The role of organizational learning culture in stimulating job crafting

Purpose This paper aims to expand the job crafting perspective by examining the role of organizational learning culture in enhancing job crafting. Design/Methodology This cross-sectional study is based on questionnaire data of 790 Italian employees working in 10 different companies (e.g., finance, telecommunication, manufacturing). SEM was applied to analyze how organizational learning culture as well as job characteristics (e.g., autonomy, skill variety, etc.) and demographic variables affect job crafting. Results Employees were more prone to craft structural and social job resources and to decrease hindering job demands when they perceived a high organizational learning culture. However, organizational learning culture had no impact on crafting challenging job demands, whereas autonomy and skill variety had a more prominent influence on this job crafting form. Moreover, as employees get older their job crafting behaviors decrease. Limitations Cross-sectional data do not allow us to establish causal relationships. Research/Practical Implications These findings suggest that, to the extent that a company continuously creates learning opportunities, promotes dialogue and encourages collaboration among employees, it is more likely that its employees will adopt job crafting strategies. Practical implications are discussed with a specific focus on how HRD professionals can foster job crafting strategies by supporting a positive organizational learning culture. Originality/Value Previous research suggests that employees proactively change and adapt some aspects of their jobs but more research is needed to identify what contextual factors stimulate job crafting. By addressing this research gap, this is the first study examining the effect of organizational learning culture on job crafting.