Why work meaningfulness alone is not enough: The role of social identification and task interdependence as facilitative boundary conditions

Abstract

Until recently, research disclosing the specific antecedents that induce proactive job crafting activities has been relatively lacking. Particularly, despite theoretical studies that imply the importance of work meaningfulness as a critical motivational factor for positive workplace behaviors, previous research has not observed this firsthand. Therefore, for the first time, the present study empirically assesses work meaningfulness as a key element in prompting job crafting, an individually induced job redesign strategy. The purpose of the present study is to explain the respective original job crafting concepts (i.e., task, cognitive, and relational crafting) by employing a job demands-resources (JD-R) approach, which integrates the original job crafting dimensions and JD-R-based classification of job crafting. Additionally, the present study examines boundary conditions centered on social and job resources that may further stimulate job crafting. It was posited, based upon three three-way interaction models, that social identification (i.e., social resource) and task interdependence (i.e., job resource) are moderators that strengthen the relationship between work meaningfulness and each of the respective job crafting activities. Analyzing survey data from 195 individuals in 25 organizations from private and public sectors, the results indicated that task and relational crafting were both highest when work meaningfulness, task interdependence, and social identification were all high, thus partly supporting the proposed research hypotheses.