Job crafting is theorized to operate via changes that employees make to their work designs, yet this critical mechanism has remained scarcely tested. This study examined whether job crafting facilitates changes in two types of challenge demands, namely workload and job complexity, and hindrance demands and whether these changes explain why job crafting may have both positive and negative implications for employee well-being. We utilized a two-wave sample of 2,453 employees to examine the relationships between job crafting and within-person changes in job demands, work engagement, and burnout. The findings showed that approach type of job crafting was related to increases in work engagement via increased job complexity. However, approach crafting was also associated with increases in burnout via increased workload. Avoidance type of job crafting, in turn, was related to increases in burnout and decreases in work engagement via decreased job complexity. The findings imply that job crafting may both promote and mitigate employee well-being depending on how it changes specific features of work design and that also approach crafting may deteriorate well-being. We discuss the practical implications of different types of job crafting on work design and employee well-being. K E Y W O R D Sjob design, research methods and design, structural equation modeling | INTRODUCTIONOrganizational leaders can use different strategies to improve employee motivation and well-being, but these strategies may not work in the same way for all employees with different needs and preferences (Boon & Kalshoven, 2014;Yan, Peng, & Francesco, 2011).Designing motivating and healthy jobs may not come naturally even to trained professionals (Parker, Andrei, & Van den Broeck, 2019), and top-down work design approaches do not always increase employee motivation and well-being as intended (Axtell & Parker, 2003;Campion & McClelland, 1993;Johns, 2010). Job crafting has thus gained momentum in management literature, as it emphasizes the changes employees themselves make to their work tasks, activities, responsibilities, and relationships (Bruning & Campion, 2018;Wong, Škerlavaj, & Černe, 2017;Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). This is suggested to increase the effectiveness of work re-design, as employees are more likely to accept work-related changes that they themselves implement (Campion, Mumford, Morgeson, & Nahrgang, 2005).Two types of job crafting strategies can be distinguished: Approach crafting comprises active efforts toward improvementfocused goals, such as seeking opportunities to learn and challenge oneself, whereas avoidance crafting focuses on diminishing parts of one's work that are stressful, such as evading straining interactions or making mentally demanding tasks easier to perform (Bipp & Demerouti, 2015;Bruning & Campion, 2018). Approach crafting is thus suggested to increase challenging job demands (e.g., workload and job complexity) that involve possibilities for personal development and achievement, whereas avoidance crafting aims to d...

In this study, we provide insights on how servant leadership may promote employee performance. We investigate whether the associations between increases in servant leadership and employees’ task and adaptive performance are mediated by changes in the two antipodes of employee well-being: work engagement and burnout. We utilized a two-wave survey data ( N = 2453) collected from 34 organizations and latent change score modeling as an analytical approach to examine associations among within-person changes. Our findings showed that increased perceptions of servant leadership were associated with increases in work engagement and decreases in burnout. Increases in work engagement were associated with increases in task performance and four subfacets of adaptive performance (i.e., stress management, reactivity, creativity, and interpersonal adaptivity). Decreases in burnout were associated with increases in task performance. Our findings suggest that improved servant leadership practices may foster employees’ task and adaptive performance especially through the promotion of work engagement. JEL CLASSIFICATION: L200 Firm Objectives, Organization, Behavior: General

Significant organizational changes pose a substantial threat for employees' well-being and psychological health. Accordingly, research has shown that change endeavors, such as mergers and acquisitions, are often associated with stress, negative emotions, threat, uncertainty, and reduced well-being and motivation among employees (e.g., Edwards, Lipponen,

Objectives This study investigated how occupational well-being evolved across different phases, before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in the Finnish population. Whereas studies have suggested that certain demographic groups (eg, young, female) are more at risk during COVID-19, less is known whether the effects of such demographic factors may vary (i) across different phases of the unfolding viral outbreak and (ii) on different dimensions of occupational well-being. As they are predictors of changes in burnout, job boredom, and work engagement, we examined age, gender, education, living alone, and teleworking. This is the first study to provide such detailed knowledge regarding the changes in various occupational well-being dimensions before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods We collected randomized population panel data at the end of 2019 and conducted three follow-up surveys with 6-month intervals (N=532). The data were analyzed with latent change score models. Results Whereas during spring 2020, occupational well-being slightly improved, in autumn 2020 well-being decreased back to pre-COVID-19 levels. There was an indication of slight increases in job boredom between before COVID-19 and summer 2021. Well-being deteriorated more for the young and those who lived alone. There was also some indication of females, those with lower education, and non-teleworkers experiencing less favorable changes in occupational well-being. Teleworking appeared to have more beneficial effects on well-being for those with lower education. Conclusions The study suggests that only relatively minor changes in well-being took place among the employed population. A particular focus in workplaces should be targeted at younger employees.

This study examines two fundamental concerns in the context of organizational change: employees' perceptions of merger process justice and cognitive trust in the top management team. Our main purpose is to better understand the nature of reciprocal relations between these important constructs through a significant change event. Previous research, building mainly on social exchange theory, has framed trust as a consequence of justice perceptions. More recently, scholars have suggested that this view may be overly simplistic and that trust-related cognitions may also represent an important antecedent of justice perceptions. Using 3-wave longitudinal survey data (N = 622) gathered during a merger process, we tested reciprocal relations over time between cognitive trust in the top management team and perceptions of the merger process justice. In contrast to the conventional unidirectional notion of trust or trust-related cognitions as outcomes of perceived justice, our results show positive reciprocal relations over time between cognitive trust and justice. Our findings also revealed that the positive influence of cognitive trust on subsequent justice perceptions was slightly more robust than the opposite direction. By examining cross-lagged longitudinal relations between these critical psychological reactions, this study contributes across multiple domains of the management literature including trust, justice, and organizational mergers. (PsycINFO Database Record