What if there is a better way? Investigating upward counterfactual thinking as a metacognitive self‐regulatory strategy for job crafting.
This study investigates whether encouraging employees to actively reframe their thinking can stimulate behavioural job crafting, that is, optimizing their job demands and resources. Grounded in the functional theory of counterfactual thinking (CFT), we theorize that upward CFT—mentally contrasting n...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology Vol. 99; no. 1; pp. 1 - 27 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Mar2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=192558644&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 192558644 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 09631798 OOP jtl: Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology issn: 09631798 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 99 iid: 1 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 192558644 192558644 192558644 10.1111/joop.70078 192558644 ppf: 1 ppct: 26 formats: tig: atl: What if there is a better way? Investigating upward counterfactual thinking as a metacognitive self‐regulatory strategy for job crafting. aug: au: De Boeck, Giverny Liu, Yukun affil: IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221‐LEM‐Lille Economie Management, Lille, France sug: subj: Cognition Self Regulation Employee Attitudes Job Performance Evaluation Thinking Motivation Task Performance and Analysis Human Funding Source Goal-Setting Avoidance (Psychology) Cross Sectional Studies Descriptive Statistics Work Engagement Adult Quasi-Experimental Studies Path Analysis Linear Regression Scales Organizational Culture Male Female Models, Psychological Adult: 19-44 years Male Female ab: This study investigates whether encouraging employees to actively reframe their thinking can stimulate behavioural job crafting, that is, optimizing their job demands and resources. Grounded in the functional theory of counterfactual thinking (CFT), we theorize that upward CFT—mentally contrasting negative work situations with better imagined alternatives—can function as a self‐regulatory strategy that helps people to recognize and act on job crafting opportunities by triggering proactive goal setting. In Study 1, we find significant correlations between upward self‐referent (S‐R) CFT and approach‐ and avoidance‐oriented job crafting using cross‐sectional data (N = 201). In Study 2, we develop and test a new electronic upward S‐R CFT micro‐intervention using a 10‐day experience sampling study (N = 191). Specifically, we demonstrate that this micro‐intervention indirectly promotes daily job crafting behaviours in workers through triggering proactive goal setting, which in turn enhances their work engagement and task performance. Our research seeks to contribute to Job Demands‐Resources theory by integrating upward S‐R CFT as a metacognitive strategy that can motivate people to set and act on job crafting goals, thereby addressing calls for deeper insight into the psychological mechanisms underlying job crafting. Practically, we offer a scalable self‐regulatory tool to complement existing job crafting interventions. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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