Abstract
The main aim of this dissertation was to generate new knowledge about the antecedents and outcomes of employees’ needs-based crafting, a proactive approach to shaping work and non-work activities in accordance with an individual’s psychological needs. I examine employees’ crafting through the six psychological needs described by the DRAMMA model (i.e., detachment, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation).
This dissertation consists of four original publications which are based on three research projects. In Study I, I examined focus on opportunities at work (FoO) and psychological needs as motivational drivers of needs-based job and off-job crafting (Publication I). Study II focused on employees’ daily energy and needs-based crafting trajectories (Publication II). The aim of Study III was to design an off-job crafting intervention (Publication III) and to evaluate whether participation in the intervention stimulates employees’ off-job crafting efforts and, in turn, enhances psychological need satisfaction, subjective vitality, and work engagement (Publication IV). I moreover investigated potential process mechanisms influencing the effectiveness of the intervention in the intervention group.
The data used in this dissertation were collected as a part of a larger research project entitled “Making leisure work: Leisure crafting as active recovery from stressful work”, which consisted of a longitudinal questionnaire study, experience sampling methodology study, and an intervention study. In Study I, 346 Finnish workers completed two questionnaires with a three-month interval in between. In Study II, a sample of 110 employees mostly from Germany and the Netherlands completed a baseline questionnaire and up to eight EMA measurements per day on four non-consecutive days (resulting in 2,358 observations nested in 396 days). The final sample of Study III consisted of 86 employees from three organizations in Finland. Intervention group participants took part in a group-based off-job crafting workshop at their workplace, set an individual crafting goal for the four-week intervention period, received support from a smartphone app named Everydaily, and attended a group-based reflection workshop. Intervention group participants (n = 51) completed seven weekly questionnaires and the waitlist control group participants (n = 36) completed four weekly questionnaires.
The results of Study I showed that focus on opportunities at work was associated with higher levels of approach needs (i.e., mastery, meaning, affiliation), which in turn explained higher engagement in both job and off-job crafting. Avoidance needs (i.e., detachment, relaxation) resulted directly in increased crafting efforts in both life domains. Continuous growth curve analyses conducted in Study II provided evidence that daily average crafting efforts contributed to the change trajectory of energy over the course of the day. On days when employees crafted more than their average, their energy levels were higher, particularly in the morning and afternoon. These positive crafting effects disappeared towards the end of the day. Needs-based crafting itself followed a linear daily trajectory, increasing over the course of the day. The results of Study III showed that the intervention group participants did not improve in their off- job crafting efforts, needs satisfaction, subjective vitality, and work engagement during and after the intervention period compared to their own baseline levels and compared to the waitlist control group. In the intervention group, participants who made less progress with their goal, were less satisfied with the intervention, and did not set a goal focusing on their least satisfied need experienced steeper declines in off-job crafting, needs satisfaction, and well- being. Contrary to expectations, a SMARTer crafting goal and more active app use decreased off-job crafting, needs satisfaction and well-being over time.
All in all, this dissertation contributes to the scientific literature on crafting by shedding light on motivational drivers of needs-based crafting in the work and non-work domain, the role of needs-based crafting in daily energy management, the trajectory of needs-based crafting over the course of the day, and the effectiveness of an off-job crafting intervention. Adopting psychological needs as the underlying mechanism of crafting provides a new complementary perspective on the job demands-resources perspective on crafting and assists in capturing nuanced crafting processes within and across life domains. The results of this dissertation can be translated into practical guidelines to help individual employees to shape their daily activities in accordance with their psychological needs to maintain or increase their optimal functioning. Moreover, these results can assist organizations and occupational healthcare practitioners in creating needs-supportive training and policies conducive to needs-based crafting.
This dissertation consists of four original publications which are based on three research projects. In Study I, I examined focus on opportunities at work (FoO) and psychological needs as motivational drivers of needs-based job and off-job crafting (Publication I). Study II focused on employees’ daily energy and needs-based crafting trajectories (Publication II). The aim of Study III was to design an off-job crafting intervention (Publication III) and to evaluate whether participation in the intervention stimulates employees’ off-job crafting efforts and, in turn, enhances psychological need satisfaction, subjective vitality, and work engagement (Publication IV). I moreover investigated potential process mechanisms influencing the effectiveness of the intervention in the intervention group.
The data used in this dissertation were collected as a part of a larger research project entitled “Making leisure work: Leisure crafting as active recovery from stressful work”, which consisted of a longitudinal questionnaire study, experience sampling methodology study, and an intervention study. In Study I, 346 Finnish workers completed two questionnaires with a three-month interval in between. In Study II, a sample of 110 employees mostly from Germany and the Netherlands completed a baseline questionnaire and up to eight EMA measurements per day on four non-consecutive days (resulting in 2,358 observations nested in 396 days). The final sample of Study III consisted of 86 employees from three organizations in Finland. Intervention group participants took part in a group-based off-job crafting workshop at their workplace, set an individual crafting goal for the four-week intervention period, received support from a smartphone app named Everydaily, and attended a group-based reflection workshop. Intervention group participants (n = 51) completed seven weekly questionnaires and the waitlist control group participants (n = 36) completed four weekly questionnaires.
The results of Study I showed that focus on opportunities at work was associated with higher levels of approach needs (i.e., mastery, meaning, affiliation), which in turn explained higher engagement in both job and off-job crafting. Avoidance needs (i.e., detachment, relaxation) resulted directly in increased crafting efforts in both life domains. Continuous growth curve analyses conducted in Study II provided evidence that daily average crafting efforts contributed to the change trajectory of energy over the course of the day. On days when employees crafted more than their average, their energy levels were higher, particularly in the morning and afternoon. These positive crafting effects disappeared towards the end of the day. Needs-based crafting itself followed a linear daily trajectory, increasing over the course of the day. The results of Study III showed that the intervention group participants did not improve in their off- job crafting efforts, needs satisfaction, subjective vitality, and work engagement during and after the intervention period compared to their own baseline levels and compared to the waitlist control group. In the intervention group, participants who made less progress with their goal, were less satisfied with the intervention, and did not set a goal focusing on their least satisfied need experienced steeper declines in off-job crafting, needs satisfaction, and well- being. Contrary to expectations, a SMARTer crafting goal and more active app use decreased off-job crafting, needs satisfaction and well-being over time.
All in all, this dissertation contributes to the scientific literature on crafting by shedding light on motivational drivers of needs-based crafting in the work and non-work domain, the role of needs-based crafting in daily energy management, the trajectory of needs-based crafting over the course of the day, and the effectiveness of an off-job crafting intervention. Adopting psychological needs as the underlying mechanism of crafting provides a new complementary perspective on the job demands-resources perspective on crafting and assists in capturing nuanced crafting processes within and across life domains. The results of this dissertation can be translated into practical guidelines to help individual employees to shape their daily activities in accordance with their psychological needs to maintain or increase their optimal functioning. Moreover, these results can assist organizations and occupational healthcare practitioners in creating needs-supportive training and policies conducive to needs-based crafting.
| Original language | English |
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| Place of Publication | Groningen, the Netherlands |
| Publisher | University of Groningen |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
| Publication type | G5 Doctoral dissertation (articles) |
Publication series
| Name | Theses in Economics and Business |
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