Exploring the potential downsides and antecedents of across-boundary task crafting in the workplace

Previous research on job crafting has predominantly focused on within-boundary job crafting, neglecting the potential impact of an employee’s crafting behaviors extending beyond their own job boundaries. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the potential downsides and antecedents of across-boundary task crafting behaviors. We propose two distinctive forms of across-boundary task crafting varying along the approach vs. avoidance dimension: enlarging (approach-oriented) and shifting (avoidance-oriented). Using four samples for scale development and multi-wave and multi-source data for hypothesis testing, we find that the two forms of across-boundary task crafting may be associated with negative outcomes such as conflicts with colleagues and organizational deviance. Furthermore, we uncover the drivers of across-boundary task crafting behaviors. Specifically, the two forms of across-boundary task crafting behaviors are positively related to power needs and negatively related to affiliation needs, but not related to achievement needs. Our study highlights the importance of understanding and managing across-boundary job crafting behaviors in the workplace.