IMPACT OF JOB CRAFTING ON EXTRA-ROLE BEHAVIORS: THE ROLE OF WORK ENGAGEMENT AND ROLE BREADTH SELF-EFFICACY

Abstract

Within the dynamics of the ever-evolving workplace, change is predominantly driven by factors such as automation and technological adoption, hybrid workplace models, diffusion of hierarchy, and continuous reorganization and restructuring. In the face of such rapid shifts, employee proactivity and self-management skills emerge as crucial driving forces behind organizational sustenance and success. In a similar vein, amidst the highly volatile market conditions, the success of the hospitality sector highlights the critical role that its employees play in catering to customers’ varied demands and contributing to the overall efficiency of the industry. The influence of their proactive efforts extends far beyond the standard practices of service delivery; it provides a competitive edge and influences the firm’s standing in the market, as well as the satisfaction and loyalty of its clientele. Capitalizing upon these observations derived from the research literature, this study, therefore, intends to investigate the influence of hotel employees’ job crafting behaviors on their inclination to engage in extra-role work behaviors via the mediating function of work engagement (a psychological mechanism) and through the moderating effects of role breadth self-efficacy (a cognitive pathway). This study also proceeds a step further to examine the intertwined complexities of the concepts by testing a moderated mediation model. The objectives were achieved through a survey undertaken among 335 hotel employees employed across a wide range of hotel establishments located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The data collected was analyzed using the analytic strategy of Structural Equation Modelling with the help of two software, namely, IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 27) and IBM SPSS AMOS (Version 27). The study findings delineated a positive association between job crafting and work engagement, and job crafting emerged as a significant predictor of hotel employees’ demonstration of extra-role work behaviors. The findings also demonstrated that work engagement mediated the relationship between job crafting and extra-role work behaviors, providing evidence for the psychological mechanism of this proactivity-performance association. Next, the results revealed role breadth self-efficacy as a cognitive pathway moderating the relationship between job crafting and its outcome variables. Lastly, the study also found significant evidence for the moderated mediating model representing role breadth self-efficacy as a moderating mechanism of the mediating function of work engagement on job crafting-extra-role behavior relationship. From the practical standpoint, in light of these findings, hospitality organizations are recommended to recognize, encourage, and empower employees to actively demonstrate job-crafting behaviors so as to enhance their levels of engagement and reap benefits from their consequent discretionary efforts at the workplace in the form of innovative work behavior and proactive customer service performance. From a theoretical viewpoint, the study’s contribution lies in its attempt to integrate multiple classic theories, such as the JD-R model, affective-events theory, social exchange theory, and social cognitive theory, to broaden the literary discourse about the complexities of important workplace concepts namely job crafting, work engagement, extra-role work behaviors, and RBSE.