Crafting and human energy: Needs-based crafting efforts across life domains shape employees’ daily energy trajectories.

Abstract

We use experience sampling methodology and adopt the integrative needs model of crafting to investigate employees' daily energy trajectories, and to test whether employees' energy can be conserved or increased throughout the day through the proactive behavioral strategy of needs-based crafting. We first examine the daily trajectories of energy and then investigate the role of employees' daily crafting efforts (at work and in their private lives) in managing their energy throughout the day. Finally, we explore the daily within-person trajectories of needs-based crafting. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 110 employees providing data on four nonconsecutive days (resulting in 2,358 observations nested in 396 days). Continuous growth curve analyses confirmed that energy follows an inverted U-shaped pattern of increasing energy until noon, after which energy steadily decreased until bedtime. However, daily crafting efforts contributed to these change trajectories: On days when employees crafted more than average, their energy was higher, particularly in the morning and afternoon. These positive crafting effects disappeared toward the end of the day, before bedtime. Crafting followed a linear trajectory, increasing over the course of the day, suggesting that it is a proactive strategy people also engage in outside of work. This suggests that domain-spanning needs-based crafting could be an important proactive strategy to maintain higher energy throughout an entire working day, even in the afternoon, when energy normally starts to fall. Our research contributes to our understanding of the nature of energy and of the microdynamic, within-person energy effects of general crafting efforts.

A new perspective on balancing life domains: work–nonwork balance crafting

“…This identifies a critical opportunity for future studies, which could aim to explore and extend mechanisms for effectively transferring resources from nonwork activities into improvements in work performance and job satisfaction by means of WNBC. For example, employee regeneration or recovery during nonwork time and, consequently, energy levels [ 102 ] may affect both degrees of crafting efforts and the effectiveness of life-domain transfers.…”

Measuring Situational Cognitive Performance in the Wild: A Psychometric Evaluation of Three Brief Smartphone-Based Test Procedures

“…However, as we presented each test only once per day, our study design did not allow us to calculate performance trajectories throughout the day. Future research should take advantage of our shortened smartphone-based test procedures by assessing cognitive performance repeatedly throughout the day, for example, every 2 hours ( Kosenkranius et al, 2023 ). Such research designs would not only generate more concrete insights about circadian variation in cognitive performance outcomes but also further support the construct validity of the shortened ambulatory cognitive assessments.…”

Human Energy Management in Industry: A Systematic Review of Organizational Strategies to Reinforce Workforce Energy

“…Needs-based crafting is a process whereby individuals intentionally and proactively align their work and personal activities with their psychological needs. A study conducted by Kosenkranius [59] employed the integrative needs model of crafting, to explore how employees' daily crafting activities encompassing both work-related and personal endeavors influence their human energy management throughout the day [59].…”