Relational Job Design Research Articles

Does it take two to tango? Combined effects of relational job crafting and job design on energy and performance

SummaryDespite an extensive body of research on job crafting, our understanding of how bottom‐up job crafting behaviors interact with top‐down job design in influencing employee effectiveness remains limited. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we developed and tested a theoretical framework to examine the implications of daily promotion‐ versus prevention‐oriented relational job crafting on employees' energy and subsequent task performance, in the context of relational job design (i.e., task interdependence). To test our theorizing, we conducted two experience‐sampling studies over 10 workdays with full‐time employees across various organizations (Study 1: Nday‐level = 845, Nperson‐level = 126; Study 2: Nday‐level = 793, Nperson‐level = 108). Multilevel path modeling indicated promotion‐oriented relational job crafting was positively associated with subsequent task performance by increasing energy levels (Study 2), particularly when task interdependence was low (Study 1). In contrast, prevention‐oriented relational job crafting was energy depleting in low‐task‐interdependent contexts (Study 2) but increased employees' energy in high‐task‐interdependent contexts (Study 1). Our findings suggest different forms of day‐to‐day relational job crafting behaviors are relevant for employees' energy and performance, but their effectiveness may depend on the relational job‐design context.

Potential impact of relational job design on future intentions of episodic volunteers in major sport events.

Based on Social Identity Theory, this study hypothesized the parallel mediating roles of organizational commitment, and commitment to beneficiaries, in the relationship between relational job design and future volunteer intentions among episodic volunteers at a mega sport event. Perceived organizational support was tested as a moderator of this relationship. Participants were 617 episodic volunteers (35.7% male and 64.3% female) at the 7th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, China, who completed online questionnaires. Regression-based analyses indicated that relational job design positively predicted future volunteer intentions through organizational commitment. Although the results did not indicate a mediating role of commitment to beneficiaries, relational job design was still shown to positively predict commitment to beneficiaries. Furthermore, the association between relational job design and commitment to beneficiaries was moderated by perceived organizational support, such the effect was stronger when perceived organizational support was high. The results have practical implications for strengthening episodic volunteers' intentions to participate in future mega sport events, creating a legacy of volunteerism.

It’s my pleasure to serve you! Examining the job contact, happiness, prosocial motivation, and innovative work behavior link

Purpose Job characteristics can potentially influence employees’ attitudes and behaviors. However, their impact on employees’ innovative behaviors, particularly in public sector organizations, has received little scholarly attention. Based on relational job design theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study aims to examine the effect of job contact on public sector employees’ innovative work behavior through the mediator of happiness at work. It also assesses whether prosocial motivation strengthens the influence of job contact on innovative work behavior (via happiness at work). Design/methodology/approach The model was examined on a sample of 180 employee-supervisor dyads (90 supervisors and 180 employees) recruited from various government departments in the United Arab Emirates. Findings The findings support the proposed moderated mediation model in which job contact positively and significantly impacts innovative work behavior. The association between job contact and innovative behavior via happiness at work is found to be stronger for employees who are highly prosocially motivated. Originality/value The findings offer prescriptive insights into public sector employee happiness and prosocial motivation by illustrating when and how job contact influences innovative work behavior. The authors also present relevant managerial recommendations for promoting public sector employees’ innovative behavior.

Applying the Relational Job Design Theory to the Retail Industry: The Association between Perceived Social Impact and Job Satisfaction, Turnover Intention, and Persistence

