The Approach‐Avoidance Job Crafting Scale (AAJCS) builds on our adjusted version of a hierarchical structure of job crafting by Zhang and Parker from 2019. In developing and validating the new AAJCS, we, first, developed the German items in a stepwise procedure (pilot study). Second, we tested the factor structure and reliability (Study 1). Third, we replicated previous results and tested the construct validity (Study 2). Fourth, we ensured the criterion validity of the AAJCS (Study 3). The results suggested the existence of two independent factors, namely, approach and avoidance crafting, rather than a global job crafting factor. Furthermore, approach and avoidance crafting each consist of four job crafting dimensions, thus reflecting the hierarchical structure of job crafting. Within these dimensions, aspects of previous job crafting concepts are integrated. The distinction between approach and avoidance crafting became apparent in the comparison of their criterion validities as follows: Approach crafting was positively related to work‐related outcomes, while avoidance crafting was negatively associated with work engagement and performance. Furthermore, approach and avoidance crafting exhibited incremental validity with regard to predict work engagement and performance beyond previous job crafting concepts. Approach crafting was positively associated while avoidance crafting was negatively associated with work engagement and performance.

Although activity trackers are becoming more popular, little is known whether this new technology qualifies to improve employees' health. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a workplace intervention applying activity trackers (behavioral approach) along with an online coach (cognitive approach) on work-related well-being (e.g., burnout) and physical health (e.g., body mass index). To test for intervention effects, 116 employees at risk were recruited at 1 large mobility enterprise in Germany and randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 59) and a control group (n = 57). Intervention effects were assessed 1 month, 3 months, and 1 year after the intervention. Analyses of variance for repeated measures revealed no intervention or long-term effects on work-related well-being. In the intervention group, we found a significant increase in health perception and a significant decrease in body mass index. These effects were stable over time 3 months after the intervention for health perception and 1 year after the intervention for body mass index. Our study shows that a cognitive-behavioral intervention with activity trackers improved physical health over time but was not effective in enhancing work-related well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction: Following the principles of the conservation of resources theory, this study explored whether job crafting, work engagement, and performance are reciprocally related from one week to the next.Method: Data (N = 175) from a weekly diary study were analyzed using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to differentiate between stable trait-like between-unit and state-like within-person components.Results: The results revealed that, within weeks, job crafting, work engagement, and performance are associated with each other. Across weeks, on average, job crafting levels predicted work engagement and performance at the within-person level the following week. Inversely, work engagement, on average, predicted job crafting the next week, providing evidence for a positive cycle between both variables. Finally, work engagement and performance were reciprocally related from one week to the next, although the effects varied significantly in magnitude and direction.Discussion: Overall, the within-person relationships between job crafting, work engagement, and performance were more heterogeneous than anticipated.

Crafting social resources is a job crafting strategy that implies changing one’s social job resources to improve person-job fit and work-related well-being. Previous research has mostly assumed a resource-generating nature of crafting social resources and investigated the linear positive effects of this job crafting strategy on, for example, work engagement. Considering that crafting social resources can also be resource-consuming, in this paper, we referred to conservation of resources theory and resource allocation theory and proposed a curvilinear, U-shaped relationship between crafting social resources and work engagement. We further predicted that exhaustion would moderate this curvilinear relationship. To test our hypotheses, a two-wave study with 233 employees was conducted. Consistent with our assumptions, compared with a low or high level, a moderate (i.e., occasional) level of crafting social job resources was associated with a lower level of work engagement three months later. Furthermore, exhaustion acted as a moderator insomuch that a low level of exhaustion mitigated the detrimental effect of crafting social resources at a moderate level on work engagement. Accordingly, the findings showed that crafting social resources is not always beneficial and can impair employees’ work engagement, especially for exhausted employees.

To address the growing challenges in today's workplace, employees may use avoidance crafting to reduce high job demands or avoid situations low in job resources. However, previous research links avoidance crafting positively—rather than negatively—to exhaustion, potentially due to an overemphasis on avoidance behavioural demands crafting, neglecting avoidance cognitive forms and their focus on job demands and resources. This study refers to the hierarchical job crafting conceptualization, distinguishing between behavioural and cognitive changes in job demands and resources, to investigate the links between avoidance crafting dimensions and exhaustion at both between and within‐person levels. We also explore the moderating effects of general job autonomy and time pressure. Daily diary data (N _between = 78, N _within = 377) revealed that avoidance cognitive demands crafting was negatively associated with exhaustion at both levels, highlighting that altering perceptions of job demands is more effective than targeting low job resources. Moreover, work design matters: at the day level, avoidance cognitive demands crafting was particularly effective in reducing exhaustion when employees generally faced low job autonomy and high time pressure. These findings emphasize the importance of differentiating avoidance crafting dimensions and suggest that avoidance cognitive demands crafting seems particularly useful in demanding work environments.