Job crafting and satisfaction with life: a mediation model through the meaning of work

Over the last decade, empirical evidence of the positive effect of job crafting on employee job satisfaction has grown. Following previous literature that recommends reorienting this line of research and considering the role of additional or intermediate variables to help explain its effects, the current study aimed to analyze how work meaning would explain the relationship between job crafting and satisfaction with life. Participants were 785 employees (50.2% women) with an average age of 41.41 years old. The Job Crafting Questionnaire (JCQ), the Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI) and the Satisfaction with Life (SWL) were used as validated instruments for measuring variables of the study. After controlling for age, gender, weekly work hours, and length of service in the same company, a significant positive association of Job Crafting with Satisfaction with Life was found. Furthermore, mediation analysis using PROCESS revealed that Work Meaning mediated this relationship. The results of this study highlight the role of Job Crafting and Work Meaning, and in general the care for well-being at work, in the overall life satisfaction of working people.