The Initiative Paradox: Relational Crafting, Social Undermining and Workplace Loneliness

Abstract

Drawing upon the transactional theory of stress, we investigated the influencing mechanism between relational job crafting and workplace loneliness and its boundary condition from a social interaction perspective. A multiple-source, multi-wave field study was conducted with data collected from 267 employee-peer dyads in three Chinese firms. The results showed that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between promotion-oriented relational crafting and loneliness via peer social undermining. Meanwhile, prevention-oriented relational crafting is positively related to loneliness through the mediating of peer social undermining. Moreover, impression management motive moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between promotion-oriented relational crafting and peer social undermining. Implications of these findings for reducing workplace loneliness are discussed.