Retail workers contribute to the daily wellbeing of customers, including those living with disabilities or diseases. The relational job design theory suggests that one’s perceived social impact (PSI) of their job contributes to improvements in job satisfaction, turnover intention, and persistence. Confirming such an association could encourage organization managers to commit more to community care for the purpose of improving the work outcomes of their employees. However, how convenience store workers perceive the social contributions of their work and the perception’s impact on their work outcomes remains unclear. Thus, the first objective of this study was to examine the association between retail workers’ PSI and work outcomes (job satisfaction, turnover intention, and hours worked). The second objective was to evaluate the effect of an intervention aimed at increasing the PSI on work outcomes. This study was part of a project to evaluate a dementia‐friendly program for convenience store workers. All participants completed a baseline survey after randomization. The intervention group was then required to complete a multicomponent e‐learning intervention program within one month. One month later, both groups completed a postintervention survey. The e‐learning program included lectures on dementia, virtual contact with people living with dementia, and information on the positive impact of retail store jobs on customers living with dementia. A total of 161 and 145 participants were analyzed in the baseline study and the postintervention survey, respectively. Cross‐sectional analysis of baseline data showed that the workers’ PSI was significantly correlated with job satisfaction (β = 0.203, p < 0.001) and turnover intentions (β = −0.305, p = 0.006). However, the e‐learning intervention did not change PSI and work outcomes. Interventions that highlight workers’ prosocial contributions more effectively and are successful in changing their PSI may improve their engagement and work outcomes. For retail workers, intervention based on a relational job design framework may be effective; however, designing such interventions remains challenging. This trial is registered with UMIN000043623.

One Size Fits All? Exploring Motivation for Public Employees With a Job Fit Framework and Response Surface Analysis

To advance tailored recruitment, management, and on-the-job socialization, we present a complementary “job fit” framework that integrates intrinsic, extrinsic, relational, and prosocial job design attributes. Employing polynomial regression models and response surface analysis, we capture and display three-dimensionally whether, when, and how the match (or mismatch) between employee preferences and experiences relates to job satisfaction. Using a large, cross-national sample of public employees, we illustrate this framework and methodology through analysis of matched preferences, experiences, and job satisfaction across six job attributes. We identified that public employees’ varied experiences of job attributes have differential impacts on job satisfaction, contingent upon preferences for the attribute. The only attribute we identified that was insensitive to employee preferences was job security. We find, for example, that working with others is associated with decreased job satisfaction for those that prefer working alone. These findings support the motivating potential of complementary “job fit” and provide nuanced attention to appropriate methodologies and a broader range of job design attributes.

How having job impact leads to employee innovative behavior: a moderated mediation model of servant leadership and work meaningfulness

PurposeProsocial job characteristics have received the least scholarly attention among the antecedents of employee innovative work behavior (IWB). Hence, antecedents' role remains largely unknown, especially in public sector organizations. Based on the relational job design theory, job characteristics theory (JCT) and public sector innovation literature, the authors examine whether job impact (JI) promotes public sector employees' IWB mediated by work meaningfulness (WM). This study also assesses whether servant leadership (SL) strengthens the influence of JI on IWB (via WM).Design/methodology/approachThe model was examined on a sample of 180 employee-supervisor dyads (90 supervisors and 180 employees) recruited from various government departments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).FindingsThe finding supports the proposed moderated mediation model in which JI enhances IWB. The association between JI and innovative behavior via WM is found to be stronger under high SL behavior.Originality/valueThe authors' findings offer prescriptive insights into SL's crucial role in illustrating when and how JI promotes IWB and offer relevant managerial recommendations for encouraging public sector employees to demonstrate innovative behavior. The authors also provide empirical evidence on the significant contribution of a prosocial job characteristic, i.e. JI, to IWB. In addition to having theoretical and practical significance, the authors' study is aligned with the UAE National Innovation Strategy 2015.

Relational Job Design Based Cognitive Pathways to Employee Entrepreneurial Behaviour

Knowledge based work requires that employees know how to deal with ambiguity and to get ahead of it by being innovative, proactive and risk-taking. These three traits together constitute what is known as employee entrepreneurial behavior (EEB) which is a crucial competence in organizations that operate in dynamic environments. There is however a complex combination of cognitions and metacognitions that effective knowledge workers undertake to make sense of their environment; and these cognitive pathways are not yet fully understood. This is the gap that the current study aims to fill. Data were collected from 285 white collar workers and their supervisors across two sectors, manufacturing and services, in India. This data was modeled with structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression techniques. Leader member exchange and diversity belief are a leader related cognition and social structure-oriented metacognition respectively, that directly predict EEB. A robustness analysis is also conducted to lend credence to these findings. There are practical implications of this research for the cognitive re-design of jobs and for effective supervision strategies for knowledge workers. Future research directions and limitations are elucidated.

