Job Crafting Behaviors Research Articles

Empowering leadership and the role of work-related curiosity in employee job crafting behavior: the role of low gender egalitarianism

PurposeHow leaders’ empowerment impacts followers' job performance in learning organizations seeks much attention. Under the lens of self-determination theory, this research examines the mediating role of work-related curiosity between empowering leadership and job-crafting behaviors. Furthermore, by applying trait activation theory, this study aims to examine the moderating role of gender egalitarianism in the relationship between empowering leadership and work-related curiosity among teachers.Design/methodology/approachA time-lagged data from 310 teachers was collected. The quantitative research method under the deductive approach and positivism research philosophy was applied. The data was analyzed through the SPSS and structured equation modeling technique under SMART-PLS.FindingsThe results show that empowering leadership is positively related to job crafting dimensions. Simultaneously, work-related curiosity mediates these predictive relations. Moreover, low gender egalitarianism moderates empowering leadership and work-related curiosity.Originality/valueInvestigating the direct and indirect effects of empowering leadership on the dimensions of job crafting is scarce, especially in learning organizations with a low gender egalitarian culture. By using the self-determination theory, this study analyzed work-related curiosity as a mediating path between empowering leadership and job crafting. The cultural circumstances under empowering leadership are important for work-related curiosity. Finally, the moderating role of gender egalitarianism is established between empowering leadership and work-related curiosity in the unique context of an underdeveloped country, Pakistan. In addition, this study provides important theoretical and managerial implications for learning organizations for needful job crafting behaviors.

Empowering innovative work behaviors: unfolding the contextual, personal and behavioral spectrum

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of empowering leadership (EL) on employee innovative work behavior (IWB), using an interactionist perspective on creativity and conservation of resources theory. Following the premise, the study unravels the mediating role of job crafting (JC) and creative self-efficacy (CSE) as a boundary condition that likely triggers and facilitates this process.Design/methodology/approachUsing a dyadic cross-sectional design, this study focuses on academic staff at four universities in Pakistan. Participants were surveyed, and questionnaires were distributed to collect data pertaining to accomplish the study objectives.FindingsThe study results reveal that JC plays a pivotal role as an intervening factor in establishing the connection between EL and employees’ IWB. This implies that EL likely promotes employees’ JC behavior, thus contributing to a greater manifestation of innovative behaviors at work. Furthermore, this interplay is further enhanced by using CSE as a moderator.Originality/valueThis study accentuates the importance of JC in eliciting the mechanism which effectively channelizes and translates the impact of EL on IWB. It also offers the valuable and fresh perspective on the conditions favoring the innovative behaviors at work.

Wellbeing Predictors in Animal Shelter Workers: Exploring the Roles of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Job Crafting

ABSTRACT Animal shelter workers are at risk of poor wellbeing resulting from their work, with this potentially impacting employee performance and attrition. Using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical framework, the study explored relationships between job demands, job resources, workplace wellbeing (exhaustion and engagement), performance, and intentions to leave. Use of job-crafting behaviors, and the extent that these behaviors predict wellbeing after controlling for the impact of job demands and resources, were also explored. Among the 142 participants surveyed, a range of job-crafting behaviors were reported. Consistent with the JD-R model, hierarchical regressions revealed job demands and resources accounted for 36.4% of the variance in work engagement and 36.2% of the variance in exhaustion. Job crafting predicted wellbeing in animal shelter workers after controlling for demands and resources and explained an additional 7.8% of the variance in work engagement and 5.9% of the variance in exhaustion. Work engagement, but not exhaustion, was related to performance, while both engagement and exhaustion were related to intentions to leave. The results suggest that job demands and resources impact wellbeing in animal shelter workers, affecting their performance and contributing to intentions to leave. Broad workplace interventions that build resources and minimize demands may, therefore, be effective in promoting wellbeing and performance in animal-shelter environments, which could potentially increase retention rates. Animal shelter workers make active adjustments to their work environment through job crafting, and these are linked to workplace wellbeing. Interventions that offer flexibility and encourage job crafting, particularly those that involve finding opportunities for growth and seeking feedback on performance, offer a useful bottom-up approach to complement top-down interventions.

