Linking work values to turnover intention: the role of promotion-focused job crafting and job embeddedness

Purpose While promotion-focused job crafting is generally assumed to foster positive employee outcomes, recent studies have suggested a potential tension between growth-oriented behaviors and employee retention. Drawing on work values and job embeddedness theory, this study argues that the apparent contradiction may not arise at the level of turnover outcomes but rather reflects differences in motivational orientations that shape distinct job crafting behaviors within a specific cultural context. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 573 employees in small and medium-sized companies in China. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings The results indicate that both increasing structural job resources and increasing challenging job demands are positively associated with job embeddedness, which, in turn, is strongly and negatively related to turnover intention. Intrinsic work values (operationalized as intrinsic-preference orientation) are positively linked to both forms of promotion-focused job crafting, while extrinsic work values (operationalized as utilitarian orientation) are negatively related to challenge-oriented job crafting. Originality/value This study contributes to the job crafting literature by reframing concerns about the turnover risk of growth-oriented employees. Rather than locating the tension in job crafting outcomes, the findings suggest that motivational orientations influence employees to pursue different crafting behaviors, which are variably linked to job embeddedness and turnover intention. This comprehensive view helps explain previous inconsistent results and suggests directions for future longitudinal studies.