Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Leadership
Committee Chair
Casey Maugh Funderburk
Committee Chair School
Leadership
Committee Member 2
Amin Alizadeh
Committee Member 2 School
Leadership
Committee Member 3
H. Quincy Brown
Committee Member 3 School
Leadership
Committee Member 4
Mary Funk
Committee Member 4 School
Leadership
Abstract
Job crafting is one way in which employees can boost their performance and satisfaction, and organizations can reap the benefits of high performance. Job crafting refers to an employee’s ability to proactively redesign a job to foster their satisfaction, engagement, and resilience toward work (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). After twenty-five years of study, the positive impacts of job crafting are well-established (Bhagat & Arora, 2021; Bruning & Campion, 2018; Wong et al., 2017; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Recently scholars have noted the potential downsides and have called for more research into the nuances of job crafting when explored through the approach-avoidance framework, which delineates between behaviors that lead to more opportunities for development and challenges, namely approach crafting, and behaviors that lead to less strain and effort, namely avoidance crafting (Elliot, 1999; Elliot & Thrash, 2001; Tims et al., 2022).
In this study, the downsides of job crafting were examined through the approach-avoidance framework, conservation of resources theory, and self-determination theory, to examine the mediating roles of job crafting and workload in the relationships among work engagement, affective commitment, and turnover intentions. This study used a predictive, cross-sectional, non-experimental quantitative survey design and analyzed research objectives using linear regression and serial mediation analysis. This study conceptualized a predictive chain of events in which employee engagement leads employees to engage in job-crafting behaviors, thereby increasing employee workload and decreasing affective commitment and increasing turnover intentions. The findings surmised that work engagement is positively related to approach-oriented job crafting, and this type of job crafting does increase workload. Partial support was found for the negative impact of workload on affective commitment and increased turnover intentions. Additionally, job crafting and workload partially mediated the relationships between engagement and turnover intentions. This study adds to the job crafting lexicon by addressing the impact of workload as a gateway for negative outcomes. It also provides recommendations for future research and recommendations for organizational leaders to leverage job crafting training interventions and policies aligned with self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) to reap the benefits of job crafting while safeguarding healthy workloads and promoting high performance.
Copyright
Jessica Langston
Recommended Citation
Langston, Jessica E., "Workload as a Tipping Point: A Serial Mediation Model Examining the Roles of Job Crafting and Workload on Work Engagement, Affective Commitment, and Turnover Intentions" (2026). Dissertations. 2456.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/2456