BackgroundNurses’ well-being is a topic of interest at both individual and organizational levels. Studies that explore the relationship between nurses’ job crafting, work engagement, and well-being are scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to confirm the effect of job crafting and work engagement on nurses’ well-being.MethodsThis cross-sectional survey study involved 207 nurses within a week in July 2022 across two centers, among whom the response rate was 99%. Three following instruments were used in the survey: the 14-item well-being scale, the 12-item job crafting scale, and the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scores (UWES). Path analysis was performed and goodness of fit was evaluated.ResultsJob crafting and work engagement were strongly correlated with well-being, and nurses’ well-being was affected by job crafting and work engagement. Path model fit indices were adequate. The mediating effect of work engagement on the relationship between job crafting and well-being revealed that task job crafting influenced psychological well-being through work engagement (Effect: 0.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.08–0.22, p = 0.001). Furthermore, relational job crafting influenced social well-being through work engagement (Effect: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.11–0.38, p = 0.001).ConclusionThe study’s findings can help strategize human resource management programs to enhance relational job crafting to improve nurses’ social well-being and enhance task job crafting to improve their psychological well-being. Furthermore, through job crafting, improved human resource policies can enhance work engagement and improve nurses’ well-being.

PurposeDue to the flexibility and proactivity emphasized by job crafting in today’s uncertain and complex era, scholars have preliminarily proved its positive consequences in the project context. Nevertheless, little is known about the task-related antecedents of job crafting in the construction project environment and whether these task factors can be further converted into project performance through job crafting of project teams, thereby motivating this study.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the person-environment fit theory, this study hypothesized job crafting of construction project teams as a mediator that links the project task-related job resources (job autonomy and informal coordination) and job demands (time urgency and task complexity) with project performance. The proposed conceptual model was empirically validated with survey data from 244 members of construction project teams.FindingsThe results show that job autonomy and informal coordination motivate project teams to engage in job crafting and thus improve project performance. Further, the direct effect of task complexity on team job crafting and the indirect effect on project performance are negative. Moreover, informal coordination is found to buffer the negative impact of task complexity on team job crafting and project performance.Originality/valueThis research explores how construction task characteristics can be leveraged to boost project performance from a team proactivity perspective. The findings of this study offer novel insights into effectively incentivizing job crafting of project teams and transforming task characteristics into project performance within the construction management field.

Purpose Drawing on the perspective of the “frog pond” effect, this study examines the interactive relationship between coworker ostracism and relative leader–member exchange (RLMX) on job crafting. Moreover, we investigate how employees’ marital status moderates the interaction between coworker ostracism and RLMX in the context of job crafting. Additionally, we explore how these combined effects ultimately influence employees’ innovative work behavior (IWB) through the mediation of job crafting. Design/methodology/approach A two-wave survey with a one-month interval was conducted (N = 358). In the first-wave survey, coworker ostracism and RLMX were rated. In the second-wave survey, job crafting and IWB were reported. Findings The research findings indicate that: (1) RLMX moderates the relationship between coworker ostracism and job crafting, with a stronger positive relationship at lower RLMX levels; (2) this moderating effect is more significant for single employees than for married employees; (3) job crafting is positively associated with employees’ IWB; (4) RLMX moderates the indirect effect of coworker ostracism on IWB through job crafting and (5) RLMX and marital status jointly influence the mediating role of job crafting between coworker ostracism and IWB, with the strongest indirect effect observed for single employees at lower RLMX levels. Originality/value This paper advances the understanding of how scarce relational resources motivate job crafting and eventually enhance IWB.