Job Crafting:A Critical Review

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.