Crafting behaviours and employees’ and their partners’ well-being: a weekly study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Organizations are increasingly aware of the relevance of employees’ well-being, due to its positive impact on both companies and society. Based on the Work-Home Resources (W-HR) model, this study aims to analyse the relationship between two resource-gaining behaviours – i.e., expansion-oriented job crafting (JC) and leisure crafting (LC) behaviours- and employees’ and their partners’ well-being. A quantitative longitudinal study using weekly online questionnaires (for four weeks) was conducted with 50 participants and their partners. Results of a multilevel sequential mediation model with random slopes provided empirical support for the three-path sequential mediation model (weekly expansion-oriented JC ➔ weekly LC ➔ employees’ weekly well-being ➔ partners’ weekly well-being) when contemporaneous effects were considered, but not when time-lagged effects were considered. Thus, this study shows that work and leisure domains can be integrated – i.e., positively related- rather than segmented – and that both types of crafting behaviours positively contribute to higher employee well-being in the weeks when more crafting behaviours occur. In addition, when employees’ well-being increases from one week to the next, the well-being of their partners also increases. Taken together, these results suggest that crafting is a resource that contributes not only to the employees’ well-being, but also to that of their partners.