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Learning in the
Learning in the workplace: workplace
evidence on the role of
behavioural job crafting on
fostering self-perceived 133

employability Received 1 November 2022

Revised 19 January 2023
Accepted 8 February 2023
Riccardo Sartori, Francesco Tommasi and Andrea Ceschi
Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona,
Verona, Italy
Stefano Noventa
Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences,
University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, and
Mattia Zene
Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona,
Verona, Italy

Abstract
Purpose – Given the instability and volatility of the labour market and the global talent scarcity,
placing more attention on job employability is fundamental. In this context, the literature has already
extensively examined employability as a crucial individual aspect, identifying some significant
antecedents, including the applicability of training on the job. The present study aims to examine the
impact that teaching employees to craft their job may have on the levels of applicability of training and
if, in turn, this improves self-perceived employability.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors involved three private organizations that followed three
workshops on job crafting behaviour. To empirically assess the intervention, the authors asked participants
of the workshop to complete four quantitative diaries on a weekly basis, i.e. one per week, one before the
intervention and three after the intervention. The diaries comprised measures of job crafting behaviours,
applicability of training and self-perceived employability.
Findings – Multi-level analysis of data collected provided support to the positive associations between job
crafting behaviour and self-perceived employability with the mediating effect of applicability of training.
Notably, the applicability of training improves when individuals search for challenges, which indirectly
affects perceived employability in terms of organizational sense.
Research limitations/implications – In the present study, no control group was used with which the
results of our intervention could be compared. However, this does not affect the overall results, given the
amount of intraindividual variability.

© Riccardo Sartori, Francesco Tommasi, Andrea Ceschi, Stefano Noventa and Mattia Zene. Published
by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution European Journal of Training and
(CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this Development
Vol. 47 No. 10, 2023
article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original pp. 133-146
publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/ Emerald Publishing Limited
2046-9012
licences/by/4.0/legalcode DOI 10.1108/EJTD-11-2022-0119
EJTD Originality/value – The paper proposes initial avenues for promoting employability at work via the use of
behavioural job crafting intervention.
47,10
Keywords Employability, Applicability of training, Job crafting, Intervention,
Multi-level modelling
Paper type Research paper

