Job Crafting Theory and Perspectives

Job crafting refers to self-initiated changes that employees proactively make to their job characteristics to improve their motivation and performance. This chapter discusses dominant job crafting theories and examines recent (social) perspectives on job crafting that aim to integrate existing research streams. We underscore the importance of differentiating between approach and avoidance crafting, behavioral and cognitive crafting, and crafting job demands or job resources. Next, we review the job crafting research carried out in the three most-studied sectors (healthcare, education, and manufacturing). Hereby, we aim to understand whether the sector’s work context impacts our general understanding of job crafting antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes. Finally, we encourage and provide directions for future research considering the social impact of job crafting within different work contexts and the actual changes employees and teams make to their work.