Job crafting, job engagement, and burnout: an analysis of the relationship

On June 19, a postgraduate research seminar "Job crafting, job engagement and professional burnout: analysis of relationships" was held with the participation of postgraduate student Miletich Maina Pavlovna. Supervisor - Supervisor - Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, HSE University, PhD, Evgeniy Osin

Job crafting has been introduced into the psychological literature as a description of the behavior that workers use to make work more enjoyable and meaningful. Work customization was further defined as “a specific type of behavior whereby employees try to adjust their work in line with their preferences, motives and desires”, for which they make changes to the requirements and resources of work. In a later and expanded version of the job requirements and resources model, it is job customization that is presented as a mechanism for achieving a balance between job requirements and resources and, consequently, increasing psychological well-being at work.

Presented in terms of requirements and resources at work, job customization includes four types of behavior: 1) increasing structural resources at work, such as autonomy, opportunities for learning, etc.; 2) increasing social resources at work, for example, seeking support or feedback from the manager and colleagues; 3) an increase in stimulating job requirements (challenging job demands), for example, performing additional tasks and participating in more complex projects than provided for by job responsibilities; and 4) reducing the burdensome requirements of work (hindering job demands), ie. avoiding unpleasant and difficult aspects of work that cause tension and stress. The concept of work customization initially suggested that all four behaviors contributed to employee well-being at work, however, further research has shown that reducing burdensome work demands is more likely to be associated with stress and burnout.

The results of the study confirmed that job customization is a heterogeneous construct: different types of behavior, traditionally grouped under this name, do not form a single factor and predict the state of employees in different ways. In particular, avoiding unpleasant aspects of the job may be more a sign of burnout than a way to prevent it. Further research is needed to determine the most favorable approaches to job customization, in particular to customizing burdensome job requirements. The following areas of research are considered:
- customization of work as a special type of behavior in work
- motivation for setting up work, setting up work as a process of satisfying needs (longitude)
- cognitive attunement in terms of job requirements and resources
- setting burdensome job requirements
- perception of requirements (and resources) in a state of burnout
- personal resources and passion as predictors of favorable approaches to job setting