Investigating the antecedents and outcomes of approach- avoidance crafting: The role of paternalistic leadership and work identity

Abstract

Job crafting plays a critical role in enhancing employee well-being and performance. Designing smart jobs that facilitate employees learning and development is an important but challenging task for organizations. This thesis attempts to investigate the antecedents and outcomes of job crafting in the forms of approach-avoidance crafting (Study 1, 2 and 3) and task-, relational-, cognitive crafting (Study 2).
Study 1 (N=318) investigates the antecedents (benevolence and authoritarianism as two dimensions of paternalistic leadership) and outcomes (burnout, work engagement, OCB) of approach- avoidance crafting. Results shown benevolence was positively related to approach crafting and performance goal orientation moderates this relationship. Authoritarianism was found positively related to avoidance crafting. Approach and avoidance crafting were found related to employee outcomes. This study contributes to the research on the antecedents and outcomes of approach-avoidance crafting and provides insights into the proactive work design. Study 2 (N=104) broadens the scope of Study 1 to include individual work identity as a mediator between approach-avoidance crafting and employee proactive service performance. It also extends the job crafting theory by testing the antecedents and outcomes of task-, relational-, cognitive crafting. Results shown consistent findings with Study 1 and supported part of hypotheses of Study 2. This study is the first to directly test the relevance between job crafting and work identity. Study 3 (N=365, 82 teams) used a multilevel data to develop a comprehensive theoretical model. Results shown individual perceptions of benevolence was positively related to approach crafting, and individual perceptions of authoritarianism was positively related to avoidance crafting. Approach and avoidance crafting were both positively related to work identity. Work identity was positively related to work engagement. At team-level, team level benevolence was positively related to team approach crafting and team proactive service performance.
Overall, this thesis enriches the understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of job crafting. It indicates important directions for future research and outlines practical recommendations on nurturing employee job crafting, together with promoting employee well-being, citizenship behavior and proactive performance.