Job Crafting Promotes Internal Recovery State, Especially in Jobs that Demand Self-control: A Daily Diary Design

Abstract

Background: There is an increasing body of research on how employees recover from work, but most of this research has focused on recovery during non-work hours (external recovery) rather than recovery during the work hours (internal recovery). Using the conservation of resources theory as a conceptual framework, we tested whether job crafting promotes internal recovery state, and examined the processes that explain this association.Methods: Using the daily diary method, 120 participants provided information twice a day for five days by rating job crafting, ego depletion, self-control demands at work, fatigue and vigor.Results: The analysis of results showed that after controlling for fatigue and vigor before employees started a day’s work, job crafting predicted significantly better internal recovery, and this association was mediated by lower ego depletion. These associations were moderated by how much self-control was required by the job, with the links between job crafting, lower ego depletion and internal recovery being stronger for employees with high demands to exercise self-control.Conclusions: This study provides insights to how employees with high self-control demands recover from work via job crafting.