The roles of self-efficacy and leader–member exchange in the relationship between job crafting and work–self facilitation

Purpose Building on the work–home resources model, the purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of employee self-efficacy in the relationship between job crafting and work–self facilitation. The paper further explores the moderating role of the quality of leader–member exchange (LMX). Design/methodology/approach A sample of 204 employees from a European country was used to test the proposed moderated mediation model. The analysis was performed using Hayes’ Process Macro. Findings The findings indicate that job crafting is positively associated with self-efficacy which, in turn, is positively associated with work–self facilitation. In other words, self-efficacy mediates the relationship between job crafting and work–self facilitation. Furthermore, LMX moderates the relationship between job crafting and self-efficacy. Practical implications The results of this study offer guidelines for human resource (HR) professionals interested in grasping how organisations can assist employees in experiencing work–self facilitation. Originality/value This study advances the existing literature by investigating the antecedents of work–self facilitation, which is an understudied variable in the work–family and HR literature, thereby responding to calls to include aspects of self in the discussion on different life domains in order to obtain an all-inclusive view of how employees function. Furthermore, it demonstrates how LMX and job crafting promote the fulfilment of an employee’s own personal interests and hobbies. Such information is relevant to HR practitioners as it might help them boost employees’ work performance.