134
1. Introduction
Researchers and practitioners have been devoting attention to how to foster employability in
the workplace, given the constant changes in the work environment (Akkermans and
Kubasch, 2017; Baruch, 2001; Van der Baan, 2022). Employees should be supported to
develop job-specific (pro)active adaptability to the working context to enable themselves
to achieve career development and opportunities (Fugate et al., 2004, p. 16). For example,
organizations are even adapting novel ways of working in view of the automation and
digitalization of work. In this sense, employees should be capable to expand their
competencies with organizations looking for possible interventions to foster employees’
chances for “continuous fulfilling, acquiring, creating of work through the[ier] optimal
use of competencies” (2019, p. 453) (Forrier and Sels, 2003).
Various studies have reported how fostering and enhancing self-perceived employability
can have positive effects in supporting organizations and institutions that want to keep up
with changes in society (Dascalu et al., 2016; Irfan and Qadeer, 2020; Sartori et al., 2021).
Empirical investigations on the antecedents of employees’ self-perceived employability have
taken into account individual factors such as volition, support for career, skill development,
job-related skills, willingness to change jobs, self-efficacy and applicability of training on the
job (Wittekind et al., 2010; Van der Heijden et al., 2016; Ngo et al., 2017; Drange et al., 2018).
Despite this, learning at work and the applicability of training seem to be the most
promising individual dimension on which drawing training interventions (Le Blanc et al.,
2019). This led researchers to examine different types of interventions with the aim of
increasing the applicability of training at work (Costantini et al., 2020). However, the
literature is scant in terms of empirical evidence of training interventions meant for such
dimensions.
Scholarly authors introduced the potential of behavioural job crafting intervention for
supporting the applicability of training at work and indirectly affecting employees’ self-
perceived employability (Van der Heijden et al., 2016). Job crafting interventions would
support individuals’ motivational processes to proactively adjust and craft their work, apply
to learn at work and adapt better to changing circumstances. Accordingly, seeking
challenges strategies (one of the three dimensions of job crafting) can indirectly lead to
applying new practices at work, affecting their sense of capability and organizational
belonging (Van der Heijden et al., 2016). Reducing job demands and enhancing job resources
can be seen as behavioural strategies which can directly promote practical knowledge (i.e.
know-how) and its applicability, which in turn may lead to higher levels of perceived
employability among employees. Showed that behavioural job crafting was positively
related to perceived employability, indicating that the expansion of job resources and/or
demands stimulates personal development and the ability to cope with change. Similarly,
Van Emmerik et al. (2012) reported that employees who encountered more resources in their
job also experienced more external job opportunities and, as a result, felt more employable.
These findings suggest that employees who seek feedback, ways to develop themselves and
new challenges can accumulate a greater pool of job resources. These enable them to learn
and develop relevant professional skills and, in turn, increase their self-perceived
employability. The involvement of interventions aimed at promoting proactive job crafting Learning in the
behaviours can be promising in encouraging the applicability of training at work because workplace
job crafting intervenes by encouraging workers to actively redesign the tasks and
relationships that characterize their work (Van Wingerden et al., 2017).
In the present paper, we sought to improve the knowledge on fostering self-perceived
employability by the use of behavioural job crafting intervention to support the applicability
of training at work. Despite the potential of job crafting intervention to support employees’
applicability of training at work, there is no existing evidence on the longitudinal level.
135
Questions on the use of behavioural job crafting intervention in regard to the promotion of
employee employability in organizations remain unanswered. As proactive behaviours,
what is the role of job crafting in supporting the positive perception of one’s employability?
What is the effect of job crafting intervention on the support of the applicability of training
and, in turn, of self-perceived employability on a longitudinal basis? Answering these
questions has a number of implications both for theory and research. For example,
empirically investigating the role of job crafting intervention can represent a relevant aspect
for scholars and practitioners who are trying to support employees’ employability. Moreover,
while evidence of such association can explain the cognitive and behavioural antecedents of
employability, this can provide indications for devising training interventions.
In this study, we conducted a literature review and developed our training intervention
grounding on the literature on employability. Second, we assumed the positive associations
between the applicability of training at work and self-perceived employability dimensions.
As such, the applicability of training at work mediates the association between job crafting
dimensions and self-perceived employability. To test these hypotheses, we offered a series of
workshops on behavioural job crafting to employees from three private organizations. Then,
we measured their dimensions of job crafting, applicability of training and employability via
a weekly-diary study research design. Data analysis was run via multi-level modelling to
test the viability of our hypotheses.

