The Impact of Social Factors on Job Crafting: A Meta-analysis and Review

Abstract

Despite the considerable focus on job characteristics and individual differences in job crafting research, the influence of social factors on job crafting has not been well-acknowledged. This meta-analysis estimates the associations between social factors and job crafting, and how social factors contribute to employee outcomes through their job crafting. Based on a sample of 51 empirical studies that included 54 independent effect sizes (N = 17,863), we found that social factors of positive leadership styles (e.g., empowering and transformational) and coworker support were positively related to employee job crafting. Further, our study showed that employee job crafting positively mediate the relationships between social factors and work outcomes (e.g., job performance and well-being). Our study contributes to job crafting literature by integrating social factors into the job crafting model and demonstrating that the social context of work (in particular organizational-insiders) play a crucial role in shaping employees’ job crafting behavior. We also emphasize the critical role that job crafting plays in transmitting valuable social resources into improved work outcomes. Building on our results, we provide future direction for job crafting research and discuss how our results can imply practice in terms of job crafting training.

How does Transformational Leadership Affect Employee Wellbeing? Investigating The Sequential Mediating Effect of Psychological Empowerment and Job Crafting

“…The result for the same link was also found by previous studies (Slemp & Vella-Brodrick, 2014;Toyama et al, 2021). Through JC, employees can effectively deal with threats and stress, and thus resulting in a higher level of positive attitudes and job related well-being (Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…Similarly, Rudolph et al ( 2017) proved that JC is positively correlated with job satisfaction and work engagement, while JC is negatively correlated with job strain. Previous empirical researches have revealed that JC is positively linked to EW (Slemp & Vella-Brodrick, 2014;Wang et al, 2020;Toyama et al, 2021). Therefore, based on the previous arguments, the following hypothesis was formulated: H5: Job crafting is positively related to employee wellbeing.…”

“…By crafting their work characteristics and environments, employees encounter less depression and physical health problems, which in turn, promotes their well-being (Kim & Beehr, 2018). Similarly, Wang et al (2020) mentioned that through JC, employees can effectively deal with threats and strain and thus obtain and keep a higher level of positive attitudes and job-related well-being. According to Toyama et al (2021), individuals are more likely to feel satisfied and less likely to experience frustration when they craft their job resources and challenges.…”

“…Nevertheless, the process by which such relations are formed is not well understood (Krishnan, 2012). Wang (2020) suggested that some favorable leadership styles, like empowering and servant leadership, can significantly improve employee job performance and wellbeing via JC. This could be due to the fact that good leadership provides employees with additional job resources such as autonomy and support (Kim et al, 2018;Ding et al, 2020).…”

The Impact of Job Crafting in Working Condition Changes Due to Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Increasing autonomy and job support, derived from empowering leadership and job crafting behaviors, motivate employees to set boundaries and perceptions of their work roles. Consequently, the level of task performance and positive influence in the workplace will be higher [11]. Job crafting improves employee job performance [12].…”