Search Results (136)

In rapidly urbanising developing economies, construction activity frequently relies on informal and semi-skilled labour. This coincides with limited opportunities for systematic skill development, leading to persistent labour deskilling. While existing research has predominantly addressed these challenges through policy reform, industrialisation, or efficiency-driven technological models, less emphasis has been placed on the role of architectural design in shaping labour–technology relations on-site. This article adopts a constructivist perspective on technology to investigate how architectural design can serve as a socio-technical framework for non-formal labour upskilling within construction practice. Drawing upon qualitative case studies of two architectural projects in Sri Lanka—a suburban residential retrofit and a low-income rural housing prototype—this study analyses how design strategies such as systemisation, construction sequencing, material hybridity, and craft-based component detailing embed tacit learning within production processes. The findings demonstrate that craft, understood as a mode of tacit knowledge and on-the-job learning rather than as a stylistic or nostalgic response, can facilitate skill acquisition across diverse economic and technical contexts. By repositioning architectural design as an active mediator between technology and labour, this article contributes to debates within construction studies, social sciences, and architectural theory and proposes design-led construction strategies as a context-sensitive alternative to purely policy- or efficiency-driven approaches to labour development. Full article

With the continuous development of the construction industry, work pressure faced by construction workers has been increasing, leading to a growing prominence of job burnout that adversely affects workers’ physical and mental health as well as work efficiency. Constantly exposed to high-pressure environments, construction workers are prone to symptoms such as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment, which in turn impair their work performance and quality of life. However, existing literature has largely overlooked the potential role of leisure activities such as music in alleviating job burnout. Although music is widely recognized as an effective tool for emotional regulation, its application and impact among construction workers remain underexplored. Based on a sample of 1086 construction workers (71.09% male, 48.99% aged 36–45), this study examines four dimensions of music engagement, including Time Commitment (TC), Economic Spending (ES), Emotional Investment (EI), and Personal Participation (PP), and investigates how these dimensions, through the mediating role of leisure crafting (LC), negatively influence job burnout (JB) among this population. This study employed covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) with a sample of 1086 construction workers (71.09% male, 48.99% aged 36–45) to examine how four dimensions of music engagement, namely Time Commitment (TC), Economic Spending (ES), Emotional Investment (EI), and Personal Participation (PP), influence job burnout through leisure crafting. The results show that: (1) time commitment, economic spending, emotional investment and personal participation all have a negative influence on job burnout; and (2) leisure crafting mediates the effect of music engagement by construction workers on job burnout. This study emphasizes the necessity of incorporating mental health interventions into high-pressure work environments, providing guidance for companies to develop more flexible and effective employee care and welfare policies. This research therefore holds significant theoretical and practical value, as it promotes sustainable development in the construction industry, improves workers’ well-being and enhances the design of related work environments. Full article

This study describes participants’ views and insights into crafting effective communication aimed at smokeless tobacco and nicotine pouch prevention among fire academy trainees and new recruits. Firefighters have elevated rates of smokeless tobacco use compared with the general population. Nicotine pouches have also gained popularity among this occupational group. We launched a pilot project centered in rural Northern California counties to uncover factors that can be used to communicate smokeless tobacco and nicotine pouch prevention messages within the firefighter workplace. As a first step, we conducted semi-structured interviews with firefighter subject matter experts, including fire chiefs, fire academy instructors, wildlands firefighters, and recent fire academy graduates. This purposive sample (n = 13) was obtained through referrals from the project’s Community Advisory Board, composed of fire service professionals. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Next, the qualitative interviews were thematically analyzed. The results focus on two aspects of effective workplace communication in the service to delivery of smokeless tobacco and nicotine pouch prevention messages: content (core information conveyed in a message), and format (how the message is transmitted or displayed). Examples of the former are the importance of keeping oneself healthy so that one can do one’s job; do not risk a future compensation claim due to smokeless tobacco or nicotine pouch use. Examples of the latter are the use of brevity; humor. Because firefighters often initiate use of these products after they join the fire service, communicating prevention messages in the workplace during the firefighter training and recruitment stage may help disrupt the uptake of nicotine products. Full article

