Work process and quality of care in early childhood education The role of job crafting

• Published in: Academy of Management journal Vol. 52; no. 6; pp. 1169 - 1192
• Main Authors: Leana, Carrie, Appelbaum, Eileen, Shevchuk, Iryna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Briarcliff Manor Academy of Management 01.12.2009
• Subjects: Anforderungsprofil; Child care; Child welfare; Childcare workers; Collaboration; Day care centres; Discriminant analysis; Early childhood education; Education policy; Employees; Health care quality; Job design; Job performance; Job satisfaction; Kinderbetreuung; Lehrer; Modeling; Organisationsforschung; Preschool education; Quality of care; Schulpolitik; Spceial Research Forum: Public Policy and Mangement Research Finding the Common Ground; Studies; Teacher aides; Teacher education; Teachers; Teaching personnel; USA; United States > US
• ISSN: 0001-4273; 1948-0989
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2009.47084651

In this study we conducted performance assessments in 62 childcare centers and surveyed 232 teachers and aides, to examine the extent to which workers crafted their jobs and how such crafting affected classroom quality. Results show that individual and collaborative job crafting are distinct constructs; work discretion is related to both; and collaborative crafting is positively related to performance, particularly for less experienced teachers. Further, collaborative crafting is associated with stronger satisfaction and commitment and, for better teachers, stronger job attachment. We demonstrate that organizational research can contribute to the public interest via policy designs for high-quality early education.