Benefiting the organization while helping yourself: a three-wave study of reciprocal effects between job crafting and innovative work behaviour

Abstract

ABSTRACT Most employees proactively alter their jobs to improve their functioning at work. Such self-initiated behaviours, referred to as job crafting, are primarily intended to benefit the employees themselves. This study contrasts the self-serving nature of job crafting by hypothesizing its positive, reciprocal relationship with a form of work behaviour which primarily benefits organizations – innovative work behaviour (IWB). Drawing upon Conservation of Resources theory, we test a novel perspective suggesting that job crafting and IWB can perpetuate each other by forming gain cycles. Furthermore, we examine whether participative decision making (PDM) can instigate these gain cycles by enhancing subsequent job crafting and IWB. These research hypotheses were tested using three-wave survey data collected from employees (N = 404) within the Belgian higher education sector. The results demonstrate that not only does job crafting relate to subsequent increases in IWB, but also that IWB relates to subsequent increases in job crafting over three measurements occasions. In contrast, PDM did not predict subsequent changes in either form of work behaviour. We discuss these results in light of their contributions to advancing theoretical understanding of the job crafting-IWB relationship and practices intended to promote gain cycles beneficial to employees and employers alike.