Implications of Daily Relational Job Crafting in the Context of Task Interdependence

Social interactions and connections are ubiquitous in organizations. Yet, our understanding of how and when employees’ efforts to adjust social interactions and connections at work (i.e., relational job crafting) are linked with relevant work outcomes (e.g., task performance) is limited. Building on proactivity and conservation of resources theory, we developed a framework that explains how individuals’ engagement in promotion-oriented vs. prevention-oriented relational job crafting increases their energetic resources, which positively influence their task performance. In our theoretical development, we further argue that implications of such bottom-up relational job crafting for task performance are contingent on the top-down relational job design (i.e., task interdependence). To test our research model, we conducted an experience sampling study (10 workdays with two daily measurement points; Nday-level = 845) with 126 full-time employees across various occupations and industries. In support of our theorizing, multilevel path modeling indicated daily promotion-oriented relational job crafting was positively associated with subsequent energy levels and task performance on the next day, but only when overall task interdependence in the job was low. In contrast, daily prevention-oriented relational job crafting was positively associated with energy levels and task performance on the next day at high levels of task interdependence in the job. Our findings suggest the relevance of considering different forms of bottom-up relational job crafting for performance-related outcomes in the context of top-down job design.

The Spillover of Socio-Moral Climate in Organizations Onto Employees’ Socially Responsible Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Impact

Due to the pressing environmental and social issues facing the global economic system, the role of organizations in promoting socially responsible behavior among employees warrants attention in research and practice. It has been suggested that the concept of socio-moral climate (SMC) might be particularly useful for understanding how participative organizational structures and processes shape employees’ prosocial behaviors. While SMC has been shown to be positively related to employees’ prosocial behaviors within the work context, little is known about the potential spillover effects of SMC (i.e., associations between SMC and employees’ prosocial behaviors outside the work context). The present study aims to address this gap by investigating how and why SMC is related to employees’ socially responsible purchase intention. Drawing on the relational job design framework, we argue that employees’ perceptions of their social impact may explain why SMC is positively related to responsible purchase intentions. We collected data from 492 employees working in various industries at two measurement points with a time lag of 12 months. Hypotheses were tested using path analysis, in which we controlled for the temporal stability of the study variables. The results showed that SMC was positively related to perceived social impact and socially responsible purchase intention and that perceived social impact was positively related to socially responsible purchase intention. In addition, we found a significant indirect relationship between SMC and socially responsible purchase intention through perceived social impact. The findings provide initial support for the spillover of employees’ work-related experiences onto their responsible purchase intentions within the nonwork domain. This study contributes to the literature by extending the traditional focus of SMC research on the development of moral reasoning skills to suggest that perceived social impact is an important mechanism underlying the relationship between SMC and prosocial behaviors. In terms of practical implications, this study suggests that organizational interventions designed to increase SMC may enhance employees’ perceptions of their social impact.

Does workplace spirituality influence reflexivity in ongoing teams? Examining the impact of shared transformational leadership on team performance

PurposeThis study explores the mediating influences of team reflexivity and workplace spirituality in the shared transformational leadership-team performance relationship.Design/methodology/approachAdopting the cross-sectional research design, this study collected data from 130 ongoing teams working in India's information technology (IT) sector. The study collected data on shared transformational leadership by adopting the referent-shift consensus method while collecting data on team performance from managers. Thus, the study explored the relationships among the constructs of this research by using multi-source data.FindingsThis study has shown that shared transformational leadership induces workplace spirituality and team reflexivity among team members. This research's results show that workplace spirituality mediates the shared transformational leadership-team performance and shared transformational leadership-team reflexivity relationships. This research has also demonstrated that team reflexivity mediates the shared transformational leadership-team performance relationship.Practical implicationsNecessity to facilitate relational job design changes, knowledge sharing, intellectual stimulation is the primary managerial implication of this study. This study also articulates the need to pay attention to create organizational conditions for the emergence of workplace spirituality.Originality/valueThis is the first study that has positioned shared transformational leadership and workplace spirituality as the antecedents of team reflexivity. This research has shown the value and limitation of team reflexivity in ongoing teams.

