Empowering Employee Growth through Job Crafting and Work Meaningfulness with Psychological Safety Moderation

Abstract

Employee growth has become an increasingly important concern for manufacturing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that rely heavily on workforce adaptability and continuous capability development to maintain competitiveness. This study investigates the role of job crafting in fostering employee growth by examining the mediating effect of work meaningfulness and the moderating role of psychological safety. Drawing upon Thriving at Work Theory, the study proposes that proactive work redesign enhances developmental outcomes directly and indirectly through employees’ perceptions of meaningful work, while a psychologically safe environment strengthens these relationships. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 286 employees working in manufacturing MSMEs and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The findings indicate that job crafting positively influences employee growth and significantly enhances employees’ perceptions of work meaningfulness. Work meaningfulness subsequently promotes employee growth and partially transmits the positive effect of job crafting on developmental outcomes. The results further reveal that psychological safety strengthens the relationship between job crafting and employee growth by creating a supportive context for experimentation, learning, and proactive behavior. These findings highlight the importance of integrating employee initiative, meaningful work experiences, and supportive workplace conditions to encourage sustainable workforce development. The study offers insights into how employee growth can be cultivated within resource-constrained organizational environments through both behavioral and contextual mechanisms.