The effect of the congruence between job characteristics and personality on job crafting

Abstract

This study examined the effect of the fit between personality (i.e., openness to experience) and core job characteristics (i.e., skill variety, task significance, and task identity) on job crafting. We collected survey data from 200 college students who were assigned a team project during the semester. Using polynomial regression analysis, we tested the effects of the fit between personality and job characteristics on job crafting. The results revealed that a high level of openness to experience was significantly associated with a high level of job crafting (i.e., task, relational, and cognitive crafting). Furthermore, when both openness to experience and job characteristics were congruent at a high level, the tendency to proactively perform one’s tasks was also high. These findings enhance our understanding of the effect of the fit between openness to experience and three core job characteristics on job crafting.