Linking Employee Value Proposition to Innovative Work Behavior Through Thriving at Work, Job Crafting, and Employee Energy Management

Organizations rely on employees’ Innovative Work Behavior (IWB) to sustain competitiveness in business environments. Although the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is recognized as a strategic Human Resource (HR) practice for attracting and retaining talent, little is known about its association with employees’ IWB or the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study examines the direct relationship between EVP and IWB and the mediating roles of thriving at work, job crafting, and employee energy management. Data were collected from 199 employees across 17 industries in Mongolia using a cross-sectional survey. The proposed relationships were examined using regression-based path analysis with standardized composite scores. The results show that EVP is positively associated with thriving at work, job crafting, and employee energy management, and that each mechanism is positively associated with IWB. When the mediators are included, the direct association between EVP and IWB is not statistically significant, while all three indirect associations are significant, suggesting that the EVP–IWB relationship is primarily indirect and involves employees’ resource-related processes. This study makes three contributions. First, it extends the EVP literature by examining IWB as a behavioral outcome beyond attraction, commitment, and retention. Second, it advances COR-based explanations by integrating thriving at work, job crafting, and employee energy management into a unified framework linking perceived organizational resources with IWB. Third, it offers practical insights by suggesting that innovation-oriented EVP practices may benefit from supporting employees’ psychological growth, proactive enhancement of structural job resources, and sustainable energy management.