Job crafting and employee voice behavior: the roles of person-job fit and job-based psychological ownership

Purpose Drawing on self-determination and the extended-self theories, this study investigates the associations between job crafting, employee voice behavior (EVB) and person-job fit. Furthermore, it examines job-based psychological ownership (JBPO) as a moderator that strengthens the link between person–job fit and EVB, as well as the overall indirect pathway from job crafting to EVB via person–job fit. Design/methodology/approach The proposed moderated-mediation model was tested using dyadic survey data collected over three waves from 140 engineers and scientists, along with their supervisors, within the R&D division of a Turkish organization. Findings Results indicate that enabling job crafting encourages employees to engage in voice behavior and enhances their perception of person-job fit. Furthermore, JBPO has a moderating effect on the direct association between person-job fit and EVB. The indirect association of job crafting on EVB via person-job fit is also moderated by JBPO, such that this indirect association is stronger among employees with higher JBPO. Practical implications Findings from this study highlight the importance of strengthening employees’ JBPO, as a stronger sense of JBPO enhances perceptions of person-job fit, which, in turn, promotes engagement in EVB. Originality/value This study advances the nomological network of EVB by proposing job crafting as its antecedent. Drawing on self-determination and extended-self theories, this study responds to calls to examine the psychological and motivational mechanisms through which EVB emerges. Specifically, this study demonstrates how employees’ JBPO activates their person-job fit and subsequently predicts EVB.