In Need of Leisure: Investigating the Relationship Between Off-job Crafting, Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Optimal Functioning

Life domains outside work, such as leisure, hobbies, household- and childcare activities play an important role for preserving employees’ well-being and functioning when their work is stressful. Six psychological needs ‒ detachment from work-related thoughts, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation, abbreviated as “DRAMMA” ‒ were examined in this dissertation. These experiences may explain why off-job life is often beneficial for employee well-being. The dissertation consists of four scientific publications. In the first publication, DRAMMA experiences, and especially detachment and relaxation, were found to be important for supporting well-being at leisure and work. Importantly, employees can also proactively increase their own DRAMMA experiences, a process called off-job crafting. The second publication presents a novel theoretical model on crafting processes at play within and across different life domains. Off-job crafting was then empirically examined in the third and fourth publication using longitudinal datasets including European and Japanese employees. Off-job crafting was found to be positively related to well-being, self-rated work ability and performance in family roles. Moreover, cultural contexts can influence what kind of opportunities employees perceive to have to engage in off-job crafting. These findings have important implications for practice, highlighting that DRAMMA experiences play a key role in supporting employee well-being, and that employees can and do engage in efforts to bring about DRAMMA experiences and satisfaction of psychological needs.