Contextual antecedents of job crafting: review and future research agenda

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to critically review current studies on job crafting to identify contextual factors related to employees’ job crafting and to integrate the findings to help organizations improve employees’ job crafting. Design/methodology/approach Based on the guidelines provided by Torraco (2016), the authors reviewed 44 quantitative studies on job crafting published between 2001and 2020. Findings The authors identified 35 contextual antecedents of job crafting at the job (11), group (6), leadership (12) and organizational (6) levels. The findings reveal that a significant number of studies have focused on contextual aspects related to employees’ job crafting. In particular, multiple studies discussed the important role of empowering leadership, servant leadership, transformational leadership, leader-member exchange in job crafting. Originality/value The authors emphasize contextual factors influencing job crafting including job, group, leadership and organizational levels. Based on the review, the authors suggest a future research agenda on job crafting in terms of job, group, leadership and organizational antecedents.

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

“…JC refers to changes that staff members launch in the level of job demands and job resources to make their own jobs more meaningful, engaging, and satisfying (Afsar et al, 2019). As such, previous studies have demonstrated that leaders' behaviors indicating appreciation for change are considered an important factor in motivating subordinates' JC (Park & Park, 2021). As TL focuses on change (Bass, 1985), it could be a useful antecedent to JC (Wang et al, 2017).…”

“…Despite the importance of JC, the majority of previous studies have focused on examining the consequences of crafting behaviors and a limited number of researches have examined the predictors (Kiliç et al, 2020). Recently, Park and Park (2021) divided contextual antecedents of JC into four categories: organizational characteristics, leadership, group and job characteristics. According to earlier studies leaders may have a considerable impact on the opportunity for subordinates to engage in JC behaviors (Park & Park, 2021).…”

“…Recently, Park and Park (2021) divided contextual antecedents of JC into four categories: organizational characteristics, leadership, group and job characteristics. According to earlier studies leaders may have a considerable impact on the opportunity for subordinates to engage in JC behaviors (Park & Park, 2021). Particularly, leaders encourage subordinates JC by offering personal resources and social support to employees, as well as constructing resourceful jobs with a sense of urgency to craft (wang et al, 2020).…”

“…The concept of TL was first elaborated by Bass in 1985, who described TL as a leadership method where the leader converts the norms and values of subordinates and encourages them to perform beyond their own anticipations (Bass, 1985). Accordingly, TL is a leadership method in which a leader changes the standards and values of followers and pushes them to perform above their own expectations (Bass, 1985;Park & Park, 2021). Likewise, Jha (2014) added that TL has been identified as a leadership style that helps the growth of followers' competencies, awareness, and individuality, thus assisting the development of both the leader and the organization.…”

“…Because leaders have numerous valuable resources, such as assistance with employee career development (e.g., training chances), as well as job-related information, knowledge, and expertise (Afsar et al, 2019), transformational leaders are assumed to be open and eager to participate in those resources with their followers, which is likely to motivate the employees to seek behavioral resources (Naeem et al, 2020). https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/ Furthermore, transformational leaders are supposed to motivate employees to rethink the ways in which they do their tasks and promote them to challenge the status quo, which prompts staff to find job challenges that are more aligned with their personal capabilities (Park & Park, 2021). Moreover, the vision of leaders can motivate their subordinates to face new challenges and exceed expectations, which, accordingly, can drive followers to seek challenges such as JC (Hetland et al, 2018).…”