The development and validation of an electronic job crafting intervention: Testing the links with job crafting and person‐job fit

Abstract

Using two intervention studies, this article examines the effectiveness of a newly developed electronic job crafting intervention (i.e., e‐intervention) that aims to stimulate task, relational, and cognitive crafting and offers a time‐efficient and cost‐effective alternative to traditional face‐to‐face job crafting interventions. In Study 1, we quantitatively and qualitatively investigate the effects of the job crafting e‐intervention on general levels of job crafting, while in study 2, we further test its direct relationship with task, relational, and cognitive crafting, and its indirect relationship with perceived person–job fit. In Study 1 (N = 59), multilevel analyses showed that the e‐intervention indeed increased general levels of job crafting immediately after the 3 weeks lasting e‐intervention. Moreover, by qualitatively investigating adherence to the intervention in the intervention group (n = 25), we found that mainly goal setting is important in stimulating job crafting. In Study 2 (N = 106), we further validated the effect on job crafting by confirming relationships with task crafting two weeks after the e‐intervention and found an indirect relationship with needs–supplies fit via task crafting. We conclude that the e‐intervention is a promising and accessible alternative to face‐to‐face job crafting interventions, especially for the specific form of task crafting.Practitioner points We developed an electronic job crafting intervention that makes use of online technology to create a more accessible, cheaper, and less time‐consuming alternative compared with traditional face‐to‐face job crafting interventions. We found this electronic job crafting intervention to be able to foster job crafting among employees. In particular, after completing the electronic intervention, employees were found to make more changes in their job to optimize their functioning compared with before the intervention, and compared with a control group not completing the intervention. Employees who completed the e‐intervention were especially engaged in task crafting (i.e., making changes in one’s task roles), which was also related to perceived levels of needs–supplies fit.