The “double-edged sword” effect of job crafting from the approach-avoidance perspective

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) Vol. 43; no. 28; pp. 23846 - 23858
• Main Authors: Wang, Qiang, Li, Shanshan, Luan, Zhenzeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.07.2024; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Avoidance (Psychology); Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Employee motivation; Employees; Influence; Psychology; Social Sciences; Work design; China; “Double-edged sword” effect; Personal resources; Crafting behaviors; Crafting outcomes; Crafting motivation; Job resources
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-024-06122-1

The positive effect of job crafting on employees and organizations is widely acknowledged. Recently, attention has also been drawn to its potential negative impact. In light of this, the concept and classification of job crafting have been reorganized from an approach-avoidance perspective. A “double-edged sword” effect model of job crafting has been constructed within the framework of “motivation-behavior-job outcomes.” In conjunction with the conservation of resources theory, job resources and personal resources have been introduced to explore their moderating effects. The results, based on data from 333 subjects, indicate that proactive crafting motives facilitate the promotion of approach crafting, which in turn enhances job engagement, with approach crafting serving as a mediator in this process. Reactive crafting motives are found to positively influence avoidance crafting, leading to increased levels of counterproductive work behavior, with avoidance crafting playing a partial mediating role. Additionally, job resources positively regulate the relationship between proactive crafting motives and approach crafting, while personal resources negatively regulate the relationship between avoidance crafting and counterproductive work behavior.