Islamic Banking, Accounting and Finance International Conference (iBAF) 2020
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Job Crafting, Perceived Organizational Support (POS) And Work Engagement In Malaysia
Nur Qamarina Sharom
Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia [email protected] 1. Introduction
.
The recent COVID-19 outbreak is a symbol of how fragile and unpredictable our lives can be. The virus has changed our daily lives, work and even resulting in an economic slowdown, business disruption, travel obstructions, public seclusion and so on. Due to this, every organization is competing to survive in this challenging and volatile environment. No exception to Malaysia, various states have been exposed to a situation of complete lockdown which has led employers to ponder upon how they can keep their employees safe from containing the spread of the virus and continue their operations effectively during this unprecedented crisis.
Concerning to the continuity of business, working conditions have been changing. Companies around the world have switched over to online/virtual modes of working while global mobility has come to a standstill. Due to these changes, employees are more likely to feel pressure and stress at their work (Grant & Parker, 2009) especially during Movement Control Order (MCO), as a preventive measure by the federal government of Malaysia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic starting on 18 March 2020. The order was commonly referred to as
“lockdown” or “partial lockdown” by local and international media. During MCO, there are certain procedures and regulations need to be followed e.g. all nurseries, government and private schools, public and private universities and vocational training centres closed. It has led to the disruption of on-campus classroom activities which affected the face to face teaching and learning process. But, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education has instructed through the circulars that the teaching and learning need to be continued.
COVID-19 has created new normal for the education sector, revolutionizing the online learning landscape, reshaping application processes and refreshing crisis management strategies. The new normal can be seen as changes in the work environment. Especially by working from home has increased attention to the concept of job crafting, i.e., an idea of employee-initiated job design/redesign. Job crafting, an employee-initiated job design/redesign, has become important for employees’ well-being. However, most studies on the relationship between job crafting and employees’ well-being have been conducted in western countries. Thus, it is unclear whether job crafting can be effectively applied to Asian cultures.
2. Literature review
Job crafting defined as the physical and cognitive change individuals make in the task or relational boundaries of their work (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). It involves changing work tasks, changing interpersonal relationships at work and changing cognitions about work. By using job-crafting behaviours, employees design and improve their work and social environment in the workplace by themselves (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001; Tims, Bakker &
Derks, 2012). Previous studies have indicated that job crafting has a relationship with various employee’s outcomes (i.e., work engagement, work performance, commitment) (Rudolph et.al., 2017). Due to this significance and positive outcomes of job crafting, this study interested to investigate to gain a better understanding of the potential consequences of job crafting. It is believed that when employees actively work on their own engagement which in
Islamic Banking, Accounting and Finance International Conference (iBAF) 2020
252 turn, predictive of other ratings of performance.
3. Hypotheses
The study outline several hypotheses as below:
H1: Job Crafting is positively related to Work Engagement.
H2: POS is positively related to Work Engagement.
H3: Job Crafting is positively related to Work Engagement through POS.
4. Data collection method
A questionnaire will be included in the sample required that the respondents are among academicians in both public and private universities in Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey design will be used for this study and convenient sampling method as a mode of conducting the survey.
5. Conclusion
The proposed study would like to focus on academician’s several possible relationships between self-reported job crafting with perceived organizational support (POS) and work engagement in Malaysia. Also, examining potential variables as mediator or moderator in the relationships of job crafting, work engagement and POS. These potential results will contribute to research development.
References
Chatzopoulou, M., Vlachvei, A., & Monovasilis, T. (2015). Employee’s Motivation and Satisfaction in Light of Economic Recession: Evidence of Grevena Prefecture-Greece. Procedia Economics and Finance, 24(July), 136–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2212-5671(15)00633-4
Grant, A. M., & Parker, S. K. (2009). Redesigning work design theories: The rise of relational and proactive perspectives. Academy of Management Annals, 3, 273–331
Hulshof, I. L., Demerouti, E., & Le Blanc, P. M. (2020). Providing Services During Times of Change: Can Employees Maintain Their Levels of Empowerment, Work Engagement and Service Quality Through a Job Crafting Intervention? Frontiers in Psychology, 11(January), 1–
15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00087
Rudolph, C. W., Katz, I. M., Lavigne, K. N., & Zacher, H. (2017). Job crafting: A meta-analysis of relationships with individual differences, job characteristics, and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 102(314), 112–138.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.05.008
Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Derks, D. (2012). Development and validation of the job crafting scale. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(1), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2011.05.009
Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2001.4378011
