New insights into self-initiated work design: the role of job crafting, self-undermining and five types of job satisfaction for employee’s health and work ability

Abstract

The present study provides evidence for the important role of job crafting and self-undermining behaviors at work, two new concepts that were recently integrated into the well-known job demands-resources (JD-R) theory (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017). We investigate how these behaviors are associated with work engagement, emotional exhaustion, and work ability as a long-term indicator of employee’s well-being. Furthermore, we examine the moderating role of personal resources in the stress-strain process by comparing groups of employees representing the five types of job satisfaction defined by Bruggemann (1974). Data was collected in a cross-sectional study within a German DAX company’s manufacturing plant from 1145 blue- and white-collar workers. Results of structural equation modeling provided, as expected, support for an indirect effect of job demands and job resources on emotional exhaustion and work engagement through job crafting and self-undermining. Work ability, on the other hand, was mainly affected by emotional exhaustion, but not by work engagement. Most important, we found significant differences between path coefficients across the five types of job satisfaction indicating that these types represent important constellations of personal resources and job demands that should be considered both for analyzing stress at work and for offering tailored stress interventions in organizations.