Purpose This study aims to explore how employees navigate the intertwined challenges of sustainability and digitalization – referred to as the twin transformation – through integrative job crafting. Specifically, it examines how employees interpret competing transformation logics through perception-based sensemaking and translate these interpretations into proactive role redesign. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a qualitative study in a global Big Four professional services firm and analyzed 32 semi-structured interviews using Gioia-inspired coding to develop a process model of integrative job crafting under the twin transformation. Findings The findings reveal a dynamic and iterative process in which employees interpret competing transformation logics through perception-based sensemaking (e.g. interpretive ambiguity, legitimacy uncertainty, perceived coherence, and perceived scope for action), which in turn enables integrative job crafting practices, including integrative task crafting, digital resource enactment, peer-supported relational crafting, and coherence-building cognitive crafting. Over time, these practices generate reinforcing learning loops and culminate in hybrid role identities and employee-driven innovation. Practical implications Organizations pursuing the twin transformation should recognize employees as active sensemakers and support employees' integrative job crafting through consistent leadership, enabling digital tools, and cross-team learning, thereby fostering bottom-up innovation aligned with sustainability and digitalization goals. Originality/value This study provides one of the first process-based models of job crafting under the twin transformation. It extends job crafting theory by conceptualizing competing transformation logics as a distinct contextual condition and by explaining how perception-based sensemaking connects organizational conditions with integrative job crafting. The study also demonstrates how these processes contribute to hybridization and employee-driven innovation.
Purpose Although organizational trust (OT) and work–life balance (WLB) have been widely examined in relation to employee outcomes, less is known about how they operate in full-time remote work contexts, where physical proximity, direct supervision, spontaneous interaction, and clear work–home boundaries are reduced. This study argues that OT and perceived WLB function as key relational and boundary-management resources for sustaining psychological well-being (PWB) among remote workers. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study examines whether the satisfaction of employees' basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness mediates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the 2021 European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), the study analyses a sample of 1,493 remote employees in the European technology sector. Structural equation modelling is used to examine the direct and indirect relationships between OT, perceived WLB, and PWB through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Findings Both OT and perceived WLB are positively associated with employees' PWB. These relationships are partially mediated by the satisfaction of competence and relatedness, whereas autonomy does not emerge as a significant mediator. Originality/value This study contributes to remote work and human resource development (HRD) research by showing that OT and perceived WLB support PWB through different psychological mechanisms. In particular, the findings indicate that competence and relatedness emerge as significant need-satisfaction pathways linking organizational resources to well-being in remote work settings, whereas autonomy does not.
Purpose This study aims to examine the trends, intellectual structure, frequently explored topics, and future research directions in employee engagement within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), thereby providing insights for theoretical development and HRM practice. Design/methodology/approach This review applied bibliometric methods to examine 730 documents indexed in the Scopus database and published between 1989 and 2024. The study utilized descriptive analyses and science mapping techniques, including co-citation and keyword co-occurrence analyses. Findings The findings reveal growing academic interest, highlighting a shift from transactional to transformational human resource management. Further research in South America and Africa is needed to improve the generalizability of the existing knowledge base. Three main clusters were identified along with influential authors and key theories in each area: “Integrated Psychological and Occupational Health”, “Dynamic Organizational Studies”, and “Work Engagement and Burnout”. Temporal co-word analysis shows the enduring relevance of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, with an emerging focus on the impacts of COVID-19 and sustainability, including corporate social responsibility (CSR), reflecting a trend toward integrating sustainable practices into business strategies. Originality/value To the authors' knowledge, this is the first bibliometric review focused specifically on employee engagement in the SME context, an important HRM issue for the effective management of human resources.
Purpose Grounded in Applicant Attribution-Reaction Theory (AART), this research investigates the psychological mechanisms by which procedural fairness during hiring influences post-entry employee attitudes. By extending AART to the context of upward mobility, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of how fairness cues during recruitment shape employee attitudes. Furthermore, the findings emphasize the value of union involvement in fostering fair and inclusive organizational environments and provide insights into developing recruitment practices that enhance employee experiences from the outset. Design/methodology/approach This study collected data from public organizations in South Korea that had hired former non-regular workers into regular positions. Organizational-level questions were answered by human resources managers, while individual-level questions were completed by employees who had personally undergone the regular employment hiring process. Employing a multilevel research design, the study analyzes data from 966 individuals nested within 116 organizations. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to assess cross-level mediation and moderation effects. Findings The results are consistent with all three expectations: procedural selection fairness is positively and significantly related to job satisfaction; perceived reward fairness partially mediates this relationship; and the procedural fairness–job satisfaction association is stronger when employees report higher union participation in the regularization process. Originality/value This study makes three key theoretical contributions. First, it extends AART by applying it to temporary agency workers undergoing internal conversion to regular employment, rather than to external applicants in initial hiring contexts. Second, this study expands the selection fairness literature by examining procedural fairness effects in Asian cultural contexts characterized by strong collectivist orientations. Finally, this study contributes to union scholarship by demonstrating that union participation can complement procedural selection fairness to enhance perceptions of compensation fairness.
Purpose To identify the methods used to spread the Living Wage in higher education in the UK and evaluate the effectiveness of the Living Wage campaign. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods research design, at the centre of which is the creation of a database of all UK higher education institutions, including measures of the adoption of the Living Wage, redistributive consequences for workers and exposure to different campaign methods. This quantitative core has been supplemented by interview, observation and archive data. Findings The main findings are that the Living Wage campaign in higher education has been complex, making use of a variety of methods, relatively successful, generating substantial redistributive effects, and that all methods used have contributed to these outcomes. A key finding is that no single method stands out as more effective than the others, suggesting that there is no one best way to promote social justice objectives. Research limitations/implications An important feature of the research is that it encompasses all universities in the UK, but the converse of this breadth of coverage is a lack of detailed case studies of the implementation of the Living Wage standard at individual universities. Practical implications The evidence indicates that social justice campaigning can prove effective in shaping employer behaviour and raising labour standards. Specific findings point to the effectiveness of joint campaigning, involving two or more institutional actors, the value of place-based initiatives, particularly where these are confined to a relatively narrow geographical area, and the importance of political support. Perhaps the main practical lesson is that a range of campaign methods, both adversarial and employer-supporting, can generate positive effects. Originality/value The paper reports original data and extends the long tradition of examining industrial relations processes, such as strikes and collective bargaining, to the analysis of a social justice campaign.
