The Russian version of the Job Crafting Scale: Psychometric verification, validation and perspectives of use

Purpose. The article presents theoretical basis and psychometric properties of the Russian version of the Job Crafting Scale. Job crafting is a particular type of proactive work behavior via which workers initiate changes in the demands and the resources of their jobs in line with their own preferences. Various forms of such behavior reflect the level of personal and organizational resources, the severity of job demands and predict various indicators of performance and well-being at work. Methodology. The development and validation of the Russian version of the scale was carried out on the basis of studies conducted in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk and other cities in Russia. The total number of respondents N = 1060 employed in transport, manufacturing, services, trade and other areas, aged 18 to 70. Findings. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis confirm the four -factor structure of the scale with the following factors: increasing structural job resources; increasing social job resources; increasing challenging job demands, and decreasing hindering job demands. Scale reliability was found to be satisfactory. Convergent validity was demonstrated by the means of correlation analysis, which showed significant relationships with work engagement measured with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and the scales of psychological capital by A. Bakker. Invariance analysis demonstrated the stability of the four-factor structure, i.e. metric invariance was confirmed. Value of results. Based on the results of the analysis, the authors propose the Russian version of the Job Crafting Scale as a diagnostic tool suitable for assessment of different types of job crafting behavior which can be used to predict promotion vs prevention focus of self-regulation of work behavior and to assess proactivity of work teams in conditions of variability in the organizational environment.