South Asian Journal of Management

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Job Crafting:A Critical Review


Affiliations
1 Assistant Professor, Organizational Behaviour & HRM, Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak, Rohtak, Haryana, India
2 Professor, Organizational Behavior Area, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380015, Gujarat, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


Job crafting refers to self-initiated changes made by employees in the task content of their jobs or social relations in the workplace to make work more meaningful. Job crafting behavior was conceptualized to be motivated by universal needs and aimed to improve employees’ feelings of meaningfulness of work and perceptions of work identity. The focus on personal meaningfulness differentiates job crafting from other proactive behaviour constructs. Job crafting as a construct has gained significant traction in the last 18 years as evidenced by the number of research studies, including research papers and doctoral theses, produced on this subject. In this study, the authors have critically reviewed the existing literature on job crafting and compared it with the original conceptual map, detailing the antecedents, moderators and consequences of job crafting. This comparison has been used to assess the discrepancy between conceptualized framework and actual research and to analyze the reasons behind the discrepancy and identify gaps for future research. This analysis yielded significant results such as a lack of focus on universal motives, issues with construct validity, and the increased prevalence of leadership in promoting job crafting. Implications of these findings are discussed and potential areas of further research have been outlined.

Keywords

Job Crafting, Proactive Behavior, Universal Motives, Meaningful Work, Work Engagement.
User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • Ahearne, M., Mathieu, J., & Rapp, A. (2005). To Empower or Not to Empower Your Sales Force? An Empirical Examination of the Influence of Leadership Empowerment Behavior on Customer Satisfaction and Performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 945-955.

  • Aycan, Z., Kanungo, R., Mendonca, M., Yu, K., Deller, J., Stahl, G., & Kurshid, A. (2000). Impact of culture on human resource management practices: A 10country comparison. Applied Psychology, 49(1), 192-221.

  • Bakker, A. B. (2005). Flow among music teachers and their students: The crossover of peak experiences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(1), 26-44.

  • Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands-resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309-328.

  • Bakker, A. B., Tims, M., & Derks, D. (2012). Proactive personality and job performance: The role of job crafting and work engagement. Human Relations, 65(10), 1359-1378.

  • Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215.

  • Bateman, T. S., & Crant, J. M. (1993). The proactive component of organizational behavior: A measure and correlates. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14(2), 103-118.

  • Bell, C., & Njoli, N. (2016). The role of big five factors on predicting job crafting propensities amongst administrative employees in a South African tertiary institution. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(1), 1-11.

  • Berg, J. M., Grant, A. M., & Johnson, V. (2010). When callings are calling: Crafting work and leisure in pursuit of unanswered occupational callings. Organization Science, 21(5), 973-994.

  • Berg, J. M., Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2010). Perceiving and responding to challenges in job crafting at different ranks: When proactivity requires adaptivity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(23), 158-186.

  • Berg, J. M., Dutton, J. E., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2013). Job crafting and meaningful work. In B. J. Dik, Z. S. Byrne & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Purpose and meaning in the workplace (pp. 81-104). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

  • Bindl, U. K., Unsworth, K. L., Gibson, C. B., & Stride, C. B. (2019). Job crafting revisited: Implications of an extended framework for active changes at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(5), 605-628.

  • Bipp, T., & Demerouti, E. (2015). Which employees craft their jobs and how? Basic dimensions of personality and employees’ job crafting behaviour. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 88(4), 631-655.

  • Bizzi, L. (2017). Network characteristics: When an individual’s job crafting depends on the jobs of others. Human Relations, 70(4), 436-460.

  • Cenciotti, R., Borgogni, L., Callea, A., Colombo, L., Cortese, C. G., Ingusci, E., & Zito, M. (2016). The Italian version of the job crafting scale (JCS). Applied Psychology Bulletin, 277, 28-36.

  • Chen, C.-Y., Yen, C.-H., & Tsai, F. C. (2014). Job crafting and job engagement: The mediating role of person-job fit. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 37, 21-28.

  • Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (1989). Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments. Strategic Management Journal, 10(1), 75-87.

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

  • Dachner, A. M., & Miguel, R. (2015). Job crafting: An unexplored benefit of friendships in project teams. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 80(2), 13-21.

  • Dash, S. S., & Vohra, N. (2019). The leadership of the school principal: Impact on teachers’ job crafting, alienation and commitment. Management Research Review, 42(3), 352-369.

  • Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The darker and brighter sides of human existence: Basic psychological needs as a unifying concept. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 319-338.

  • Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., & Gevers, J. M. (2015). Job crafting and extra-role behavior: The role of work engagement and flourishing. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 91, 87-96.

  • Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., & Halbesleben, J. R. (2015). Productive and counterproductive job crafting: A daily diary study. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(4), 457-469.

  • Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov,W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D.W., Oishi, S., & BiswasDiener, R. (2010). New well-being measures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97, 143-15.

  • Eguchi, H., Shimazu, A., Bakker, A. B., Tims, M., Kamiyama, K., Hara, Y., & Kawakami, N. (2016). Validation of the Japanese version of the job crafting scale. Journal of Occupational Health, 58(3), 231-240.

  • Esteves, T., & Lopes, M. P. (2017). Crafting a calling: The mediating role of calling between challenging job demands and turnover intention. Journal of Career Development, 44(1), 34-48.

  • Ghitulescu, B. E. (2007). Shaping tasks and relationships at work: Examining the antecedents and consequences of employee job crafting (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Retrieved from http://dscholarship.pitt.edu/10312/1/ghitulescube_etd.pdf# on April, 15, 2015.

  • Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 219-247.

  • Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250-279.

  • Harju, L. K., Schaufeli, W. B., & Hakanen, J. J. (2018). A multilevel study on servant leadership, job boredom and job crafting. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 33(1), 2-14.

  • Kim, M., & Beehr, T. A. (2018). Can empowering leaders affect subordinates’ well-being and careers because they encourage subordinates’ job crafting behaviors?. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 25(2), 184-196.

  • Kirkendall, C. D. (2013). Job Crafting: The Pursuit of Happiness at Work (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Wright State University, Ohio. Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/wright1367092575/inline on April, 15, 2015.

  • Ko, I. (2011). Crafting a job: Creating optimal experiences at work. Ann Arbor, MI: Proquest.

  • Krishnan, B. C., Netemeyer, R. G., & Boles, J. S. (2002). Self-efficacy, competitiveness, and effort as antecedents of salesperson performance. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 22(4), 285-295.

  • Larsen, R. J., & Buss, D. M. (2005). Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature (2nd ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

  • Laurence, G. A. (2010). Workaholism and expansion and contraction oriented job crafting: The moderating effects of individual and contextual factors (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Syracuse University, New York, NY USA. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/763183102.html?FMT=ABS on May, 27, 2019.

  • Lazazzara, A., Tims, M., & De Gennaro, D. (2020). The process of reinventing a job: A meta–synthesis of qualitative job crafting research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 116(2). Available online: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/a9wf7 (accessed on 8 February 2020)

  • Leana, C., Appelbaum, E., & Shevchuk, I. (2009). Work process and quality of care in early childhood education: The role of job crafting. Academy of Management Journal, 52(6), 1169-1192.

  • Lichtenthaler, P. W., & Fischbach, A. (2016a). The conceptualization and measurement of job crafting: validation of a German version of the job crafting scale. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, 60(4), 173-186.

  • Lichtenthaler, P. W., & Fischbach, A. (2016b). Job crafting and motivation to continue working beyond retirement age. Career Development International, 21, 477-497.

  • Lichtenthaler, P. W., & Fischbach, A. (2019). A meta-analysis on promotion-and prevention-focused job crafting. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 28(1), 30-50.

  • Lin, B., Law, K. S., & Zhou, J. (2017). Why is underemployment related to creativity and OCB? A task-crafting explanation of the curvilinear moderated relations. Academy of Management Journal, 60(1), 156-177.

  • Locke, E. A. (1969). What is job satisfaction? Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4(4), 309-336.

  • Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2004). What should we do about motivation theory? Six recommendations for the twenty-first century. Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 388-403.

  • Lee, H. W., Pak, J., Kim, S., & Li, L. Z. (2019). Effects of human resource management systems on employee proactivity and group innovation. Journal of Management, 45(2), 819-846.

  • Lu, C., Wang, H., Lu, J., Du, D., & Bakker, A. B. (2014). Does work engagement increase person–job fit? The role of job crafting and job insecurity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84(2), 142-152.

  • Luu, T. T., Dinh, K., & Qian, D. (2019). Ambidextrous leadership, entrepreneurial orientation, and job crafting. European Business Review, 31(2), 260-282.

  • Lyons, P. (2006). Individual competitiveness and spontaneous changes in jobs. Advances in Competitiveness Research, 14(1), 90-98.

  • Lyons, P. (2008). The crafting of jobs and individual differences. Journal of Business & Psychology, 23(1-2), 25-36.

