Job crafting among school principals before and during COVID-19: Investigating the associations with work-related well-being and personal resources using variable- and person-oriented approaches

Using variable- and person-oriented approaches, this study examined the association between school principals' job crafting and their work-related well-being (work engagement and burnout) and personal resources (self-efficacy and resilience). Two samples of data were collected, before and during the 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic (2019: n = 525; 2020: n = 644). The variable-oriented analyses revealed that in both samples, the approach to job crafting strategies (increasing job resources and challenging job demands) were associated with positive outcomes (higher work-related well-being and personal resources), whereas avoidance job crafting strategies (decreasing hindrance job demands) were associated with relatively negative outcomes. Particularly, during the pandemic, the benefit of increasing structural job resources and challenging job demands was more evident than that of increasing social job resources. Furthermore, subsequent person-oriented analyses identified three typical patterns of job crafting in both samples: moderate job crafters (an average level use of all strategies), approach-focused job crafters (an above-average level use of approach strategies coupled with an average level use of avoidance strategies), and avoidance-focused job crafters (a predominant use of avoidance strategies). Among these, approach-focused and moderate job crafters showed more desirable outcomes than avoidance-focused job crafters. The present findings suggest that by implementing job crafting, school principals may be able to cope better with the various professional challenges and adversities associated with the pandemic. In turn, this may improve their work-related well-being, self-efficacy, and resilience.