2. Theoretical background and state of research

2.1 Job crafting fostering employability
Self-perceived employability is a permanent process of acquisition and fulfilment of
employment that reflects a general sense of being employable. This is operationalized into
five broad dimensions (Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden, 2006), namely:
(1) Occupational expertise, i.e. the expertise needed to perform the various tasks and
responsibilities of a job adequately.
(2) Anticipation and optimization, i.e. preparing for and adapting to future changes in
a personal and creative manner, and striving for the best possible results.
(3) Personal flexibility, i.e. the capacity to easily adapt to all kinds of changes in the
internal and external labour market that do not pertain to one’s immediate job
domain.
(4) Corporate sense, i.e. the participation and performance in different workgroups,
including organizations, teams, occupational communities and other networks,
which involves sharing responsibilities, knowledge, experiences, feelings, credits,
failures and goals.
(5) Balance, i.e. compromising between opposing employers’ interests as well as one’s
own opposing work, career and private interests (employee) and between employers’
and employees’ interests.
EJTD Following this seminal operationalization of self-perceived employability by Van der Heijde
47,10 and Van der Heijden (2006), behavioural job crafting intervention can represent a possible
answer to the organizational quest for employable employees. Behavioural job crafting is a
construct that represents the proactive role of the employee in modifying and redesigning
activities, tasks and work to adapt them to their personal characteristics and attitudes
(Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001; Costantini et al., 2021). Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001)
136 initially introduced the concept of job crafting as an agency-based response to working
conditions. Individuals respond with the modification of their working conditions and their
experience and perception of them by rendering their work more subjectively meaningful. In
the subsequent revisitation of the conceptualization, job crafting was deemed to be a
proactive organizational behaviour that can be promoted via interventions (see, for example,
Demerouti, 2014). In these terms, job crafting behaviour can be promoted via interventions
in an organization to support well-desired outcomes, such as self-perceived employability. For
example, this intervention may allow employees to foster their self-perceived employability by
applying their competencies and skills at work. Creating resources and challenges on a daily
basis via job crafting behaviour may stimulate the development of relevant knowledge, skills
and relationships that help employees be adaptable and facilitate personal development, and
enhance the possibility of growth. Likewise, overall job crafting behaviour can enhance the
experience and perception of meaning at work; thus, this may affect participation in
organizational tasks and life (i.e. corporate sense).
Demonstrated that behavioural job crafting was positively related to self-perceived
employability in the workplace, with employees taking the initiative for professional self-
development feeling more employable and performative. These authors indicate that the
expansion of job resources and/or challenges stimulates personal development and the
ability to cope with change (Plomp et al., 2019). Another study based on the job demands
and resources model examined the underlying potential motivational process of career
competencies, as personal resources enhance career success through expansive job crafting.
Findings showed that behavioural job crafting mediated the positive relationship between
career competencies and perceived employability in the workplace. On the whole, these initial
reflections and pieces of evidence lead us to make the following hypothesis:

H1. Behavioural job crafting intervention fosters individuals’ self-perceived employability.

2.2 The mediating role of applicability

Referring to the traditional literature on self-perceived employability, scholarly authors
agree on the role of applicability of training as the relative most important antecedent of self-
perceived employability. Indeed, it is the positive transfer of training to the job – meaning
the extent to which the learning that results from training could be applied to the job – that
leads to meaningful changes in employees’ self-perception of competence (Blume et al., 2010;
Sartori et al., 2021). Adequate transfer of newly learned knowledge, attitudes and skills
stimulates an employee to become an autonomous learner. This helps them to deal with new
tasks and unfamiliar problem situations and to develop adaptive expertise (see also Ford
and Schmidt, 2000). All in all, the applicability of training turns into potential self-perceived
employability. Competencies that are newly acquired in training need to be fully and
appropriately transferred to and applied in job-related activities to actually further develop
workers’ employability. In other words, the applicability of newly acquired competencies in
the practice of one’s job is central to the process that increases their actual use and for
enhancing workers’ career potential (De Vos et al., 2011; Van der Heijde and Van der
Heijden, 2006). Given these premises, we hypothesize that applicability positively mediates
the relation between job crafting behaviours and self-perceived employability, namely, that Learning in the
job crafting behaviours predict self-perceived employability: workplace
H2. Applicability of training fosters individuals’ self-perceived employability.
Interviewing these dimensions, applicability may function as a mediator of the
positive association between job crafting behaviour and self-perceived employability.
Applicability can be the application of the training received on job crafting. Therefore, 137
an increase in easily acquired skills concerning modifying the working environment to
make it more suitable for personal characteristics, consequently, makes employees
self-perceiving more employable. In this sense, the applicability covers the role of
mediator between job crafting behaviours and self-perceived employability due to the
fact that it is only through the application of what has been learned on job crafting
behaviours that the skills become effective and really expendable and can thus
increase the perceived sense of being employable. With this rationale, we make the
following hypothesis:

H3. Applicability positively mediates the positive association between behavioural job
crafting dimensions and self-perceived employability.