Crafting a Job among Chinese Employees: The Role of Empowering Leadership and the Links to Work-Related Outcomes.

The present study aims to examine the process through which empowering leadership shapes employees' work engagement and in-role performance by facilitating job-crafting behaviors, specifically seeking resources, seeking challenges, and reducing demands. Based on the extensive data from 733 Chinese employees across various organizations located predominantly in Chongqing and Xi'an, China, we carried out different types of statistical analysis such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships among empowering leadership, specific job-crafting behaviors, work engagement and in-role performance, test our hypothesis and our conceptual model. The results from structural equation modeling (SEM) suggested that empowering leadership was positively related to employees' work engagement and in-role performance; empowering leadership was positively related to employees' job crafting (seeking resources, seeking challenges and reducing demands); seeking resources, seeking challenges and reducing demands were positively related to in-role performance, and seeking challenges and reducing demands were positively related to work engagement. In the relationship between empowering leadership and in-role performance, seeking resources serves as a mediating factor. Similarly, seeking challenges mediates the association between empowering leadership and both work engagement and in-role performance. Furthermore, reducing demands mediates the links between empowering leadership and both work engagement and in-role performance. The implications of these findings are subsequently discussed.

Rethinking Resistance as Relational – Resisting Psychologization in Psychology: Lessons from Carrère’s Between Two Worlds

AbstractPsychology, and in particular mainstream positive psychology, is fuelled by discourses on resistance strategies, understood as the individual capacity to resist and adapt to negative and oppressive thoughts, circumstances, experiences, and social structures. This self-strategy of resistance is evident in positive psychology’s notions of resilience: grit, life-crafting, and job-crafting behaviors, for example. While positive psychology would have us believe these strategies are associated with overcoming hardship and living a good life, they risk imbricating people in their own oppressions. In this paper, we engage in a reading of Carrère’s Between Two Worlds (original title Ouistreham) (2021), a movie featuring multiple examples of resistance. The movie shows how precarious workers enact self-strategies of resistance to fight for a decent and bearable life. They persevere despite ongoing hardships, seek joy amidst tragic life events, and find meaning in menial labor. However, resistance also appears as relational and political, and thus escapes and exceeds self-focused psychological categories of resistance. Resistance appears as the refusal to be understood solely in individual and individualizing ways – as a psychologized and knowable subject – and is characterized by relational, contextual, and political tactics. The movie profanes established positive psychology’s individualist focus on resistance. This profanation of self-strategies of resistance affords an opportunity to rethink resistance beyond the individual and compels us to problematize the tendency to psychologize and individualize social phenomena. In doing so, our paper too resists the determination of psychological language (i.e., psychologization) and advances ideas for alternative resistances in, to, and of psychology.

Job crafting and sustainable work performance: A systematic literature review

Research background: Job crafting based on individual initiative represents a new form of work design, supporting stability in increasing work performance. In many cases, this method proves to be an effective way of increasing employees' work engagement, mainly because of the mediated autonomy in their work performance and the greater meaningfulness that results from it. The basis of job crafting is employee support, which initiates working behavior focused on proactivity in creating and adapting work to the subjective requirements of the employee's individuality. The available literature highlights various approaches that mediate individual topics, with which companies try to stimulate employee behavior, the expected result of which is job crafting, which leads to an increase in work performance. Purpose of the article: The goal of the study is to identify current research directions in the field of job crafting, specifically in relation to increasing work performance. Methods: The Web of Science database was used to identify the main directions of research in the relevant literature. Research was directed at peer-reviewed articles published in journals indexed in SSCI as Q1 and Q2. The resulting number of articles was identified based on the PRISMA selection method. Findings & value added: By analyzing the literary sources, we have identified 4 important research topics that the authors of the scientific articles addressed. The most widespread topic was work engagement and its influence on job crafting. In the second topic, the authors addressed the issue of how job crafting supports the meaningfulness of work. The third research topic that the authors addressed was job crafting as a factor of employee autonomy. The fourth theme identified was the influence of leadership and management support on job-crafting behavior. The paper offers the reader a systematic and clear list of available quality resources that can help them in their personal research related to job crafting and work performance. In addition, the results of our research may be useful for companies trying to improve the work performance of their employees.

