Building organizational commitment through cognitive and relational job crafting

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the process by which organizational commitment is influenced by job crafting among knowledge workers. To address this aim, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative case study in a software solutions development firm in Denmark. The findings from the study suggest that relational and cognitive job crafting encourage affective, normative, and continuous commitment among knowledge workers, which ultimately has a positive influence on retention. The study also highlights the considerable overlap between different types of job crafting, with task job crafting appearing to be a precursor to relational and cognitive job crafting. This paper contributes to the job crafting literature by providing a process-focused account of how it engenders knowledge workers’ organizational commitment and to practice by suggesting how managers can support job crafting efforts to increase knowledge worker retention.