3. Materials and methods

3.1 Participants and procedure
To test the viability of our hypothesized associations, we devised a weekly job-crafting
behaviour intervention. Participants from three different private organizations operating took
part in the intervention, which consisted of three different workshops. The first workshop
focused on fostering participants’ behaviours aimed at seeking resources in their workplace.
The second was meant to foster participants’ behaviours for reducing demands in their
workplace. The last workshop was devoted to fostering participants’ behaviours of seeking
challenges in the workplace. Simultaneously, we used a weekly diary study design for data
collection (Muth
en, 1994). After a pre-intervention questionnaire (T0), the recruited participants
had to fill in one questionnaire each subsequent three weeks of the training (T1–T3). These
questionnaires contained measures regarding behavioural job crafting dimensions, the
applicability of training on the job and self-perceived employability dimensions.
Prior to the intervention, participants were informed about the scope of the training
program and the assessment procedure. Then, they provided their informed consent for
participation. Anonymity was guaranteed by the respondent’s insertion of a nine-letter
identification code.
Authors 3 and 4 advertised via email our workshop. One hundred forty-two employees
across three Italian private healthcare organizations volunteered to participate. In Italy,
employees from private organizations in the healthcare sectors are required to follow
continuing training. Promoting the applicability of training and, in turn, self-perceived
employability appears to be a fundamental aspect both for employers and employees. The
formers are interested in the promotion of competencies and performance of employees.
Employees need to be supported in the application of newly acquired knowledge and to
perceive themselves as competent and employable. Of the volunteers, only 73.23%
completed the weekly diary study. At the beginning of the study, N = 104 filled in the
questionnaire (T0, 74.04%, n = 77 female, average age 35.82 years, SD = 9.48). At time 1, the
sample reduced to n = 103 (74.76%, n = 77 female, average age 35.82 years, SD = 9.48) and
at T2–T3 to n = 102 (73.53%, n = 75 female, average age 35.79 years SD = 9.55).
EJTD 3.2 Intervention
47,10 The intervention program is based on the advancements of the job crafting theory
(Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001) and empirical examinations of training aimed at fostering
job crafting (Chen et al., 2014). Particularly, our workshop consisted of three 120-min
training sessions (one per week) conducted by the first author. The training sessions were
held in a room at the worksite during working hours in each company. Each participant
138 received a notebook for a job crafting exercise to be used during the sessions. In the first
session, participants learned the concept of seeking job resources from a case study (40 min)
and shared their personal seeking resources strategies in their own working lives (40 min).
Then, the first author moderated the last part of the session, during which they supported
participants to make their own individual seeking resources plans for the following days
(40 min). The following sessions (second and third) repeated the same structure as the first
session. Session number two concerned how to reduce job demands, while session number
three was meant to support employees to find resources in their job setting. Finally, Author
1 closed the workshop by encompassing previous activities and plans at the end of the third
session. There was no incentive offered for participation in the program.

3.3 Measures
3.3.1 Job crafting. Behavioural job crafting was measured with the Italian adaptation
(Costantini et al., 2021) of the job crafting scale developed by Petrou et al. (2012), consisting
of four items for seeking job resources (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.60–0.94), four items
for seeking challenges (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.63–0.71) and four items for reducing
job demands (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.63–0.87). In the weekly diary study, all items
were rephrased to measure job crafting behaviours on a weekly basis; that is, respondents
indicated how often they engaged in every behaviour during the past week using a scale
ranging from 1 = never to 5 = often. Sample items include “In the past week I have [. . .]”,
“asked my colleagues for advice” (seeking resources), “asked for more responsibilities”
(seeking challenges) and “tried to ensure that my work is emotionally less intense”
(decreasing demands).
3.3.2 Applicability of training. To measure the applicability of training, we used the
Italian-adapted version of Van der Heijden et al. (2016)’s applicability of training and
development scale. This scale resulted to be efficient to assess the applicability of training in
relation to employability dimensions (Van der Heijden et al., 2016). The applicability of
training and development scale comprises three questions, namely:

