The Impact of Social Factors on Job Crafting: A Meta-Analysis and Review

Despite the considerable focus on job characteristics and individual differences in job
crafting research, the influence of social factors on job crafting has not been well-acknowledged.
Based on social interaction and job crafting literature, this meta-analysis estimates the associations
between social factors (i.e., organizational insiders and outsiders) and job crafting, and how these
social factors contribute to employee outcomes through their job crafting. Based on a sample of
51 empirical studies that included 54 independent samples (N = 17,863), we found that social factors
of positive leadership styles (e.g., empowering and transformational) and coworker support were
positively related to employee job crafting. Moreover, leadership showed a stronger correlation
with employee job crafting than coworker support and Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX). Further,
our study showed that employee job crafting positively mediates the relationships between social
factors and work outcomes (e.g., job performance and well-being). Our study contributes to job
crafting literature by integrating social factors into the job crafting model and demonstrating that the
social context of work (in particular organizational insiders) plays a crucial role in shaping employees’
job crafting behavior. We also emphasize the critical role that job crafting plays in transmitting
valuable social resources into improved work outcomes. Building on our results, we provide future
direction for job crafting research and discuss how our results can imply practice in terms of job
crafting training.