Social crafting and helping behavior in hybrid work settings: The inverted U-shape effect of remote work intensity

In remote and hybrid work settings, where interpersonal relationships may become more isolated, understanding which employee behaviors can sustain helping behavior is increasingly important. To address this challenge, we draw on the Conservation of Resources theory and the feedback–organizational citizenship behavior framework to examine the process wherein an employee’s social crafting as a proactive resource-investment behavior elicits feedback from others, which in turn enhances work engagement, and ultimately promotes helping behavior in remote and hybrid work. We further examine the role of remote work intensity as a boundary condition that shapes the effectiveness of this resource-gain process. Based on a four-wave longitudinal study of 278 full-time employees in Japan working remotely at least once per week, the analysis yielded two primary findings. First, social crafting had a positive indirect effect on helping behavior through the sequential mediation of feedback from others and work engagement over a 1-year period. Second, remote work intensity curvilinearly moderated this indirect effect, such that the positive association between social crafting and helping behavior was strongest at moderate levels of remote work intensity. This study contributes to job crafting and virtual work research by demonstrating the longitudinal mechanism through which social crafting fosters helping behavior and by identifying the optimal level of remote work intensity for sustaining this process. This research suggests that effective hybrid work designs should balance autonomy with opportunities for interpersonal interaction.