Q1. Are you able to apply for the training courses in your current expertise/job area that
you participated in over the past year, in your job?
Q2. Are you able to apply for the training courses in an adjacent expertise/job area that
you participated in over the past year in your job?
Q3. Are you able to apply for the training courses in a completely different or new
expertise/job area, that you participated in over the past year in your job?
Scale anchors comprised: (a) yes, immediately, and without any difficulty; (b) yes, but not
without any difficulty; and (c) no. For the analyses, scores were dichotomized. More
precisely, scale anchor (a) was coded 3, indicating “high applicability”; scale anchor (b) was
coded 2, indicating “low applicability” and (c) was coded 1, indicating “No applicability”.
Cronbach’s a ranged between 0.70 and 0.85.
 3.3.3 Self-perceived employability. Self-perceived employability was assessed with an Learning in the
Italian version of Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden’s (2006) self-perceived employability workplace
instrument (Van der Heijden and Bakker, 2011). The instrument includes five scales
measuring:
(1) occupational expertise (15 items);
(2) corporate sense (7 items);
(3) personal flexibility (8 items); 139
(4) anticipation and optimization (8 items); and
(5) balance (9 items).

Items are all scored on a six-point rating scale. Example items are: “I consider myself competent
to engage in in-depth, specialist discussions in my job domain” (Occupational expertise). Answers
ranged from “not at all” to “extremely” (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.61–0.78); “I am involved
in achieving my organization’s/department’s mission.” (Corporate sense). Answers ranged from
“very little” to “a very great deal” (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.76–0.79); “How easily would
you say you can adapt to changes in your workplace?” (personal flexibility). Answers ranged
from “very badly” to “very well” (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.76–0.81); “I take responsibility
for maintaining my labor market value.” (Anticipation and optimization). Answers ranged
from “not at all” to “a considerable degree” (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.69–0.79); and
“My work and private life are evenly balanced.” (balance). Answers ranged from “not at all”
to “a considerable degree” (Cronbach’s a range T0–T3 = 0.88–0.94). Validation studies
(Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden, 2006; De Lange, et al., 2009) indicated
that the five dimensions represent correlated aspects of employability (oblique factor
structure). The distinctive power of the different scales is satisfactory, given the high
intra-scale correlations, the outcomes of an elaborate multi-trait-multimethod analysis and a
confirmatory second-order factor analysis. Elaborate tests of psychometric aspects, that is,
reliability and validity, of the employability instrument, with emphasis on convergent,
discriminant and predictive validity (for career success), have yielded very promising results
(Van der Heijde and Van Der Heijden, 2005). Moreover, the ingredients of the employability
dimensions are actually discussed in yearly performance appraisals in The Netherlands,
and many of the items are, in fact, visible at the workplace in terms of concrete behaviour and
output.

3.4 Data analytic plan

The statistical analyses were conducted using the Rstudio program, specifically the nlme
(Pinheiro et al., 2017), the lme4 (Bates, 2014) and the mediate packages (Tingley et al., 2014).
We applied multi-level mediation analysis on the lower level to determine the path of weekly
behavioural job crafting, self-perceived employability and applicability of training, and we
tested both an intercept-only (null model) and intercept-slope (hypothesized) model for each
analysis, the latter allowing for week-level variation of the relationships. We determined the
interclass correlation coefficients (ICC) to confirm that multi-level mediation was an
appropriate method of analysis. Maximum likelihood estimation was used to estimate
the multi-level model because the data were normally distributed (Harrington, 2009).
Goodness-of-fit indices were obtained, namely, the chi-square (x2), comparative fit index
(CFI), Tucker Lewis index (TLI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA),
standard root mean residual (SRMR) (Hair et al., 2010). Regarding the RMSEA, a value of
0.05 indicates an appropriate fit, values between 0.05 and 0.08 indicate a reasonable fit,
whereas scores over 0.10 suggest a poor fit. For the TLI and CFI, values greater than
EJTD roughly 0.90 are deemed appropriate. Regarding the SRMR, values less than 0.10 are
47,10 considered favourable. Using the Mediate function in Rstudio, we determined the indirect
effects of Y on X through M (Preacher et al., 2007) on the week-level using Bootstrap
confidence intervals to determine the multi-level mediation effects through Monte Carlo
simulations (Tingley et al., 2014).