Individual-focused transformational leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: mediating and moderating mechanisms of job crafting and employee resilience

PurposeDrawing on the transformational leadership theory, this study empirically tests the relationship between individual-focused transformational leadership (IFTL) (i.e. individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation) and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (Ch-OCB), proposing the mediating mechanism of job crafting. Also, this study examines the moderating role of employee resilience on the relationship between job crafting and Ch-OCB.Design/methodology/approachA nested data model using a 4-wave time-lagged sample of 210 employees–supervisors dyads from Indian information technology (IT) organizations was tested using hierarchical linear modeling.FindingsThe study results showed a significant association between IFTL and Ch-OCB. Furthermore, job crafting mediated the relationship between IFTL and Ch-OCB. Additionally, the findings indicate that the positive relationship between job crafting and Ch-OCB was found to be stronger when employee resilience levels were higher.Practical implicationsThe study offers significant practical implications to managers, counselors and human resource management (HRM) practitioners for stimulating Ch-OCB. The study findings would aid HRM practitioners in designing individualized-oriented leadership programs to encourage employees to exhibit proactive job-crafting behavior, further augmenting Ch-OCB.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the existing transformational leadership literature by proposing new pathways through which IFTL stimulates job crafting, further leading to enhanced Ch-OCB. Mainly, research studies need to shed more light on leadership characteristics that influence employees' proactive and adaptive work behavior, i.e. job crafting and Ch-OCB. Essentially, this study examined the underlying mechanism through which IFTL relates to employees' Ch-OCB.

Job Autonomy and Work Meaning: Drivers of Employee Job-Crafting Behaviors in the VUCA Times.

In the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment (VUCA), employees can better match the organization and jobs by crafting their job perceptions, work tasks, and relationships, which is valuable to maintain organizational sustainable competitiveness and promote employees' personal growth. This study explores the influence mechanisms of job autonomy and work meaning on employees' job-crafting behaviors and the moderating effect of perceived organizational change through a survey of 318 employees in Chinese companies. The results show that job autonomy and work meaning can promote employees' job-crafting behaviors by increasing individuals' harmonious work passion. The indirect effects of job autonomy and work meaning on employee job-crafting behaviors through harmonious work passion are stronger for individuals with high perceived organizational change relative to those with low perceived organizational change. Organizations should concentrate on job redesign to improve employees' job autonomy and work meaning. A climate of change should also be created within the organization to keep employees aware of the crisis. Meanwhile, employees should actively use work resources to meet the changing needs of organizational development and promote individual career development through job-crafting behaviors.

Job crafting-job embeddedness linkage of construction professionals: moderating effect of career stages

Purpose Construction managers must focus on effective job design to develop and harness employee talent and achieve organizational goals. Because psychological needs and key motivators vary by career stage, a differentiated employee value proposition is crucial for a firm’s retention strategy. This study aims to examine how job crafting (JC) affects job embeddedness (JE) at different career stages. Design/methodology/approach In this investigation, a quantitative methodology was used. In total, 272 construction industry professionals from 25 construction firms in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, provided the data. Through the use of structural equation modeling, hypotheses were evaluated. Findings The results show that JC enhances construction professionals’ JE (β = 0.60, p < 0.000). Moreover, the relationship between JC and JE is moderated by career stages. The impact of JC on JE is greater among longer tenured (late-career stages, β = 0.61, p < 0.000) than shorter tenured construction professionals (early-career stages, β = 0.60, p < 0.000 and mid-career stages, β = 0.58, p < 0.000). Originality/value Limited research shows how JC can improve JE. At the time of this research, there was no published work on JC and JE relationship in the construction industry. This research found that JC has a positive impact on JE and JC behavior applies at both individual and team levels. This could imply that construction professionals with longer organizational tenure are more likely to challenge the status quo and identify problems or opportunities for improvement, hence contributes to JE theory.

