How emotionally intelligent employees manage their internal employability through role-based job crafting? – evidence from public sector enterprises

ABSTRACT Acknowledging the relevance of work environment in influencing job-related choices, this paper examines the relationship between emotional intelligence, role-based job crafting i.e. task, relational and cognitive crafting, job autonomy and internal employability. The role of job autonomy as a moderator and role-based job crafting as mediator between emotional intelligence and internal employability has also been examined. The study was conducted on 296 managers working in Indian public sector enterprises and found interesting findings including a positive and direct effect of emotional intelligence on all three forms of role-based job crafting and internal employability. The results for mediation effect of job crafting and moderation effect of job autonomy varied depending upon the form of role-based job crafting. The paper discusses theoretical implications and practical relevance of these findings and may provide a direction for interlinking job demands-resources and conservation of resource theories.