The Differentiated Roles of Resilient Behavior and Job Crafting in Interaction with Work Intensity and Their Impact on Employee Health and Performance

In recent years, changing working conditions have placed high demands on employees, resulting in increased work intensity, which may affect employees’ health and performance. Based on job and personal resources, individual behaviors help to cope with increased work intensity. We investigated two individual behaviors, namely resilient behavior, which is a reactive approach that helps to cope with adverse situations at work, and job crafting, which is a proactive approach to managing the constellation of job demands and job resources. In a study of 1108 employees, we used regression analyses to examine the interplay between work intensity and individual behaviors and their impact on various outcomes. Our results showed that resilient behavior moderated the relationship between work intensity and psychosomatic complaints. In addition, work intensity moderated the relationship between job crafting and task performance. In summary, individual behaviors can have different effects on the constellation of work intensity and specific outcomes. Our findings on the specific effects of resilient behavior and job crafting allow for a more targeted application. Since the above behaviors can be enhanced through training, organizations can embrace this idea to maintain employees’ health and performance.