The moderating role of HR practices on the career adaptability–job crafting relationship: a study among employee–manager dyads

Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis

The concept of career adaptability emerged from the broader field of career development theory and has received increasing attention in the past two decades. To measure career adaptability, there are different scale development studies in the literature, but the most widely used and preferred one is the Career Adapt-abilities Scale developed by Savickas and Porfeli. Therefore, in the present study, the general reliability of the Career Adapt-abilities Scale was measured through meta-analysis. One hundred forty nine study (N = 82519) were included in the analyses. For the CAAS overall score, the average reliability coefficient among the 171 reliability estimations was high. However, reliability estimates in the studies included in the research show high heterogeneity. As a result of the moderator analysis, it was concluded that reliability estimates of these scores differ by item level, culture, language, category of items, different forms of CAAS, age, and SD. Regarding the application of the CAAS in research, the consequences of these findings are discussed in light of the relevant literature.

How and when does proactive personality predict career adaptability? A study of the moderated mediation model

In the present study, we explored the relationship between proactive personality and career adaptability to construct a cross-level moderated mediation model based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory. By conducting a time-lagged study involving three data collection points from 587 employees across 104 teams in China, we examined how and when proactive personality predicts employees' career adaptability using strengths use as a mediator and managerial coaching as boundary conditions. The results revealed that proactive personality predicted strengths use, which, in turn, influenced career adaptability, with managerial coaching moderating the indirect relationship between proactive personality and career adaptability. Consequently, our findings suggest that, in contexts where managerial coaching lacks guidance, facilitation, and inspiration, a proactive personality encourages employees to leverage their strengths, subsequently enhancing their career adaptability. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings, address limitations, and propose directions for future research.

Empathetic leadership and employees' innovative behavior: examining the roles of career adaptability and uncertainty avoidance

Introduction

Career construction theory proposes that adaptivity affects career adapting through career adaptability. However, research on the mechanism of this pathway remains scarce. By applying career construction theory and conservation of resources theory, we hypothesize that career adaptability (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) mediates the relationship between empathetic leadership (adaptivity) and innovative behavior (career adapting). Moreover, we posit that uncertain avoidance moderates the mediating mechanism.

Methods

Our study used SPSS23 and bootstrap methods (PROCESS) to test the proposed model. The sample comprised 301 employees from different firms in various industries. In this study, empathetic leadership-5, career adaptability-24, uncertainty avoidance-5, and innovative behavior-6 scales were used to measure empathetic leadership, career adaptability, and uncertainty avoidance.

Results

The results revealed that (1) empathetic leadership is positively related to employees' innovative behavior (2) Concern (H2a), control (H2b), curiosity (H2c), and confidence (H2d) mediate the relations between empathetic leadership and employee's innovative behavior (3) Uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between empathetic leadership and concern (H3a), control (H3b), curiosity (H3c), and confidence (H3d), such that this relationship is stronger when uncertainty avoidance is higher (4) Uncertainty avoidance moderates the indirect relationship between empathetic leadership and employee innovative behavior through concern (H4a), control (H4b), curiosity (H4c), and confidence (H4d), such that this indirect relationship will be stronger when uncertainty avoidance is high than when it is low.

Conclusion

We investigated how empathetic leadership affects innovative behavior. Based on career construction theory and conservation of resources theory, we also tested the hypothesis that concern, control, curiosity, and confidence play mediating roles in linking empathetic leadership (career adaptivity) to innovative behavior (career adapting). In addition, this study found that uncertainty avoidance does not always have negative effects. People with a high uncertainty avoidance tendency may be dependent more on empathetic leadership to improve their career adaptability, which promotes their innovative behavior.

“Crafting your own success”: a time-lagged study on the mediating role of job crafting dimensions in the relationship between protean career and career success

Purpose

As the notions of protean career and job crafting share a common emphasis on self-management, proactivity and customization, this study aimed to examine if the associations between protean career, subjective and objective career success were mediated by job crafting, assessed via its three main dimensions (i.e. increasing structural job resources, increasing social job resources and increasing challenging job demands).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors sampled 594 Italian employees using a time-lagged research design: protean career was assessed at T1 and job crafting and career success at T2. Responses were analyzed through structural equation modeling.

Findings

This study’s results showed that increasing structural job resources mediated the association of protean career with subjective career success, while increasing challenging job demands mediated its association with objective career success.

Originality/value

In contrast to previous studies, in this contribution, the mediating role of job crafting is disentangled by taking into account its three respective dimensions. Additionally, the authors included both forms of career success as outcomes of protean career. Implications for future research and practical recommendations are presented and discussed.

Linking Career Adaptability and Psychological Well-Being: A Test of Moderated Mediation Model Among Indian Employees

The present study attempts to investigate how career adaptability predicts psychological well-being (PWB) among employees based on career construction theory (CCT). Precisely, the study examined the role of career sustainability as a mediator and sustainable career climate (SCC) as a moderator establishing the relationship between career adaptability and psychological well-being. Data collected from 550 Indian employees in the Indian banking and IT organizations indicate that career adaptability has a significant effect on career sustainability that eventually predicts PWB. In addition, the findings on the interaction effect of career adaptability and SCC on PWB via career sustainability highlighted the significance of unison between individual and contextual factors in realizing important employee outcomes. The results revealed that the indirect effect of career adaptability on PWB through career sustainability is stronger among employees who perceived their organizational career climate to be sustainable.

