Job Crafting as Leadership in Action: Servant Leadership and the Dynamics of Adaptive Work Systems

Abstract

CLT posits emergent leadership but lacks micro-level behaviors. We position job crafting as CLT’ s behavioral anchor. Integrating JD–R and RFT, we model demands/resources → servant leadership → promotion/prevention focus → approach/avoidance crafting. We tested a cross-sectional SEM (T1 N=279) and two-wave CLPM (N=238). Demands reduced approach crafting via servant leadership and promotion focus and increased hindrance-reduction via servant leadership and prevention focus; resources fostered approach crafting and indirectly increased hindrance-reduction through the same channels. Cross-lagged paths evidenced feedback-driven emergence, recasting servant-leadership outcomes behaviorally and embedding CLT’s recursion in job crafting as hypothesized. These results advance theory and clarify mechanisms.