To explore motivational antecedents of job crafting - the proactive adaptation of the job by employees - we investigate the interplay of three motivational states: Can-do, reason-to and energized-to. Drawing on recent needs-based perspectives on crafting, we conceptualized the frustration and satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness as a reason-to motivation. Occupational self-efficacy and vigor represented can-do and energized-to motivation, respectively. Given the limited understanding of how these three states interact as antecedents of job crafting, we adopted a person-centered approach, conducting multilevel latent profile analyses. Data were collected using a weekly diary design over six workweeks, comprising 1,135 observations nested within 318 employees. Our analyses identified three distinct motivational profiles: a “frustrated and discouraged” profile characterized by high need frustration and low occupational self-efficacy, a “satisfied and striving” profile characterized by high need satisfaction, vigor and occupational self-efficacy, and a “moderately motivated” profile characterized by average motivation. These profiles differentially related to behavioral and cognitive job crafting, offering valuable insights into necessary conditions for effective job crafting.