Why do employees actively work overtime? The motivation of employees' active overtime in China

Introduction

Previous studies have defined "workaholic" effort as "bad effort" while work engagement is defined as "good effort." Active overtime is a mapping of work effort, but at this stage there is still relatively little exploration of the motivation behind "good effort" in the Chinese context.

Methods

This study explores the reasons that promote employees' initiative to perform overtime work in Chinese enterprises based on the two-factor theory. The study mainly used data empirical research approaches, including exploratory factor analysis, validation factor analysis, and data modeling. The questionnaire scale was developed based on factors that have been proven to be of high reliability and validity. The data are mainly for employees who are currently employed in Chinese companies.

Results and discussion

We received a total of 1741 valid questionnaires, which provided a good database for this study. The results of the study show that both motivational and hygiene factors can positively promote employees' motivation to intentionally work overtime to a certain extent. Among them, overtime culture, institutional agreement, good physical office environment, career growth, financial rewards, and work challenges can positively promote motivation to work overtime. Work stress can increase the frequency and intensity of overtime work, but negatively promote motivation to work overtime. The study helps to improve enterprise management, optimize work design, and enhance psychological satisfaction.

Be in Your Element: The Joint Effect of Human Resource Management Strength and Proactive Personality on Employee Creativity

Employee creativity is fast becoming a part and parcel in the wake of the increasing volatility of the employment market and the complexity of job demands. Drawing from the actor-context interactionist theoretical approach and career construction theory, this paper adds to current research by exploring the serial mediating effect of job crafting (JC) and career adaptability (CA) in the impact of human resource management strength (HRMS) on employee creativity. Furthermore, we suggest that proactive personality interacts with HRMS to jointly influence creativity. Survey data from samples of 297 (Study 1) and 390 (Study 2) employees largely confirm our model. Our findings show that HRMS positively impacts employee creativity via serial mediation of job crafting and career adaptability, and proactive personality negatively moderates the process. The paper confirms and expands the interactionist theoretical perspective of creativity, highlights the significance of integration of contextual factors, individual characteristics, and career construction, and makes certain practical sense.

The Effect of Employee Competency and Organizational Culture on Employees' Perceived Stress for Better Workplace

Although the meaningful relationship between organizational culture and employee performance is a widely-researched topic, there is scant research available how organizational culture impacts on employees’ perceived stress in the workplace, affecting their performance. This might cause a difficulty to guide practitioners as to what organizational elements can be applied to reduce employee perceived stress. To add the level of robustness and fill the gap in the literature, the present research explores the effect of organizational culture with employee competency on workers’ perceived stress which has emerged as a common occupational disease and affected employees psychologically and physically; thus, affecting their performance. Using 641 responses, the statistical findings of the present research insists that HR practitioners should match the type of organizational culture and employee competency situationally to reduce employee stress. The current authors suggest that organizations desiring the adaptability competencies (Professional competency) for their employees should build a clan organizational culture. In contrast, organizations should encourage a market organizational culture for their employees who possess customer orientation competency (Simply result-oriented competency). The research outcomes provide additional knowledge to the existing literature, enhance academicians’ understanding of the research topic, and serve as a significant knowledge base for further empirical research.

How and When Telework Improves Job Performance During COVID-19? Job Crafting as Mediator and Performance Goal Orientation as Moderator

Purpose

Literature shows that it is a paradox whether employees can achieve performance in telework, especially during COVID-19. Our aim is to clarify the relationship between telework and employees’ job performance through a moderated mediation model.

Methods

This study employed two-wave surveys with the aim of reducing the potential risk of common method bias. The 1309 participants of the survey were mainly employees who used telework during COVID-19, and they were mostly in positions such as product design and scheme planning. SEM was used to test the hypotheses.

Results

Results from two-wave surveys of 1309 Chinese employees indicated that telework positively influenced job performance via job crafting. That is, job crafting played a mediating role between telework and job performance. And performance-prove goal orientation positively moderated the relationship between telework and job crafting but performance-avoid goal orientation negatively moderated the relationship between them.

Conclusion

This study shows that telework can improve job performance through job crafting in COVID-19, in response to the paradox implied in the literature. In addition, we use COR theory to explain the role of performance goal orientation and job crafting in telework. We add these variables to the theoretical framework of COR theory, thereby enriching the theoretical research from the COR theory perspective.

