Research on the configurational effects of job characteristics on employees' self-efficacy in flexible work

Background Flexible work self-efficacy is crucial for employees in addressing work challenges and maintaining their physical and mental well-being.Objective This study aims to reveal the joint effects of multiple interrelated flexible work characteristics on employee self-efficacy in flexible work.Methods Based on the data from 239 questionnaires, the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method was used for variable calibration, necessary conditions analysis and configuration analysis.Results No singular work characteristic emerged as an indispensable prerequisite for achieving high self-efficacy in flexible work environments. Instead, configurations such as the "low-strain unbalanced type" formed by coupling high resources with low demands and the "positive balanced type" formed by coupling high resources with high demands led to high self-efficacy in flexible work. Conversely, the configuration termed "high-strain unbalanced type," resulting from coupling high demands with low resources, led to non-high self-efficacy in flexible work.Conclusions The collection of flexible work characteristics affects employee self-efficacy in multiple paths and alternative relationships, and companies can improve employee self-efficacy in flexible work through diversified flexible work design according to organizational development requirements and endowment differences.