Effectiveness of job crafting interventions: a meta-analysis and utility analysis

Abstract

Job crafting (JC) is a form of bottom-up job design with a high potential for increasing work engagement and performance. For this reason, researchers have proposed interventions to stimulate JC in organizations. The purpose of this paper was twofold: (1) to meta-analyse the effectiveness of interventions on increasing JC behaviours, work engagement, and job performance; and (2) to estimate the economic value of JC interventions, applying utility analysis. The systematic search identified 14 eligible studies. Random-effects meta-analyses revealed statistically significant results on overall JC (g = 0.26; 95%CI [0.11, 0.40]), seeking challenges (g = 0.19; 95%CI [0.05, 0.33]), and reducing demands (g = 0.44; 95%CI [0.19, 0.69]), on work engagement (g = 0.31; 95%CI [0.14, 0.50]), and on contextual performance (g = 0.39; 95%CI [0.01, 0.78]). Moderator analyses found that interventions in which participants formed plans that included both organizational and personal objectives had moderate effectiveness in boosting work engagement; only healthcare employees reported gains in task performance. Any effects of enhancing JC behaviours on performance were fully explained by increases in work engagement. Utility analysis indicated substantial benefits regarding dollar value increases in output, the percentage increase in output, and reduced labour costs for healthcare professionals.