The COVID-19 outbreak profoundly disrupted the aviation industry and reshaped cabin crew work conditions, increasing psychological strain and altering job resources. Against this backdrop, this study investigates the antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior among cabin crew members in a Taiwanese airline, focusing on job crafting, perceived organizational support, job burnout, and organizational commitment. A purposive and quota sampling method was employed to collect data through an online questionnaire from a Taiwanese airline company. The collected data was analyzed using structural equation modeling to verify the proposed model. The study found that job burnout does not significantly affect organizational citizenship behavior or organizational commitment and that job crafting does not significantly affect job burnout. In contrast, job crafting and perceived organizational support have a positive effect on organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, whereas perceived organizational support has a negative effect on job burnout. Finally, the study discusses managerial implications and suggests directions for future research. Full article

The teaching profession plays a central role in shaping educational quality and student development, yet it is increasingly characterized by high job demands and increasing pressures. Against this backdrop, this study examines how individual proactive behaviors (i.e., structural and social job crafting) interact with relational resources (i.e., LMX), to foster teachers’ emotional well-being and professional functioning, drawing on the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model and LMX theory. Using cross-sectional survey data from 374 Flemish public secondary school teachers, we investigated the relationships between job crafting, well-being, and performance outcomes, as well as the mediating role of LMX. The results indicate that both forms of job crafting are significantly associated with lower emotional exhaustion and higher teacher enthusiasm and creative performance. Moreover, LMX emerged as a key, yet underexplored, mediating mechanism linking job crafting to teacher well-being and enthusiasm. These findings advance theoretical understanding of how proactive work behaviors translate into positive outcomes in educational contexts and highlight the importance of high-quality leader–teacher relationships. From a practical perspective, the results suggest that encouraging teachers’ job crafting behaviors alongside supportive school leadership may be crucial for fostering sustainable well-being and performance in education. Full article

Job crafting has become an essential strategy for kindergarten teachers to cope with increasing job demands and sustain professional engagement. Drawing on the proactive motivation model, this study examines whether and how principals’ servant leadership exerts cross-level effects on teachers’ approach and avoidance job crafting. Data were collected from 1724 teachers nested within 150 kindergartens, and hypotheses were tested using multilevel modeling. The results indicated that principals’ servant leadership had significant cross-level effects on teachers’ approach and avoidance job crafting, positively predicting approach job crafting and negatively predicting avoidance job crafting. In addition, organizational identification functioned as a cross-level mediator in this relationship, through which servant leadership further enhanced approach job crafting and reduced avoidance job crafting. These findings extend the literature by revealing the motivational pathway linking servant leadership to distinct forms of job crafting and highlight the importance of cultivating a servant leadership climate to foster proactive behaviors among kindergarten teachers. Full article

Citizen science is seen as a valuable tool for improving sustainable tourism governance. This is especially true in environmentally sensitive and socially complex areas that need inclusive knowledge. This research examines how citizen science can capture the views of local stakeholders regarding tourism impacts. It aims to create a community-based evidence base that supports better decision-making. The study takes place in a rapidly transitioning coastal tourism community in northwestern Mexico. Perceptions were collected using a basic participatory model from 150 actors, including local residents, school representatives, business community members, civil society organizations, and public agencies. The survey covered economic, social, and environmental dimensions, providing broad insights into how residents experience tourism expansion. Results indicate that tourism is widely perceived as an important economic driver: over 80% of respondents associate tourism with job creation and regional economic growth, and 100% recognize its role in supporting local crafts and production. At the same time, 84% of participants report rising living costs, and approximately 70% perceive restricted access to public spaces linked to tourism development. Environmental concerns are even more pronounced, with 87% of respondents associating tourism expansion with declining water and air quality, and 77% noting increased pressure on energy and water resources during peak seasons. The findings emphasize growing dissonance between national narratives on sustainability and the lived realities of communities. Stakeholders view tourism as a major driver of the local economy, crafts, and job creation. However, respondents also report rising living costs, displacement pressures, and restricted access to public spaces. Environmental concerns are even more apparent: respondents link tourism to declining air and water quality, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, waste generation, and resource competition. The study suggests that even simple forms of citizen science can provide early, community-driven signals of social and environmental risks, offering valuable insights into more flexible and inclusive tourism governance in coastal areas. Full article

