Collaborative crafting in call centre teams

Job crafting research has typically examined the antecedents and outcomes of individual‐level crafting. In this study, we test a model of team‐level or collaborative job crafting using data collected from 242 call centre teams and supervisors' ratings of team performance. The focus on teams with narrowly defined tasks and limited decision‐making responsibility are unique features of this study. As predicted, collaborative crafting was found to relate positively to team efficacy, team control, and team interdependence, which in turn were found to relate positively to work engagement and team performance. The implications for theory development, future research, and practice are discussed. Practitioner points Even in a work environment characterized by low control, there remain opportunities for collaborative job crafting. Collaborative crafting is associated with higher employee engagement and team performance. Call centre supervisors and managers need to be aware of the potential benefits of collaborative crafting to ensure it is not inhibited by their behaviours (such as enhanced monitoring). As positive consequences are associated with collaborative crafting, organizations should consider team training to enhance the collaborative crafting capability of teams.