140 4. Results
We examined the ICC of the involved measures’, which ranged between 0.46 and 0.65,
indicating that multi-level analysis was suitable for this study (Table 1).

4.1 Multi-level modelling

Our main hypothesis assumes that behavioural job crafting intervention can indirectly foster
self-perceived employability via the mediation of applicability (see H1–H3). To test the
viability of our model, we initially tested the predictive role of behavioural job crafting of
applicability (Table 2). Results show that seeking challenges positively predicts applicability
(t = 2.996; p = 0.01), while this does not happen for reducing demands and increasing
resources. Accordingly, reducing demands and increasing resources appear as unrelated to
the applicability of new knowledge while seeking challenges would activate motivational
processes that foster individual intentions to learn and apply new pieces of knowledge.
Afterwards, we wanted to see whether behavioural job crafting intervention fosters
individuals’ self-perceived employability. In general, we found that the dimensions of job
crafting were related to most of the dimensions of self-perceived employability per each wave
of data collection. In particular, occupational expertise is positively predicted by increasing
job resources at T0 and T1 (z = 2.765, p = 0.01; z = 2.861, p = 0.01), whereas seeking job
challenges positively predicts occupational expertise both at T2 and T3 (z = 3.650, p = 0.01;
z = 2.758, p = 0.01). Moreover, anticipation and optimization showed to be positively
predicted by seeking job challenges and increasing job resources at T0 (z = 6.501, p = 0.01;
z = 4.122, p = 0.01), T1 (z = 3.271, p = 0.01); (z = 4.709, p = 0.01), T2 (z = 4.614, p = 0.01);
(z = 4.371, p = 0.01) and T3 (z = 3.395, p = 0.01; z = 2.821, p = 0.01). Likewise, personal
flexibility is positively predicted by seeking job challenges and increasing job resources at
T0 (z = 3.204, p = 0.01; z = 3.979, p = 0.01), T1 (z = 2.623, p = 0.009; z = 4.444, p = 0.01),
T2 (z = 4.616, p = 0.01; z = 4.215, p = 0.01) and T3 (z = 4.303, p = 0.01; z = 3.657, p = 0.01).
Corporate sense is as well predicted positively by seeking job challenges and increasing job

Dimension ICC D–2log(1)

OE_CBES 0.653 205.6***

AO_CBES 0.465 98.761***
PF_CBES 0.618 182.08***
CS_CBES 0.539 135.79***
B_CBES 0.623 185.52***
Appl 0.332 48.654***
Increasing_JR 0.501 115.1***
Decreasing_JD 0.613 178.85***
Table 1. Increasing_JS 0.611 177.41***
Intraclass Notes: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; OE_CBES = occupational expertise; AO_CBES = anticipation
correlations for daily and optimization; PF_CBES = personal flexibility; CS_CBES = corporate sense; C_CBES = balance
measures Source: Authors’ own work
resources at T0 (z = 4.707, p = 0.01; z = 4.572, p = 0.01), T1 (z = 3.456, p = 0.01; z = 4.000, Learning in the
p = 0.01), T2 (z = 4.594, p = 0.001; z = 4.594, p = 0.01) and T3 (z = 3.776, p = 0.01; z = 4.351, workplace
p = 0.001). Finally, the dimension of balance showed to be positively predicted only by
seeking challenges at T0 (z = 2.024, p = 0.04), T2 (z = 2.369, p = 0.02) and T3 (z = 3.435,
p = 0.01). These findings gave support to our assumed relationships between job crafting and
self-perceived employability, indicating the effectiveness of job crafting intervention.
Considering these pieces of evidence, we tested the mediation of applicability between
the association of job crafting and self-perceived employability. Results of mediation testing 141
showed that occupational expertise is predicted positively by applicability at T1 (z = 2.045,
p = 0.041). Likewise, the corporate sense seems to be positively predicted by applicability
only at T3 (z = –2.686, p = 0.01), and applicability positively mediates the positive
association between seeking challenges and corporate sense at T3 (z = –1.967, p = 0.05),
which provides a partial confirmation of H3 on the mediating role of applicability between
job crafting intervention and self-perceived employability.