The indirect effect of high-performance work practices on employees’ performance through trust in management

Purpose

The construction industry activities play a key role in achieving socio-economic development and sustaining economic growth in many countries. Increased awareness about the role of human resource management in employee performance has led construction firms to evaluate and focus on high-performance work practices (HPWPs) components, which intend to cultivate employee and organizational performance. This study aims to explain HPWPs affect employee performances through the mediating influence of trust in management in Aqaba, Jordan.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was administered to collect data among the contractors Grade1 across Aqaba, Jordan. This research was designed as a quantitative study and data were collected at one point of time. In total, 311 questionnaires were returned and only 279 completed questionnaires to test the relationship between HPWPs and employee performances according to the ability, motivation and opportunity conceptualized framework. The partial least squares technique was adopted to test the proposed relationships.

Findings

The results present that extensive training, rewards based on performance and job security have a significant relationship with trust in management. Trust in management exerts partial mediation effects between HPWPs (extensive training, rewards based on performance and job security) and employee performance (creativity and innovation).

Originality/value

The findings of the study provide useful and original information to improve the overall performance of construction firms.

Constructing Well-Being in Organizations: First Empirical Results on Job Crafting, Personality Traits, and Insight

The construct of job crafting is gaining increasing attention in the research and practice of work psychology in light of the positive effects it has on workers and the organizational context. On this basis, the present study aimed to explore the associations between the Big Five personality traits and job crafting (and its subdimensions, individual job crafting and collaborative job crafting), as well as investigating the role of insight in mediating these relationships. A sample of 159 Italian workers took part in the study and completed the self-report measures. Results showed a positive association between extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness and job crafting (total), individual job crafting, and collaborative job crafting, with significant mediations of insight orientation. Openness was positively associated with job crafting (total) and individual job crafting, but not with the collaborative subdimension, with insight orientation that mediated existing relationships. Emotional stability and job crafting (total) or its subdimensions were found to have no significant relationships. These findings suggest that insight orientation could represent a promising resource for job crafting, both in terms of primary prevention, strength-based prevention, and healthy organizations.

Job Crafting: A Challenge to Promote Decent Work for Vulnerable Workers

In recent years, the decent work agenda has called upon vocational psychologists to advance psychological research and intervention to promote work as a human right. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is having disproportionate consequences on vulnerable workers, such as unemployment and underemployment, highlighting the need to enhance access to decent work for these workers. As a response, the present perspective article advances job crafting as a promising way to shape decent work for marginalized workers. To this end, the article deals with decent work and job crafting, starting with the definition of decent work according to the psychology of working theory (PWT) and examining the evolution of the construct of job crafting. Subsequently, the literature on job crafting is discussed, focusing on variables related to the PWT model of decent work and their effect on vulnerable workers. Finally, possibilities for further research and intervention aimed at promoting decent work through job crafting are discussed.

Perceived Overqualification and Job Crafting: The Curvilinear Moderation of Career Adaptability

Developments in direct and indirect educational systems have increased the number of individuals with competencies that are higher than the required expectations of their current jobs. This concept of overqualification is drawing interest today, while underqualification was the focus in the past. Currently, research on perceived overqualification (POQ) has focused on its negative influences; however, this study aimed to explore the positive and nonlinear influence of POQ on job crafting and the moderating effect of career adaptability on these functions. Data were collected from 257 individuals in three Korean telecom companies. The results of hierarchical regression analysis indicate that POQ had a reverse U-shaped nonlinear influence on job crafting, indicating that an appropriate level of POQ can drive job crafting, leading to performance improvements in organizations and individuals. Moreover, career adaptability moderated the relationship between POQ and job crafting. When career adaptability was at an average or high level, the reverse U-shaped nonlinear influence of POQ on job crafting strengthened. These results are expected to assist in creating both an environment to reduce the negative influence of POQ and healthy sustainability in human resources development.

The relationship between career adaptability and job outcomes via fit perceptions: A three-wave longitudinal study

Drawing on the career construction theory and person–environment fit theory, the current research aimed to investigate whether career adaptability could enhance job outcomes. Further, the study examined the role of person–job fit as an underlying mechanism explaining the relationship between career adaptability and job outcomes. The data were collected in three waves from 239 Indian banking employees. The results suggest that possessing psychosocial meta-capacities in the form of career adaptability stimulates employees’ self-regulation in achieving a work–environment fit, consequently leading to favourable job outcomes. The current study is the first to validate the psychological pathways linking career adaptability and job outcomes via person–job fit. Study findings carry implications for career practitioners/counsellors to acknowledge the role of career adaptability in regulating individual capacities for career development. Elaborating the interconnection between domains of career and jobs, the study encourages organizations to consider career adaptability for improving fit and job outcomes.

The Effect of the Congruence between Job Characteristics and Personality on Job Crafting

This study examined the effect of the fit between personality (i.e., openness to experience) and core job characteristics (i.e., skill variety, task significance, and task identity) on job crafting. We collected survey data from 200 college students who were assigned a team project during the semester. Using polynomial regression analysis, we tested the effects of the fit between personality and job characteristics on job crafting. The results revealed that a high level of openness to experience was significantly associated with a high level of job crafting (i.e., task, relational, and cognitive crafting). Furthermore, when both openness to experience and job characteristics were congruent at a high level, the tendency to proactively perform one’s tasks was also high. These findings enhance our understanding of the effect of the fit between openness to experience and three core job characteristics on job crafting.