Testing of a new job crafting measure and intervention to enhance Thai healthcare professionals' motivation, work engagement and, job performance

Abstract

The present research consisted of two studies. In Study I, the objective was to develop and validate the job crafting measure in related to the levels of motivation, work engagement and job performance in Thai healthcare professionals using structured interview and structure equation model (SEM). Qualitative method using the interview (N = 20) was employed to extract employees’ experiences of crafting their job and explore additional dimension of job crafting. The results of the interview revealed an additional dimension of job crafting namely "humor” for Thai Job Crafting Behavior scale (Thai JCB) (physical crafting, relational crafting, cognitive crafting and humor). The quantitative method of the content, construct (CFA) , concurrent and convergent validation (N = 150) were used to meet the validation of the Thai JCB measurement model. Moreover, the results of the Thai JCB structural model and related variables (i.e., motivation, work engagement, and job performance) (N = 260) fit well with the observed data in the expected direction. The results from Study I was further used for assessing the job crafting intervention in Study II.The main objective of Study II was to examine the intervention effect to professionals’ motivation, engagement and job performance over time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pretest, posttest, and follow-up design were conducted for investigating the changes. Data analysis was performed using 1) Repeated measures ANOVA analyses, 2) The latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) with Bayesian estimation and 3) Content analysis for recommendation interviews in the follow-up time. The results revealed that levels of, motivation, work engagement, and job performance in the intervention group (n = 25) were significantly greater than those in the control group (n = 25). As time passed, within the intervention group, motivation, work engagement, and job performance were increasing overtime. For The latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) with Bayesian estimation, the models of all variables were fitted with empirical data and significantly increased over time. Significant indirect effect of the intervention on the slope of performance via the slope of motivation was found. The indirect effect of the intervention on the slope of performance via the slope of engagement was also statistically significant. These findings indicated that enhancement of motivation and engagement were important mediators of the intervention in improving the performance. In addition of follow- up time, the content analysis of recommendation on job crafting program was provided for further development. In conclusion, the results provided empirical support for validity of Thai JCB and the effectiveness of job crafting intervention program in promoting motivation, work engagement and performance in the long-term effect. Regarding, the implications and applications of this present study, it is expected that this Thai JCB measurement scale and intervention program would be applied to deliver to other organization contexts.