Can job crafting eLearning intervention boost job crafting and work engagement, and increase heart rate variability? Testing a health enhancement process.

Abstract

Applying job demands-resources theory, this quasiexperimental, three-wave study investigated whether work engagement can be increased via an eLearning intervention aiming to increase job crafting behavior. Furthermore, proposing a refinement to job demands-resources theory, that is, adding "a health enhancement process," this study also investigated whether through improvements in work engagement, the intervention would yield health-related benefits, utilizing an objective indicator of physical health (i.e., optimal functioning of autonomic nervous system activity indicated by increased heart rate variability [HRV]). The study was conducted among all the employees of a municipality (n = 69/experimental group, n = 45/control group), and the effects were assessed 2 weeks and 4 months after the intervention. Job crafting and work engagement were measured using an electronic questionnaire, and HRV using ambulatory monitoring period of two nights' sleep. Latent change score modeling revealed, as expected, that job crafting increased both immediately and delayed after the intervention. Furthermore, as hypothesized, the intervention increased work engagement via increased job crafting when measured immediately after the intervention, but there was no indirect delayed effect on work engagement. There were no indirect immediate or delayed effects on HRV. However, unexpectedly, HRV decreased among the control group after the intervention. Thus, an eLearning intervention based on the principles of job crafting is a promising tool to increase job crafting and consequently work engagement. Furthermore, the findings provide an initial indication that a job crafting eLearning intervention could have a buffering effect on autonomic nervous system activity and help to maintain its optimal functioning.

Why does using personal strengths at work increase employee engagement, who makes the most out of it, and how?

“…The JD-R theory takes a job design perspective to explain how various job demands and resources interact to shape job performance and employee well-being via two routes: a stress (well-being and health impairment) process with a focus on burnout and a motivational process with a focus on work engagement that is thought to enhance well-being and health (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Seppälä et al, 2023). According to the theory, every work experience, issue, or aspect of work can be considered along the two dimensions of job demands and job resources.…”

“…The positive perspective on work and psychological well-being that we take, anchored in the current version of the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017), is also relevant to health more generally. Recent work in occupational health has examined the influence of work engagement on heart rate variability, an indicator of the optimal functioning of the autonomic nervous system (Seppälä et al, 2023). This research suggests that using personal strengths at work can have positive implications for employees' physical health, particularly through enhancing work engagement.…”