Job crafting in context: recent insights from job crafting research

State of the Art This symposium aims at advancing knowledge on job crafting adopting an interactive perspective. While much research on the nature of job crafting has been conducted over the past years, we still lack knowledge on how job crafting strategies are influenced by contextual factors. Moreover, the cognitive and affective mechanisms of job crafting remain underexplored. In this symposium we focus on job crafting in the context of task-conflict, social norms, coaching, social networks, and pro-social motivation, and the role of emotions in the process of job crafting. New Perspectives/Contributions The symposium brings together researchers from six different countries and consists of two longitudinal, and four diary studies. People seem to craft their job based on their intentions and on individual perceptions of control over such behaviors. In turn, leader coaching behaviors support employees’ implementation of their intentions. Employees can make use of expansive job crafting behaviors to create stimulating interactions, which effectiveness depends on the structure of the employees’ social network. Likewise, employees can craft their job to leverage the creative potential of task conflict. Furthermore, cognitive crafting seems to be particularly effective if prosocial motivation is low. Finally, by engaging in promotion-focused job crafting employees can experience positive emotions that support high work engagement Research/Practical Implications These studies highlight the role of contextual factors influencing job crafting and processes such as creativity, social networks, and wellbeing at work related to it. Its elaborate designs uncovered how the effectiveness of job crafting is influenced by the context.