With the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in organizational performance management, AI feedback has increasingly supplemented or replaced leader-delivered evaluations. While prior research has addressed issues of fairness and accuracy in AI assessments, relatively little is known about how employees emotionally and behaviorally respond to negative performance feedback (NPF) from different sources. Building on Affective Events Theory, this study investigates how leader versus AI elicits distinct emotions, shame and anger, and how these emotions subsequently influence employees’ job crafting. Two studies were conducted to test the proposed model. Study 1 employed a scenario-based experiment to compare employees’ emotional reactions. Results indicate that leader NPF evokes greater shame, whereas AI NPF induces stronger anger. Study 2 used survey data from nine enterprises in China to further test the underlying mechanisms. Results show that shame and anger mediate the effects of leader and AI NPF on promotion-oriented and prevention-oriented job crafting, respectively. Moreover, leader trust weakens the relationship between leader NPF and shame, while algorithm aversion strengthens the relationship between AI negative feedback and anger. This study advances understanding of the emotional mechanisms underlying employees’ responses to negative feedback and offers practical insights for designing effective human–AI feedback systems in organizations. Full article

In dynamic organizational environments, employee-driven bootlegging innovation has emerged as an important micro-level pathway to sustainable competitive advantage. Drawing on self-determination theory, conservation of resources theory, and regulatory focus theory, this study examines how job crafting facilitates bootlegging innovation through psychological capital and how promotion focus conditions this process. Using a two-wave survey of 370 employees from multiple industries in China, we found that job crafting is positively associated with bootlegging innovation both directly and indirectly via psychological capital. Mediation analyses indicate that psychological capital significantly transmits the effect of job crafting on bootlegging innovation. Moreover, promotion focus strengthens the positive relationship between job crafting and psychological capital as well as the relationship between psychological capital and bootlegging innovation, resulting in a stronger conditional indirect effect at higher levels of promotion focus. These findings conceptualize psychological capital as a renewable reservoir of psychological resources that enables proactive job redesign to translate into constructive deviant innovation while highlighting promotion focus as a dual-path catalyst in both resource generation and resource mobilization. This study advances our understanding of the micro-level mechanisms underlying sustainable innovation and offers practical guidance for organizations seeking to foster constructive deviance in a controlled and sustainable manner. Full article

Soft skills are increasingly viewed as essential personal resources for sustainable employability, yet their combined role with Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and proactive career behaviors among university students remains insufficiently understood. Grounded in the Job Demands–Resources model, this study examines whether soft skills predict PsyCap, employability, job crafting (seeking challenges) and active job search behavior, and whether these relationships differ between STEM and non-STEM students. A sample of 501 Italian university students (mean age = 22.7) completed validated measures of soft skills, PsyCap (resilience and optimism), employability (employability, networking, social networks), seeking challenges and active job search. Structural equation modeling revealed that soft skills significantly predicted PsyCap (β = 0.57), employability (β = 0.45), seeking challenges (β = 0.61) and active job search (β = 0.25). Multi-group analyses showed configural invariance across STEM and non-STEM groups and generally comparable relationships, with slightly stronger effects of soft skills on PsyCap and employability for non-STEM students. These findings extend prior work by testing an integrated JD–R-informed employability model that links soft skills to both psychological resources and proactive career behaviors within the same SEM and across academic domains. Overall, findings highlight soft skills as foundational resources that enhance students’ psychological functioning and proactive career behaviors, ultimately supporting readiness for work and the development of adaptive, sustainable career paths. Full article

The purpose of this study is to examine how employees’ artificial intelligence awareness (AIA) influences adaptive performance in the workplace through the mediating roles of eustress and task crafting within the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) Theory. Data were collected from 372 full-time employees working in five-star hotels and analyzed using PLS-SEM with WarpPLS. The findings reveal that employees’ AI awareness significantly enhances adaptive performance both directly and indirectly. AI awareness also positively predicts eustress and task crafting, suggesting that informed employees experience motivating stress and actively reshape their tasks to optimize work processes. Moreover, both eustress and task crafting serve as significant mediators, amplifying the effect of AI awareness on adaptive performance. These results underscore the value of cultivating AI knowledge among employees to foster proactive behaviors and positive stress responses, ultimately supporting adaptability in dynamic work environments. The study contributes to JD-R Theory by integrating AI-related awareness as a personal resource driving employee adaptation. Full article