Examining the cross-level mechanisms of the influence of supervisors’ job crafting on frontline employees’ engagement and performance

PurposeFrontline employees’ proactive behaviors (i.e. job crafting) are critical to satisfying customers’ idiosyncratic needs. If the supervisors practice job crafting, their subordinates are more likely to mimic such behaviors. However, there has been limited research on how leaders’ job crafting can influence subordinates’ job crafting. This study aims to examine the cross-level mechanisms (i.e. trickle-down effects) of supervisors’ job crafting on the subordinates’ attitudes and performance. Specifically, such trickle-down effects can be explained via two cross-level mechanisms of the supervisors’ job crafting on the subordinates’ work engagement and performance: social learning mechanism and job demands-resources mechanism.Design/methodology/approachA three-wave cross-lagged study was conducted in two-week intervals. The valid responses from 67 supervisors and their 201 subordinates were collected. The data set was analyzed using multilevel Structural Equation Modeling.FindingsThe results demonstrated that the social learning and job demands-resources mechanisms are not independent. The supervisor’s job crafting improves employment relationships, subsequently encourages subordinates’ job crafting and ultimately enhances work engagement and work performance.Practical implicationsThe findings suggested that hospitality organizations should encourage job crafting among supervisors and managers. A proactive hotel manager can establish strong employment relationships, motivate subordinates to work proactively and obtain positive work outcomes.Originality/valueThe findings enrich the knowledge about the trickle-down effects of supervisors on subordinates in terms of job-crafting behaviors. In particular, this study found a new theoretical perspective that the job demands-resources and social learning mechanisms may not be independent, and the subordinates’ perception of the employment relationship plays a critical role.

The Impact of a Job Crafting Intervention on Wellbeing in Health Care Leaders.

Job Crafting is a strategy undertaken by highly motivated individuals to modify their own work. Educating individuals about the benefits of this approach has recently been explored in other professions as a wellbeing intervention. We aimed to demonstrate that a Job Crafting intervention for health care leaders would result in improved wellbeing, lower burnout, and enhanced job resources. Fourteen health care leaders across 6 departments at one academic medical center participated in a two-part workshop on Job Crafting between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. Participants completed electronic surveys before and 4-6weeks after the sessions. Pre- and post-intervention scores were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank sum tests. Eighty-six percent of participants stated the sessions were useful and applicable to their jobs, with 93% stating they were a valuable use of time and would recommend sessions to others. Participant Job Crafting behaviors increased following the intervention, with 46% increasing structural and social resources (P = .03) and 85% decreasing Hindrance Demands (P = .02). Increased meaning in work was identified by 38% post-intervention (P = .04). No statistically significant differences were identified in Distress Scores at high risk for burnout pre- and post-intervention (86% for both), but 30% of participants had an absolute improvement (decrease) in their Distress Score. A Job Crafting intervention was associated with high rates of satisfaction among participants and was successful in increasing Job Crafting behaviors and perceptions of meaningful work, but did not result in a change in risk for burnout in the short follow-up period.

It all depends on which side of the fence you are standing: agent and recipient perspectives are differently linked with job crafting

BackgroundIn social contexts, people may view themselves as agents, who are in control of the environment, or recipients, who succumb to what others have decided. Here, we investigated how these perspectives determine job crafting (JC)—self-initiated employee behaviors targeted at altering job characteristics to fit them with one’s needs.MethodsStudy 1 tested the relationships between chronic agent–recipient tendencies and JC in a cross-lagged panel design. Study 2 was a randomized experiment where agent–recipient perspectives were manipulated to predict JC intentions in the week to follow.ResultsSupporting our predictions, while agents sought structural job resources and increased challenging demands, recipients resorted to reducing hindering demands (Study 1). Study 2 revealed that activating an agent perspective led to stronger intentions to increase structural job resources and challenging demands.ConclusionsWe conclude that agent and recipient perspectives are linked with differential patterns of JC behaviors. Strengthening agency is a vital step in forming job redesign goals during JC interventions.

