Long-term development in job crafting in employees with and without mental health issues during COVID-19: The role of job resources

The aim of this study was to investigate long-term development in job crafting during the COVID-19 pandemic among employees with and without mental health issues (MHIs). Furthermore, this study aimed to explore the role of job resources regarding these changes. We have analyzed longitudinal panel data of six waves between 2019 (applied as pre-pandemic baseline) and 2022 from employees in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Hierarchical linear modeling showed change differences in job crafting: employees with MHIs experienced a higher decrease in job crafting during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to employees without MHIs. When investigating the specific crafting dimensions, we found that there was a group difference only for crafting for structural resources, but not for crafting for social resources. Moreover, job resources buffered the decrease in job crafting among employees with MHIs. Particularly, social support buffered the decrease in crafting for social resources and role clarity buffered the decrease in crafting for structural resources. These results suggest that in times of crisis, strengthening job resources can help employees with MHIs maintain their job crafting behavior.