Amid increasing job complexity and evolving career demands, understanding how employees can proactively sustain their employability has become a critical concern for organizations. Although prior research highlights the importance of job crafting for employability, the motivational mechanisms through which this relationship unfolds—and the contextual conditions under which it is strengthened or weakened—remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on self-determination theory and role theory, this study examines how job crafting influences sustainable employability through the mediating role of self-determination and the moderating role of role ambiguity. Using a two-wave, time-lagged survey design, data were collected from 989 employees across diverse industries in Türkiye. Job crafting and role ambiguity were measured at Time 1, while self-determination and sustainable employability were assessed one month later. The proposed relationships were tested using confirmatory factor analysis and conditional process analysis. The results show that job crafting is positively associated with both self-determination and sustainable employability. Self-determination partially mediates the relationship between job crafting and sustainable employability, indicating that proactive job redesign enhances employability by fostering autonomous motivation. Moreover, role ambiguity weakens the positive effects of job crafting on both self-determination and sustainable employability, highlighting the importance of role clarity as a boundary condition. This study advances the job crafting and sustainable employability literature by identifying self-determination as a key motivational mechanism and by demonstrating how role ambiguity constrains the benefits of proactive work behavior. By integrating self-determination theory with role theory, the findings offer nuanced insights into how employee agency and contextual clarity jointly support sustainable employability in dynamic work environments. Full article

Empowering leadership can provide more resource support for organizations and better match the characteristics of current knowledge employees, such as a high demand for autonomy and pursuit of value diversification. However, existing literature has not fully clarified the specific cognitive transmission mechanisms linking empowering leadership to knowledge workers’ job crafting, nor has it sufficiently examined the boundary conditions of this relationship under specific individual traits. This study aimed to explore the impact of empowering leadership on knowledge employees’ job crafting by constructing a moderated mediation model. This study introduces role breadth self-efficacy as a mediating variable and learning goal orientation as a moderating variable and collects questionnaire data to investigate the underlying mechanisms among 338 knowledge employees. Empowering leadership has a positive effect on knowledge employees’ job crafting. Role breadth self-efficacy mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and job crafting. Learning goal orientation positively moderated the impact of empowering leadership on role breadth self-efficacy. Building an empowering leadership model with empowerment and psychological safety at its core can stimulate employees’ job crafting. Role breadth self-efficacy can be improved by challenging tasks and systematic training. The implementation of differentiated management based on learning-goal orientation strengthens the empowerment effect. These measures provide feasible paths for organizations to drive adaptive changes. Full article

With the deep development and iterative upgrading of algorithmic technology, the management practice of platform enterprises using intelligent algorithmic technology has become a hot issue. However, there is little research on the impact of perceived algorithmic control on work engagement from the perspective of platform workers. Drawing upon the regulatory focus theory, this study constructs a “double-edged sword” model to test the impact of perceived algorithmic control on platform workers’ work engagement by focusing on the positive mediating role of promotion-focused job crafting, the negative mediating role of prevention-focused job crafting, and the moderating role of algorithmic literacy. The data collected from 302 platform workers in China were used for an empirical study, and corresponding analyses were carried out to verify the theoretical model constructed by using SPSS and Mplus. The findings indicate the following: (a) perceived algorithmic control positively affects work engagement through promotion-focused job crafting; (b) perceived algorithmic control negatively affects work engagement indirectly through prevention-focused job crafting; (c) the indirect effect of perceived algorithmic control on work engagement via promotion-focused job crafting is stronger when there is a high level of algorithmic literacy and weaker in the case of low algorithmic literacy; and (d) the indirect effect of perceived algorithmic control on work engagement via prevention-focused job crafting is weaker in situations of high algorithmic literacy and stronger in those of low algorithmic literacy. The findings not only enrich theoretical studies on algorithmic control and work engagement but also offer guidance to platform-based enterprises on how to leverage the positive aspects of algorithmic control to better support individuals with different traits. Full article

Even though many nations invest heavily in education to boost economic growth and development, evidence continues to show that university graduates struggle to find employment and eke out a living, obscuring our understanding of the true value of education. Comprehending the experiences of university graduates can assist in determining the support needed for their personal and economic growth. However, research in Zimbabwe on the experiences of graduates after university education is limited. This study explores the experiences of 14 university graduates, drawn from one university in Zimbabwe, who were in their fifth year after graduating. Data were generated from semi-structured interviews and analysed through the lens of credentialism theory. Findings revealed a significant discrepancy between education and employment wherein the value of education is being re-evaluated by people, with many questioning the assumption that higher education guarantees job opportunities. The disconnect highlights the need for policymakers to reassess the way education is delivered and aligned with labour market needs. The study proposes that universities should draw insights from industry leaders when crafting their curriculum and determining enrolment figures. The research extends scholarship on the interplay between education and employment, thereby guiding educational policy formulation in developing countries. Full article