Approaching or avoiding? Mechanisms of host-country language proficiency in affecting virtual work adaptivity during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced expatriates in many organizations to do virtual work, while virtual communication is becoming a critical skill, especially for second-language speakers. We explore how expatriates with high and low levels of host-country language (HCL) proficiency use different mechanisms to improve their virtual work adaptivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, we argue that expatriates with high HCL proficiency tend to adopt approach crafting, whereas expatriates with low HCL proficiency tend to use avoidance crafting. We further examine the role of language-related human resource (HR) practices in reducing the tendency of expatriates with low HCL proficiency to choose avoidance crafting. We tested our predictions using data collected from 994 expatriates working in eight countries during the COVID-19 virtual work period, and the results generally supported our hypotheses. Our study sheds light on the importance of HCL skills in influencing expatriates’ job-crafting behavior and adaptivity in virtual work, and the significant role of language-related HR practices. Last, we offer practical insights into improving virtual work during a crisis in relation to employees’ HCL and organizational support.

It Is Better for Younger Workers: The Gain Cycle between Job Crafting and Work Engagement.

Job Crafting has been proposed as a new perspective, consisting in a bottom-up strategy to achieve person-job fit by emphasizing employees' active participation and spontaneous change in job design, which is specifically adequate for older workers. Despite this fact, the cyclical influence between Work Engagement and Job Crafting over time has been less researched. We postulated that a gain cycle could be observed in the relationships between Job Crafting and its outcomes. Hence, we tested a longitudinal moderated mediation model in which Work Engagement increases over time through an increment in Job Crafting behaviors (Hypothesis 1), while this process is moderated by workers' age (Hypothesis 2). The present study follows a three-wave design where participants (N = 126) responded to online surveys at three measurement waves, three months apart. At Time 1 and Time 3, we assessed Work Engagement, Job Crafting behavior, and demographic variables, while at Time 2 we only assessed Job Crafting. Our findings partially differ from what was expected. The findings supported that the relationship between Work Engagement at Time 1 and changes in Job Crafting behavior across time was negative and non-significant, failing to provide support for Hypothesis 1. Related to Hypothesis 2, our results are mixed. Although the interaction between changes in Job Crafting and workers' age did not demonstrate a statistical influence on Work Engagement at Time 3, our findings suggested that the direct influence was complemented by a negative indirect effect through the longitudinal increase of Job Crafting, which mainly affects aged workers. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Job Crafting in Nursing: Mediation between Work Engagement and Job Performance in a Multisample Study.

Job crafting is considered a specific form of proactive behavior whereby workers actively change the actual or perceived characteristics of their jobs in order to better match the demands placed on them and the resources available. As nursing could be considered a stressful profession, job crafting is proposed as a mediator between nurses’ work engagement and job performance. Hence, the main objective of this study was to provide empirical evidence on job crafting in nursing, including the three most prominent conceptualizations of the construct. The present research covers three independent empirical studies of registered or practical nurses of Spanish public and private hospitals: Study 1 (N = 699), Study 2 (N = 498), and Study 3 (N = 308). (3) Our results support the hypothesis that nurses’ job engagement and job-crafting behaviors can affect their job performance. Our finding corroborates that engaged nurses can act to proactively change their jobs, but comparing different job-crafting conceptualizations and measures, the current findings support that effectiveness of diverse job crafting behaviors could vary. To sum up, as the JDR approach proposed, the present study supports the position that work engagement influences job performance, as well as the mediating role of job crafting in this relationship. The current study takes this knowledge one step further by revealing that not all types of job-crafting behaviors are equally efficient and not all types are adequate for specific working environments, such as nursing.

The Relationship of Employees' Promotion Focus and Job Crafting: Psychological Empowerment As a Mediator

Job-crafting behavior has been found to be positively related to many organizational outcomes. This paper studied the relationship between individuals' promotion focus and job crafting via the mediating role of psychological empowerment. We collected data from 447 employees of two Internet companies in China using a survey consisting of items from scales validated in prior studies. We found that employees' promotion focus was related to their job crafting, and that psychological empowerment partially mediated this relationship. Our findings provide a reference for how to initiate employees' job crafting. We present the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and discuss future research directions.