5. Discussion
In this study, we tested the potential of behavioural crafting intervention in fostering
employability in the workplace via the improvement of the applicability of training. We
followed the imperative for providing organizations and practitioners with evidence-based
knowledge on training interventions for the promotion of self-perceived employability. That
is, the current labour market requires even more employees and organizations to be adapted
and flexible with sufficient knowledge and competencies (Aberg, 2001; Fugate et al., 2004).
In this spirit, the literature on behavioural job crafting informs those interventions targeting
pro-active behaviour can be a feasible and effective way for promoting applicability of
training, which in turn fosters self-perceived employability (Blume et al., 2010; Sartori et al.,
2021). Therefore, we offered a series of three workshops to employees from three private
organizations. Data collected via the weekly diary study method allowed us to test the
viability of the hypothesized associations. Analysis of the data provides the theoretical
literature with an initial understanding of these dimensions.
Of the results of the multi-level modelling, only seeking challenges positively predicts
applicability, while this does not happen for reducing demands and increasing resources.
This indicates that those who proactively implement measures aimed at increasing their
work resources will be more likely to apply their work the knowledge acquired. Moreover,
this suggests that fostering seeking challenges proactive behaviours via behavioural job

Applicability (L1)
Dimension Estimate SE t

Intercept 1.867 0.141 13.249***

General measure 0.212 0.074 2.853***
Increasing_JR 0.081 0.047 1.705, p = 0.090
Decreasing_JD –0.041 0.029 –1.394
Increasing_JS 0.107 0.036 2.996**
Job crafting variance (within) 0.047 0.005 Table 2.
R2 marginal 0.076
Regression of
R2 conditional 0.728
behavioural job
Notes: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; JR = job resources; JD = job demands; JS = seeking challenges crafting on
Source: Authors’ own work applicability
EJTD crafting interventions may significantly enhance the application of the content of training at
47,10 work, thus promoting the organizational citizenship behaviours put in place (i.e. participation
in different workgroups, working teams, the occupational community and other networks,
Van der Heijden et al., 2016). Conversely, the cognitive-motivational processes involved in
reducing demands and increasing resources seem to lead to different mechanisms from the
applicability of training. Notwithstanding this, we found very relevant associations between
142 the variables involved.
With respect to the associations with behavioural job crafting and self-perceived
employability, the results showed that occupational expertise is positively predicted by
increasing job resources at T0 and T1 and by seeking challenges at T2 and T3, indicating
that adopting proactive behaviours aimed at increasing work resources and looking for
challenges puts employees in the position to feel they have the necessary competences to
perform well in their work. Anticipation and optimization also showed to be positively
predicted by seeking job challenges and increasing job resources at every time. This
indicates that searching proactively for further resources and challenges in their work may
enhance the sense of being able to understand which factors can favour their employability
and also being able to invest in a targeted manner on actions to strengthen their
employability. Personal flexibility showed to be as well positively predicted by seeking job
challenges and increasing job resources at every time, indicating that proactively seeking
job resources and challenges put employees in the position to easily adapt to all kinds of
changes in the internal and external labour. Corporate sense showed to be as well positively
predicted by seeking job challenges and increasing job resources at every time, indicating
that those who proactively search for resources and challenges in their work are more
inclined to assume organizational citizenship behaviours. In conclusion, balance showed to
be positively predicted by seeking challenges at T0, T2 and T3, designating that those who
proactively search for further resources and challenges feel more flexible in balancing
personal needs with those of the organization (Van Dam and Thierry, 2000; Van Emmerik
et al., 2012).
With respect to the association with applicability, results showed that occupational
expertise is predicted positively by applicability at T1, suggesting that those who apply the
content of training in their work tend to feel they have the necessary competencies to perform
well in their work. Also, corporate sense showed to be positively predicted by applicability at
T3, indicating that applying the content of training fosters organizational citizenship
behaviours, including participation in different workgroups, working teams, the occupational
community and other networks (Nasurdin et al., 2015; Van der Heijden et al., 2016).

