Optimizing the relationship between job autonomy and knowledge workers’ satisfaction: The roles of crafting and value congruence

Abstract

This paper proposes a moderated mediation model to explain how job autonomy affects knowledge workers’ job and leisure satisfaction through crafting activities. Using a large‐scale survey of 836 Chinese knowledge workers, we confirm the role of job crafting in mediating the relation between job autonomy and job satisfaction, and further reveal that leisure crafting mediates the relation between job autonomy and leisure satisfaction. Our results also reveal the moderating effects of person‐organization value congruence on the relation between job autonomy and job/leisure crafting and, in turn, on the indirect effect of job autonomy on knowledge workers’ satisfaction. These findings indicate that knowledge‐intensive organizations should apply interventions conducive to leisure crafting to elevate their employees’ well‐being. The findings also highlight the worth of fostering a culture of ‘crafting’ to facilitate person‐organization value congruence and strengthen the positive relations between job autonomy and crafting activities.