Investigating the Impact of Boundaryless Career Attitudes on Career Success: Decisive Role of Job Crafting

Purpose: Volatile labor market conditions have increased the uncertainty regarding job security which resultantly shifted the career transition focus from organization to individual for career development. Now, employees seem much more responsible for their self-career management. In these circumstances, new career management concepts are gaining attention i.e. Boundaryless career attitudes (BCA), Job Crafting behaviors (JCB), Employability and Success. Hence, the study aims to check the effect of BCA on Career Success through JC and Employability.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: This is a quantitative, survey-based study which is conducted on the universities’ permanent faculty members of Pakistan.
 Findings: The results conclude that there exists a positive impact of BCA on Career Outcomes directly and through proactive behavior.
 Implications/Originality/Value: The study enhances the BCA literature with said career outcomes and provides a guideline to the employees to achieve desired targeted career results.

Impact of Protean Career Attitudes on Career Outcomes via Job Crafting Behavior: A Serial Mediation Model

Purpose: The study proposes that the individuals with protean career attitudes employ best work practices through job crafting behaviors and attain desired career outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of protean career attitudes on career outcomes, i.e., Perceived Employability (PE) and Subjective Career Success (SCS) through job crafting behavior.
 Methodology: The study has a quantitative, deductive research design that mainly focuses on the testation of the hypotheses. This study has been conducted on full-time faculty members of public and private sector Universities of Pakistan
 Findings: The data from the employees working in the universities of Pakistan revealed that PCA has a positive impact on individual career outcomes. It was also found that there exists a pathway of serial mediation from job crafting towards perceived employability to achieve career success. The individuals who craft their jobs are more likely to enhance their employability, ultimately leading to career success. The study highlights the importance of PCA and Job Crafting behaviors, yet un-explored phenomena, for the employees for career development.
 Implications: Employees who want to progress and develop their careers should actively engage in task crafting behavior in task crafting, relational crafting, or cognitive crafting.

Engaged Versus Workaholic Employees Job Crafting Behavior: The Moderating Role of Perceived Organization Support

Purpose: Making jobs challenging and interesting is becoming a new trend in organizations and is related to job crafting behavior. Employees with different sort of wellbeing predict diverse crafting behaviors. This study is about making comparisons between the two states of wellbeing that can be differentiated on theoretical backgrounds: work engagement and work holism. Specifically, both well beings may differently predict job crafting behavior
 Design/Methodology/Approach: This study was quantitative in nature and applied on a sample of 285 faculty members working in higher education institutions in Pakistan. Further, the moderating effect of perceived organizational support was tested by using the SEM-AMOS.
 Findings: The findings revealed that engaged employees always craft their jobs even if they don’t perceive considerable support from their organizations. But the employees who are workaholic, do not usually craft their jobs, but adopt job crafting behavior when they perceive an organizational support.
 Implications/Originality/Value: This study points towards an important theoretical connection between employee wellbeing and job crafting behavior. It concludes that employee wellbeing is essential for job crafting and, specifically, for workaholic employees, perceived organizational support is also important.

Leadership Driven Job Crafting: Exploring the Mediating Role of Meaningfulness between Servant Leadership and Job Crafting

The current study was undertaken to ascertain the mediating role of meaningfulness linking servant leadership (SL) to job crafting behavior (JCB) of the employees. The study also endeavors to find the association between meaningfulness and JCB. This study collected data from 689 service sector employees through survey design. Data were processed and analyzed through PLS-SMART and SPSS. mainly. The findings manifested a relation between meaningfulness and employees’ job crafting behavior. Similarly, SL significantly impacted both meaningfulness and employees’ job crafting behavior. The results also unraveled the mediating role of meaningfulness between SL and JCB of the employees. The research has ascertained the previously unexplored mediating role of meaningfulness between SL and JCB. It is also the first study that attempted to explore meaningfulness as a stimulus to job crafting behavior.