  • McArdle, S., Waters, L., Briscoe, J. P., & Hall, D. T. T. (2007). Employability during unemployment: Adaptability, career identity and human and social capital. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 71(2), 247-264.

  • McClelland, G. P., Leach, D. J., Clegg, C. W., & McGowan, I. (2014). Collaborative crafting in call centre teams. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87(3), 464-486.

  • Miller, M. (2015). Relationships Between Job Design, Job Crafting, Idiosyncratic Deals, and Psychological Empowerment. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Walden University, MN, USA.

  • Nair, N., & Vohra, N. (2009). Developing a new measure of work alienation. Journal of Workplace Rights, 14(3), 293-309.

  • Nielsen, K., & Abildgaard, J. S. (2012). The development and validation of a job crafting measure for use with blue-collar workers. Work & Stress, 26(4), 365-384.

  • Nielsen, K., Antino, M., Sanz-Vergel, A., & Rodríguez-Muñoz, A. (2017). Validating the Job Crafting Questionnaire (JCRQ): A multi-method and multisample study. Work & Stress, 31(1), 82-99.

  • Oprea, B., & Iliescu, D. (2015). Burnout and job insecurity: The mediating role of job crafting. Psihologia Resurselor Umane Revista Asociaþiei de Psihologie Indusstrialã ºi Organizaþionalã, 13(2), 232-244.

  • Organ, D. W. (1988). Issues in organization and management series. Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

  • Petrou, P., Demerouti, E., Peeters, M. C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Hetland, J. (2012). Crafting a job on a daily basis: Contextual correlates and the link to work engagement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(8), 1120-1141.

  • Petrou, P., Demerouti, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2018). Crafting the change: The role of employee job crafting behaviors for successful organizational change. Journal of Management, 44(5), 1766-1792.

  • Petrou, P., Bakker, A. B., & van den Heuvel, M. (2017). Weekly job crafting and leisure crafting: Implications for meaningmaking and work engagement. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 90(2), 129-152.

  • Qi, J, Li, J.& Zhang, Q. (2014). How organizational embeddedness and affective commitment influence job crafting. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 42(10), 1629-1638.

  • Roczniewska, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2016). Who seeks job resources, and who avoids job demands? The link between dark personality traits and job crafting. The Journal of Psychology, 150(8), 1026-1045.

  • Rofcanin, Y., Berber, A., Koch, S., & Sevinc, L. (2016). Job crafting and I-deals: A study testing the nomological network of proactive behaviors. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(22), 2695-2726.

  • Rudolph, C. W., Katz, I. M., Lavigne, K. N., & Zacher, H. (2017). Job crafting: A meta-analysis of relationships with individual differences, job characteristics, and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 102, 112-138.

  • Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Salanova, M. (2006). The measurement of work engagement with a short questionnaire a cross-national study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(4), 701-716.

  • Singh, V. L., & Singh, M. (2016). Techniques of job crafting: an exploratory study on management consultants. South Asian Journal of Management, 23(2), 25-50.

  • Slemp, G. R., & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2013). The Job Crafting Questionnaire: A new scale to measure the extent to which employees engage in job crafting. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(2), 126-146.

  • Slemp, G. R., & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2014). Optimising employee mental health: The relationship between intrinsic need satisfaction, job crafting, and employee well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(4), 957-977.

  • Snir, R., & Zohar, D. (2008). Workaholism as discretionary time investment at work: An experience-sampling study. Applied Psychology, 57(1), 109-127.

  • Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442-1465.

  • Steger, M. F., Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2012). Measuring meaningful work: The work and meaning inventory (WAMI). Journal of Career Assessment, 20(3), 322-337.

  • Sturges, J. (2012). Crafting a balance between work and home. Human Relations, 65(12), 1539-1559.

  • Tims, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2010). Job crafting: Towards a new model of individual job redesign. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 36(2), 1-9.

  • Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Derks, D. (2012). Development and validation of the job crafting scale. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(1), 173-186.

  • Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Derks, D. (2013). The impact of job crafting on job demands, job resources, and well-being. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 18(2), 230-240.

  • Tims, M., Bakker, A., & Derks, D. (2014). Daily job crafting and the self-efficacyperformance relationship. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29(5), 490-507.

  • Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Derks, D. (2015a). Job crafting and job performance: A longitudinal study. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 24(6), 914-928.

  • Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Derks, D. (2015b). Examining job crafting from an interpersonal perspective: Is employee job crafting related to the wellbeing of colleagues?. Applied Psychology, 64(4), 727-753.

