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Crafting Jobs for Sustaining Careers during China’s Manufacturing Digitalization

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  • Zhenhao Xu

    (School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China)

  • Tachia Chin

    (School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China)

  • Lele Cao

    (School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China)

Abstract

Accelerated digitalization coupled with ever-growing new job demands in China’s manufacturing industry has led to serious concerns about rising work stress and the loss of the sustainability of careers among production workers. They are trapped within an organization due to the lack of career alternatives in the labor market; under such occupational stress, some proactive workers may engage in expansive job crafting (JC) behaviors to get more resources to meet their career goals and make better career plans. As a result, this paper aims to investigate how Chinese manufacturing workers perform JC behaviors to translate perceived work stress into more control over their careers in today’s shrinking job market. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, this study thus investigates how employee continuance commitment (CC), as a manifestation of work stress, influences career control that can reflect the sustainability of careers in such a turbulent time and how the three dimensions of employees’ JC (i.e., increasing structural job resources, increasing social job resources, and increasing challenging job demands) mediate the CC‒career control relationship, respectively. A time-lagged survey was carried out with a sample of 476 Chinese production workers. The results show that crafting jobs is instrumental in translating the degree of CC that embodies the level of work stress to the degree of career sustainability during the digital transformation of Chinese manufacturing. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications. Limitations and their implications for future studies are also reviewed.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhenhao Xu & Tachia Chin & Lele Cao, 2020. "Crafting Jobs for Sustaining Careers during China’s Manufacturing Digitalization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-9, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:2041-:d:329399
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tachia Chin & Yin Yang & Pei Zhang & Xiaofen Yu & Luying Cao, 2019. "Co-creation of Social Innovation: Corporate Universities as Innovative Strategies for Chinese Firms to Engage with Society," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Boichuk, Jeffrey P. & Menguc, Bulent, 2013. "Engaging Dissatisfied Retail Employees to Voice Promotive Ideas: The Role of Continuance Commitment," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 207-218.
    3. Eleanna Galanaki, 2019. "Effects of employee benefits on affective and continuance commitment during times of crisis," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(2), pages 220-238, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Qi Li & Tachia Chin & Benjian Peng, 2023. "How Paradoxical Leadership Promotes Employees’ Career Sustainability: Evidence from the Chinese Cross-Border E-Commerce Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Katarzyna Mazur-Kajta & Elzbieta Karas, 2021. "Chinese Craft in E-Commerce," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 1037-1046.

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