When do job crafting interventions work? The moderating roles of workload, intervention intensity, and participation

Job crafting refers to self-initiated, proactive strategies to change work characteristics to better align one's job with personal needs, goals, and skills. This study evaluated the conditions under which job crafting interventions are effective for increasing job crafting behaviours. We assessed the impact of initial workload on the effectiveness of two interventions – a less intense, knowledge-reflection intervention (N = 39), and a more intense, knowledge-reflection-action intervention that involved completing Job Crafting Boosts over 4 weeks (N = 50). Irrespective of intervention, longitudinal growth modelling analyses revealed that those with high initial workload engaged in more crafting behaviours to decrease hindering demands, whereas those with low initial workload engaged in more crafting behaviours to increase structural resources. No significant differences were observed between intervention groups in any job crafting behaviours. A further goal of the study was to examine, for those in the knowledge-reflection-action intervention, how much the participants actively participated in Job Crafting Boosts. Engagement varied considerably, with the average participation being below the target of three Job Crafting Boosts per week. Content analysis of open-ended responses to questions revealed that, for those who did engage in the Job Crafting Boosts, there were positive experiences, including insights about making positive changes at work, increased vigour and motivation, increased productivity, and resolved problems. This research shows that: interventions to reduce hindering demands should be targeted at those high in initial workload; interventions to increase job resources should be targeted at those low in initial workload; and intervention intensity does not impact intervention effectiveness.