5.1 Practical implications

This study offers initial indications to practitioners and organizations targeting self-
perceived employability when devising training interventions. In particular, our results
indicate that behavioural job crafting interventions with a specific focus on seeking
challenges can improve the applicability of training, which in turn leads to higher levels of
corporate sense. On the one hand, self-perceived employability can represent one of the
ultimate outcomes of a training intervention for the promotion of organizational
productivity (Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden, 2006). This is notable in the extent of
employability because it refers to employees feeling more capable and competent at their
work. On the other hand, self-perceived employability covers the level of corporate sense,
which is associated with a higher level of well-being, job performance and proactive
behaviours (De Cuyper et al., 2014; Vanhercke et al., 2016).
 The rapid and exponential evolution of organizations and public administrations calls Learning in the
employers, organizations and institutions to put efforts into how to sustain employees’ training workplace
and competencies. Considering this, our study is part of those efforts made by scholars to
understand how to realize interventions in the workplace. Particularly, the present study
makes a step forward on the subject of employability because it represents a core domain of
research on training and interventions in the workplace. Accordingly, the intervention that we
proposed can be used out of the context of private organizations. Employers and practitioners
can sustain employees’ employability by combining job crafting intervention with formal 143
training in the workplace. Our findings showed that promoting interventions aimed at
fostering seeking challenges behaviours may support individuals to apply recently acquired
knowledge, leading to meaningful changes in individual employability and job performance
(Blume et al., 2010). Improving job crafting among employees can facilitate the effectiveness of
the applicability of training by improving employee’s personal resources (Fugate et al., 2004;
McArdle et al., 2007), subjective career success (Fugate et al., 2004; Hall, 2002; Van der Heijde
and Van der Heijden, 2006), i.e. the accomplishment of desirable work-related outcomes at any
point in a person’s work experiences over time (Arthur et al., 2005; Spurk et al., 2019).
Furthermore, our intervention can be used in the public administration context as a tool for
supporting employees in the ability to support them in designing of active policies for
individual work placement (McArdle et al., 2007).
The benefit of actively intervening in individual employees’ seeking challenges can also
increase a sense of belonging in corporations, which represents one of the main gaps in the
workplace (Hogan et al., 2013). Organizations and practitioners can pay particular attention
to creating the conditions for employees to apply training, which can also represent a
challenge. This, in turn, can support their wish for meaning in the organization (Tommasi
et al., 2020).

5.2 Limitations and future studies

Despite this, our results must be taken with caution, as this study has a number of limitations
that we have to acknowledge. Firstly, the present research did not involve a control group to
compare the results of our intervention. This limits our study in the extent to which we are not
able to ascertain if these variables had increased independently of the intervention. However,
this does not affect the general results, given the proportion of intra-individual variability.
Secondly, we only limited our sample to a specific type of employees from the private sector,
and future studies may want to involve different occupations and sectors. Moreover, our
interventions were limited to three weeks to reduce time fatigue. This can limit our findings to
the specific experimental setting. Future studies might consider collecting more data in the
subsequent period of the workshop to verify the longitudinal effects of the training.

6. Conclusion
Self-perceived employability in organizations, broadly defined as the positive perception of
one’s employability in their work, has become a fundamental dimension for organizations as
an antecedent of proactive organizational behaviour and performance. In our study, we
aimed to respond to the call for evidence-based interventions for the enchantment of self-
perceived employability. Then, we referred to the behavioural job crafting intervention as
the means to support the applicability of training and, in turn, self-perceived employability.
We provided empirical evidence of the effectiveness of such intervention by presenting the
results of a longitudinal assessment via the use of a diary study. In these terms, our study
presents an original piece of empirical knowledge that contributes to both researchers and
practitioners in the area of education and training in organizations.
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Corresponding author
Francesco Tommasi can be contacted at: [email protected]

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