Can work still be crafted under authority? A study of the differential effect of employee regulatory focus on job crafting

Abstract

In the digital era, job crafting is critical. However, limited studies concern the antecedent mechanisms of job crafting in the Chinese organizational context. Accordingly, from the perspective of power distance (one important variable of organizational values in China context), this study explores the mechanisms underlying the differentiation between the regulatory focus and employees’ job crafting to address this important gap. The empirical study confirms that two dimensions of regulatory focus have opposite effects on employees’ job crafting. Psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between regulatory focus and job crafting. In addition, power distance moderates the relationship between regulatory focus and psychological empowerment, and reflects very different utilities between promotion and prevention focus. Power distance further moderates the mediating process of this study's model. These findings fill the gap in exploring the direct and indirect mechanisms between regulatory focus and job crafting from a two-dimensional complete perspective, recognizing the role of psychological empowerment between personal preferences and job crafting, meanwhile, help organizations with a better understanding of the moderation effect of power distance and guidance for managers to inspire employees to job crafting.