Does work engagement increase person–job fit? The role of job crafting and job insecurity

•We examine how employees can improve their own person–job fit.•Engaged employees do both physical and relational job crafting.•Employee job crafting increases person–job fit.•Engaged employees do more relational crafting when job insecurity is high.

Drawing on the expanded model of person–environment fit and job crafting theory, this study investigates the underlying processes of the relationship between work engagement and changes in person–job fit. A two-wave longitudinal study was conducted among 246 Chinese employees of a high technology company. As hypothesized, the results show that work engagement is positively related to changes in demands–abilities fit through changes in physical job crafting and positively related to changes in needs–supplies fit through changes in relational job crafting. As predicted, the positive relationship between work engagement and changes in relational job crafting (however, not changes in physical job crafting) is strengthened under conditions of high (vs. low) job insecurity. Our findings indicate that engaged employees craft their work in physical and relational ways, which creates a better person–job fit. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide