The Mediating Role of Job Crafting of Social Resources in the relationship between Job Autonomy, Self-Efficacy, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is defined as employees’ “contributions to the maintenance and enhancement of the social and psychological context that supports task performance” (Organ, 1997). It is a relevant enhancer of individual and team satisfaction and effectiveness, and so it is important to analyze what aspects can contribute to its development. Due to the social nature of OCB, this paper analyzed how job autonomy and self-efficacy affect it through the mediating role of job crafting of social resources. Studies have shown that job crafting (JC) effects take time to elicit (Tims & Bakker, 2010); therefore, our study design was two-waved, with a sample of 593 employees from 24 different organizations. Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that job autonomy (t1) predicted OCB (t2) through job crafting of social resources (t1), and that self-efficacy (t1) affected OCB (t2) through OCB (t1) and independently from job crafting of social resources. This finding suggests the importance of job crafting of social resources as a mediator of OCB when employees have enough job autonomy.