Does leisure crafting improve workplace creativity?

Abstract Workplace creativity is essential for organizational survival and growth. With the prevailing focus on work conditions and employee motivation for creativity, it remains unclear whether and how employees can make creative contributions through proactive engagement in their private lives. This study aims to explore the development of workplace creativity from the non‐work perspective of individual proactivity. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we investigate if leisure crafting improves workplace creativity by promoting playful work design. The hypotheses were tested using multi‐wave field data collected from 365 employees. We revealed that leisure crafting contributes to playful work design, including fun and competition, especially when a smartphone is used for leisure purposes. Leisure crafting also has direct and indirect effects on creative performance through playful work design. The current analysis offers insights into how proactivity and resources gained from the non‐work domain can improve workplace outcomes by enabling work‐related proactive behavior.