Is Job Crafting a Mediator in the Relationship of Authenticity with Work Outcomes?

Abstract

The current cross-sectional study examined whether authenticity is positively related to positive work outcomes through approach job crafting and negatively related to negative work outcomes through avoidance job crafting. Work outcomes that were examined include work engagement, performance and burnout. Data were collected among 204 participants from an HR consultancy firm that works mainly in the life sciences field. Data were analyzed with the PROCESS macro by Hayes (2013). Findings showed that authenticity is positively associated with work engagement and job performance and negatively with burnout. Furthermore, it demonstrated a negative link to decreasing hindering demands and increasing social resources. No other job crafting types showed significant associations with authentic behavior. Mediation analyses demonstrated that decreasing hindering demands acted as a mediator in the relationship between authenticity and work engagement. However, because the direct effect of authenticity was significant, avoidance job crafting was considered to be only a partial mediator. Due to the fact that two of the approach job crafting scales did not relate to authenticity and one did not relate to the outcome variable, they were excluded from mediation analyses, and thus, it can be concluded that they do not have an indirect effect in the link between authenticity and the studied work outcomes. At the end of the paper the interpretation of the above-mentioned results is outlined, together with the limitations of the current study.