Esnek çalışma ve iş tasarımının iş becerikliliği üzerinden çalışan katılımına etkisi: İstanbul hizmet sektörü örneği

Technological advances, especially with the new industrial revolution, are transforming how jobs are being defined and designed, including "where" and "when" work tasks can be completed. At the same time, engaging employees has become an even stronger priority for companies within this dynamic and ever-changing environment. Yet, driving employee engagement remains to be challenging for practitioners, even after decades of research and experimentation. Flexible work arrangements and job (re)design processes could potentially strengthen employee engagement, but there isn't enough empirical evidence on how these practices could be leveraged effectively. This research aims to extend the knowledge base on which practices elevate employee engagement and why. It analyzes the effects of perceived work location flexibility, perceived schedule flexibility, job design and job crafting on employee engagement, including the analysis of the interlinkages between these concepts. Flexible work arrangements are explored as potential catalyst of job crafting as well, where employees proactively reformulate their jobs in accordance with their own needs and aspirations. The research focuses on the white-collar employees in the service sector of Istanbul. The data was collected through an online employee survey with 122 responses included in the final analysis. The results were analyzed through a variety of methods, including reliability and factor analysis, validity tests as well as structural equation modeling based on maximum likelihood estimation. The findings indicate that traditional job characteristics alone are not enough to enhance the engagement of employees. Job crafting and schedule flexibility are instrumental for advancing individual engagement levels.