‘Burned out’ millennials! Can job crafting promote employee well-being in the SMEs?

Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri, Michelle She Min Ngo () and Junaidah Yusof
Additional contact information
Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri: University of Nottingham
Michelle She Min Ngo: Monash University Malaysia
Junaidah Yusof: Universiti Teknologi

Review of Managerial Science, 2025, vol. 19, issue 12, No 2, 3643-3661

Abstract: Abstract Although job crafting is a proactive initiative to help organisations withstand dynamic business landscapes, little is known about its impact on employees’ burnout experience. Using structural equation modelling on a survey sample of 352 millennials working full-time in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this study examines millennials’ burnout experience through job crafting. It also examines the mediating role of job satisfaction in the job crafting–burnout linkage. Findings suggest that millennials in SMEs perceived two job crafting aspects, increasing structural resources and increasing social resources, help to boost their overall satisfaction at work. With none of the job crafting aspects found to have a direct link with millennial burnout, this study signifies the practicality of job crafting as a strategy to improve employee work experience instead of triggering burnout. Further results also reveal that millennials’ overall experience in terms of job satisfaction is the underlying reason that explains the link between job crafting and burnout. One practical implication drawn from this study includes the potential use of job crafting to improve millennials’ work experience in SMEs. Besides, this study highlights the importance of smaller companies in establishing more structural clarity and social resources to support millennials’ overall satisfaction and well-being at work.

Keywords: Job crafting; Job satisfaction; Burnout; Emotional exhaustion; Millennials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 M12 M20 M50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11846-025-00862-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:19:y:2025:i:12:d:10.1007_s11846-025-00862-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/business/journal/11846

DOI: 10.1007/s11846-025-00862-5

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Managerial Science is currently edited by R. Ewert and W. Kürsten

More articles in Review of Managerial Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().