The interplay between relational job design and cross‐training in predicting employee job/task citizenship performance

AbstractDrawing on a relational perspective to human resource development and management (HRD/M), a multilevel and multisource field study has been conducted examining how HRM practices of job interaction requirements/task interdependence and HRD practice of cross‐training interplay in order to enhance employees' job/task citizenship performance (JCP). A two‐level research model from a sample of 43 organizations and 535 nested individuals demonstrates that socially enriched jobs (interactive and interdependent), when supplemented with organizational (system‐wide) cross‐training opportunities, increase extra efforts among employees to complete activities which are not part of their in‐role requirements. Thus, by applying a 1‐2‐1 moderation analysis, we offer new knowledge about social and cognitive aspects of human behavior above and beyond the traditional focus on narrowly defined job/task performance. In addition, we explicate how mutual understanding across job positions may practically contribute to achieving superior individual‐level JCP when relational architecture of the workplace is designed.

A field experiment on the impact of beneficiary contact on federal employee perceptions of prosocial impact and social worth

Prior research examining the impact of beneficiary contact has demonstrated that brief interactions with beneficiaries can have large impacts on persistence and performance. However, that research has focused on undergraduate students, call center workers, and volunteers. Little is known about how beneficiary contact can affect public sector employees, like government workers, who have different motivations for their work. In this study, we conduct a cluster-randomized field experiment to examine the influence of beneficiary contact on federal employee perceptions of prosocial impact and social worth and examine how existing opportunities for contact with citizens may moderate the effect. We find that beneficiary contact has a small, though positive and significant influence on social worth, but no effect on prosocial impact. We rely on qualitative interviews to provide additional context for these results and examine implications for relational job design in the public sector.

Fostering employee-customer identification: The impact of relational job design

By integrating insights from the literature on relational job design and relational identification, we provide theoretical and empirical account of whether relational job design can foster employee-customer identification (ECID) and subsequently, enhance service performance. This research suggests that relational job characteristics likely foster service employees’ ECID by relating employees to the positive impact they have on customers as well as by leading employees to gain valuable personal resources from customer interactions. Using time-lagged data collected from 255 frontline service employees matched with 92 supervisors in 47 restaurants, we found that job impact on customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was mediated by ECID. Results also showed that job contact with customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was partially mediated by ECID.

Contact with citizens and job satisfaction: expanding person-environment models of public service motivation

ABSTRACT Relational job design theory suggests that interactions with citizens is an important motivational factor for public service employees. Through the mechanisms of fit, such interactions might enhance job satisfaction derived from employees’ public service motivation. The results of a local government study (N = 917) confirm that consistent with previous research the relationship between public service motivation and job satisfaction are mediated through person-organization fit. Yet, that indirect effect is also moderated by the regularity of contact with citizens. When contact with citizens is high, the indirect effect is stronger and when contact with citizens is low, the indirect effect is weaker.

Wellbeing among hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study of the contributions of relational job characteristics

BackgroundNursing work has indisputable relational characteristics, however there is scarce research that examines nurses’ work and wellbeing using a relational job design framework. AimThe aim is to study the relationships between job characteristics and nurses’ work-related wellbeing. More specifically, this study focuses on the unique contribution of psychological effects of relational job characteristics to nurses’ work engagement and burnout, beyond the effects of other job characteristics commonly studied in association with wellbeing, namely quantitative job demands and control. Design and participantsCross-sectional research design, in which 409 Portuguese hospital registered nurses participated. MethodData were collected using an online survey. Statistical procedures included structural equation modelling and multiple regression analysis. ResultsData suggest that perceived social impact and perceived social worth are related to nurses’ work engagement and burnout beyond the effects of quantitative job demands and control. ConclusionsThe study of the relationships between psychological effects of relational job characteristics and work-related outcomes (such as nurse work-related wellbeing) is relevant, as these relational job design variables explain variance in these outcome variables, beyond other job design constructs (specifically job demands and control). ImplicationsTheoretical implications include the value of studying the impact of psychological effects of relational job characteristics on wellbeing outcomes among nurses. As for practical implications, hospitals may address relational job characteristics in order to increase their nurses’ perceptions of their job's impact and the social worth attributed to their work, which is positively related to work engagement and negatively related to burnout.

