This paper examines the relationships between regulatory-focused job crafting, i.e. promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting, person-job fit and internal employability and explores the direct and underlying mediation process using conservation of resources and job demands-resources theories.
Survey data collected from 425 executives of India based public sector enterprises were used to test hypotheses.
Promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting respectively had a contrasting relationship with needs-supplies fit. The relationship with demands-abilities fit was statistically significant only in the case of prevention-focused job crafting. These two job crafting forms respectively had a positive and a negative effect on internal employability, both directly as well as indirectly through person-job fit.
Employees can pursue promotion-focused job crafting and avoid prevention-focused job crafting to improve their person-job fit as well as internal employability which subsequently may have multiple favourable outcomes at an organizational and individual level.
The study, for the first time, empirically investigates the differential role of individuals' efforts in the form of promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting, in influencing internal employability and explains its underlying mechanism through person-job fit. These interrelationships may have important implications for employees' job demand management process and job choices.
