Suddenly Telework: Job Crafting as a Way to Promote Employee Well-Being?

COVID-19 confronted many people with an abrupt shift from their usual working environment to telework. This study explores which job characteristics are perceived as most crucial in this exceptional situation and how they differ from people’s previous working conditions. Additionally, we focus on job crafting as a response to this situation and how it is related to employees’ well-being. We conducted an online survey with N = 599 participants, of which 321 reported that they were telework newcomers. First, we asked participants to indicate the three most important advantages and disadvantages they see in telework. The subsequent questionnaire contained a comprehensive measure of working conditions before and during the pandemic, job crafting behaviors, and indicators of well-being. Based on the qualitative answers, we identified three major advantages and disadvantages. Quantitative results indicate perceived changes in all job characteristics for telework newcomers. Concerning working conditions and well-being, job crafting activities that aim to increase structural and social resources are important mediators. The findings underline the need to design appropriate telework conditions and encourage job crafting activities to foster occupational well-being.

Quality of telework life, job crafting, and work well-being of public school teachers in the Federal District

This study tested the impacts of perceptions of quality of telework life and job crafting on public school teachers’ work well-being. The sample was composed of 184 teachers who answered a questionnaire with scales previously validated in Brazil. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed. Perceptions of quality of telework life and job crafting actions predicted work well-being and contributed to investigating gaps in the organizational and work literature. This study offers a diagnosis of teachers’ experiences during remote work and highlights the relations between those variables in a changing work context transformation, fostered by Covid-19 pandemia.

Perceived Organizational Support and Career Satisfaction among Chinese Teachers: The Mediation Effects of Job Crafting and Work Engagement during COVID-19

Recently, scientific theories on career satisfaction (CS) have been promoted worldwide. Research on the subject has become more and more popular, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study adds to the existing literature by investigating the impact of organizational support on career satisfaction through the mediation role of job crafting and work engagement among Chinese teachers. A diverse sample of teachers (n = 3147) was drawn from various schools in Zhejiang province (P.R. China), from June to September 2021. SPSS 26 software with PROCESS macro and JASP was used to analyze the data. The findings demonstrate that perceived organizational support (POS), job crafting (JC), and work engagement (WE) have a significant and positive relation with teachers’ career satisfaction. POS was serially associated with JC (b = 0.34, p = 0.001), CS (b = 0.40, p = 0.001), and WE (b = 0.49, p0.001). The residual direct pathways for JC → CS (b = 0.55, p = 0.001, 95% CI = [0.51, 0.60]) and for WE → CS (b = 0.47, p = 0.001, 95% CI = [0.44, 0.50]) were significant. Sequentially, JC and WE mediated the relation between POS and CS. The multiple mediation model supported our general hypothesis that JC and WE mediate the relationship between POS and CS.

Validation of the Job Crafting Scale in Latin American Workers

In this study, the psychometric properties of the Spanish version (Bakker et al., 2018) of the Job Crafting scale of Tims et al. (2012), was analyzed in a Latin American population. We applied the scale to a sample of 903 employees (42.6% women & 57.4% men) from Colombia and Ecuador. Reliability and validity were examined. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed an adequate fit both in Colombia (CFI = .916, TLI = .900, IFI = .917, RMSEA = .060) and in Ecuador (CFI = .918, TLI = .903, IFI = .919, RMSEA = .064), in the four-factor structure of the original scale. Evidence of validation, related to criterion for psychological well-being for the dimensions of increasing structural resources and increasing challenging demands, was found. The Spanish version of the scale demonstrates its usefulness for research in the Latin American context. En este estudio, se analizaron las propiedades psicométricas de la versión en español (Bakker et al., 2018) de la escala Job Crafting de Tims et al. (2012) en población latinoamericana. Aplicamos la escala a una muestra de 903 empleados (42.6% mujeres y 57.4% hombres) de Colombia y Ecuador. Se examinaron la fiabilidad y la validez. Los resultados del análisis factorial confirmatorio mostraron un ajuste adecuado tanto en Colombia (CFI = .916, TLI = .900, IFI = .917, RMSEA = .060) como en Ecuador (CFI = .918, TLI = .903, IFI = .919, RMSEA = .064), en la estructura de cuatro factores de la escala original. Se encontró evidencia de validación, relacionada con el criterio de bienestar psicológico, para las dimensiones de recursos estructurales crecientes y demandas desafiantes crecientes. La versión en español de la escala demuestra su utilidad para la investigación en el contexto latinoamericano.