Crafting the road to well-being for precarious frontline workers: Explicating the role of jolts and resources

Abstract

High psychological work demands, low decision latitude, and minimal social support, together with disproportionate burdens from environmental threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic, tax the well-being of low-income frontline workers (FLWs). While worker well-being is linked with productivity and engagement, little is known about the well-being journeys of FLWs in precarious, low-paid, low-status roles. We conducted qualitative research with precarious FLWs to investigate the effects of the interplay of their personal and work experiences on their lifelong well-being journeys. We uncover the influential role of the interaction between external events (jolts) and salient resources on well-being trajectories. Precarious FLWs with resources proactively engage in job crafting in response to positive or negative jolts. However, those with few or no resources respond to positive jolts by yearning to craft but remain frozen in the face of negative jolts. In addition to extending the employee well-being literature to include FLWs in precarious roles, this research makes two important theoretical contributions. First, the interaction of jolts and resources reveals a four-part typology explaining precarious FLWs' crafting engagement and intensity—striving, rebounding, yearning, and frozen—thus empirically underscoring the theorized psychosocial dynamism of precarity. Second, by integrating crafting, positive organizational scholarship, and conservation of resources theories, we illuminate the underlying mechanisms governing the influence of jolts and resources on behaviors and, ultimately, identity and well-being. Our theory offers guidance for employers seeking to enhance precarious FLWs' well-being and improve organizational outcomes.