  • Tims, M., Derks, D., & Bakker, A. B. (2016). Job crafting and its relationships with person–job fit and meaningfulness: A three-wave study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 92, 44-53.

  • Thomas, J. P., Whitman, D. S., & Viswesvaran, C. (2010). Employee proactivity in organizations: A comparative metaanalysis of emergent proactive constructs. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(2), 275-300.

  • Vanbelle, E. (2017). Job crafting: An Overarching Approach. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). KU Leuven, Belgium. Retrieved May 27, 2019, from https:// elsvanbelle.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/druk_els-vanbelle-_-phd_jobcraftingan- overarching-approach-final-p2912.pdf

  • Vanbelle, E., Van den Broeck, A., & De Witte, H. (2017). Job Crafting: Autonomy and workload as antecedents and the willingness to continue working until retirement age as a positive outcome. Psihologia Resurselor Umane, 15(1), 25-41.

  • Van den Heuvel, M., Demerouti, E., Schreurs, B. H., Bakker, A. B., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2009). Does meaning-making help during organizational change? Development and validation of a new scale. Career Development International, 14(6), 508-533.

  • Van den Heuvel, M., Demerouti, E., & Peeters, M. C. (2015). The job crafting intervention: Effects on job resources, selfefficacy, and affective wellbeing. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 88(3), 511-532.

  • Van Wingerden, J., Bakker, A. B., & Derks, D. (2017). The longitudinal impact of a job crafting intervention. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(1), 107-119

  • Vogel, R. M., Rodell, J. B., & Lynch, J. W. (2016). Engaged and productive misfits: How job crafting and leisure activity mitigate the negative effects of value incongruence. Academy of Management Journal, 59(5), 1561-1584.

  • Wang, H., Demerouti, E., & Bakker, A. B. (2016). A review of job-crafting research: The role of leader behaviors in cultivating successful job crafters. In S. K. Parker, U. K. Bindl (Eds.), Proactivity at work: Making things happen in organizations (pp. 95-122). London, UK: Routledge.

  • Wang, H. J., Demerouti, E., & Le Blanc, P. (2017). Transformational leadership, adaptability, and job crafting: The moderating role of organizational identification. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 100, 185-195.

  • Wright, T. A. (2003). Positive organizational behavior: An idea whose time has truly come. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(4), 437-442.

  • Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 179-201.

  • Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B. (1997). Jobs, careers, and callings: People’s relations to their work. Journal of Research in Personality, 31(1), 21-33.

  • Wrzesniewski, A., Berg, J. M., Grant, A. M., Kurkoski, J., & Welle, B. (2012). Job crafting in motion: Achieving sustainable gains in happiness and performance. Paper presented at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Boston, MA, USA.

  • Yeoman, R. (2014). Conceptualising meaningful work as a fundamental human need. Journal of Business Ethics, 125(2), 235-251.

  • Zhang, F., & Parker, S. K. (2019). Reorienting job crafting research: A hierarchical structure of job crafting concepts and integrative review. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(2), 126-146.


Abstract Views: 209

PDF Views: 1




  • Job Crafting:A Critical Review

Abstract Views: 209  |  PDF Views: 1

Authors

Sanket Sunand Dash
Assistant Professor, Organizational Behaviour & HRM, Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak, Rohtak, Haryana, India
Neharika Vohra
Professor, Organizational Behavior Area, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380015, Gujarat, India

Abstract


Job crafting refers to self-initiated changes made by employees in the task content of their jobs or social relations in the workplace to make work more meaningful. Job crafting behavior was conceptualized to be motivated by universal needs and aimed to improve employees’ feelings of meaningfulness of work and perceptions of work identity. The focus on personal meaningfulness differentiates job crafting from other proactive behaviour constructs. Job crafting as a construct has gained significant traction in the last 18 years as evidenced by the number of research studies, including research papers and doctoral theses, produced on this subject. In this study, the authors have critically reviewed the existing literature on job crafting and compared it with the original conceptual map, detailing the antecedents, moderators and consequences of job crafting. This comparison has been used to assess the discrepancy between conceptualized framework and actual research and to analyze the reasons behind the discrepancy and identify gaps for future research. This analysis yielded significant results such as a lack of focus on universal motives, issues with construct validity, and the increased prevalence of leadership in promoting job crafting. Implications of these findings are discussed and potential areas of further research have been outlined.

Keywords


Job Crafting, Proactive Behavior, Universal Motives, Meaningful Work, Work Engagement.

References