Task idiosyncratic deals and task interdependence: Effects on demand–ability fit and employee outcomes

Abstract

Task idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) exemplify an employer and employee co-creating job design approach. However, past literature has predominantly relied on social exchange mechanisms to explain their impact on employee behaviour, which may be insufficient in capturing the critical job-related mechanisms underlying the effects of task I-deals. We draw on person–environment (PE) fit theory to propose that demand–ability (DA) fit can enrich our understanding of the effect of task I-deals on employee behaviour. To test this mechanism, we conducted two studies. One was a field survey collected from 468 employees and 107 supervisors across three time points. The other was a pre-registered scenario-based online experiment involving 400 full-time employees. Through these two studies, we found that task I-deals were positively related to job performance and voice behaviour, and DA fit mediated these positive relationships. In addition, task interdependence enhanced the positive effect of task I-deals on DA fit. The overall moderated mediation model was also significant. These findings highlight the importance of task I-deals as an alternative approach to job design beyond top-down and bottom-up job design approaches and underscore PE fit as a novel theoretical perspective for understanding the impact of task I-deals.