Unpacking job crafting: a psychometric and latent class analysis of employee crafting behaviors

This study examined the psychometric properties, measurement invariance, and latent structure of the Job Crafting Scale among a sample of 220 employees. Participants (65% females; M age = 38.12 years, SD = 9.04) represented diverse educational and occupational backgrounds. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the hypothesized four-factor structure, Increasing Structural Job Resources, Decreasing Hindering Job Demands, Increasing Social Job Resources, and Increasing Challenging Job Demands, with good fit indices (CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.08). Factor loadings were all significant ( p < 0.001), and convergent validity was generally supported by acceptable average variance extracted values in the total sample, although some subgroup-specific AVE estimates fell below conventional thresholds. Discriminant validity was also supported through moderate inter-factor correlations (rs =0.26–0.66) and theoretically coherent associations with resilience and psychological distress. Reliability was acceptable across dimensions (ω = 0.74–0.83; α = 0.73–0.83), and multi-group CFA confirmed configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender. Item Response Theory analyses generally supported acceptable item functioning, with most items demonstrating adequate fit and ordered response thresholds. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified two groups characterized by relatively higher and lower levels of engagement in job crafting behaviors: High Job Crafters (55.4%), who actively engaged in all crafting dimensions, and Low Job Crafters (44.6%), characterized by lower levels of engagement across job crafting dimensions. Resilience and gender weakly predicted membership in the high-crafting class, whereas psychological distress showed minimal influence. Overall, the findings provide evidence supporting the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Job Crafting Scale within a Saudi Arabian employee sample, including reliability, validity, and measurement invariance across gender, and offer preliminary support for the role of individual differences in proactive work behaviors within organizational contexts