Relational Job Characteristics and Prosocial Motivation: A Longitudinal Study of Youth Care Professionals

This study examines how changes in relational job characteristics relate to the prosocial motivation of public professionals. Drawing on relational job design theory, changes in job contact and job impact are hypothesized to covary with prosocial motivation. With a unique longitudinal design, we study youth care professionals in The Netherlands, who are embedded in a reform aimed at decentralizing youth care to bring professionals closer to their clients. Quantitative data were collected through a three-wave survey prior to the reform implementation and at, respectively, 1 and 2 years after its implementation. The results indicate that changing levels of job contact and job impact are related to changes in prosocial motivation. The study contributes to academic debates regarding the dynamic nature of prosocial motivation and our findings provide longitudinal evidence for relational job design theory.

Evasive knowledge hiding in academia: when competitive individuals are asked to collaborate

PurposeAcademic knowledge work often presumes collaboration among interdependent individuals. However, this work also involves competitive pressures to perform and even outperform others. While knowledge hiding has not yet been extensively examined in the academic environment, this study aims to deepen the understanding of the personal (individual-level) and situational (job-related) factors that affect evasive knowledge hiding (EKH) within academia.Design/methodology/approachA field study was conducted on a nation-wide sample of 210 scholars from both public and private business schools in a European Union member state. A series of paired samplet-tests were followed by hierarchical regression analyses to test moderation using the PROCESS macro.FindingsThe results suggest that scholars hide more tacit than explicit knowledge. The findings also indicate a consistent pattern of positive and significant relationships between trait competitiveness and EKH. Furthermore, task interdependence and social support buffer the detrimental relationship between personal competitiveness and evasive hiding of explicit knowledge, but not tacit knowledge.Originality/valueThe research provides insights into several important antecedents of EKH that have not been previously examined. It contributes to research on knowledge transfer in academia by focusing on situations where colleagues respond to explicit requests by hiding knowledge. The moderating role of collaborative job design offers practical solutions on how to improve knowledge transfer between mistrusted and competitive scholars. The collaboration–competition framework is extended by introducing personal competitiveness and relational job design, and suggesting how to manage the cross-level tension of differing collaborative and competitive motivations within academia.

Relational Job Design and Theories of Work Relationships: A Critical Review

Relational Job Design and Theories of Work Relationships: A Critical Review

Finding meaning in a hopeless place? The construction of meaningfulness in digital microwork

New forms of employment centered on the completion of simple and atomized tasks, such as online microwork, raise the question of the possible gratifications that could be derived from such work when compared to more traditional labor arrangements. Our research presented here focuses on how microworkers construct meaningfulness, based on the accounts of workers on the crowdsourcing platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. We draw upon a relational job design perspective to explore why microworkers experience meaningfulness in their work. We found four sources of meaningfulness: rewards, self-improvement, moral, and social. These four sources vary in the degree to which they were internal or external in focus, and in their level of rationalization (concrete or abstract). This may explain why such types of employment are appealing despite a lack of organizational-support structures and points to the need to better understand cue provision in virtual, platform-enabled work settings.

Psychological effects of relational job characteristics: validation of the scale for hospital nurses.

This study validates the Portuguese version of the psychological effects of the relational job characteristics scale among hospital nurses in Portugal and Brazil. Increasing attention has been given to the social dimension of work, following the transition to a service economy. Nevertheless, and despite the unquestionable relational characteristics of nursing work, scarce research has been developed among nurses under a relational job design framework. Moreover, it is important to develop instruments that study the effects of relational job characteristics among nurses. We followed Messick's framework for scale validation, comprising the steps regarding the response process and internal structure, as well as relationships with other variables (work engagement and burnout). Statistical analysis included exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The psychological effects of the relational job characteristics scale provided evidence of good psychometric properties with Portuguese and Brazilian hospital nurses. Also, the psychological effects of the relational job characteristics are associated with nurses' work-related well-being: positively with work engagement and negatively concerning burnout. Hospitals that foster the relational characteristics of nursing work are contributing to their nurses' work-related well-being, which may be reflected in the quality of care and patient safety.