Working under digital pressure: Electronic performance monitoring, psychological contracts, and job crafting among construction and engineering professionals

BackgroundElectronic performance monitoring (EPM) is increasingly embedded in digitally managed workplaces, yet its effects on employees' adaptive work behaviors remain mixed, particularly in project-based professional settings.ObjectiveThis study examines how EPM affects construction and engineering professionals' job crafting behaviors through the mediating roles of transactional and relational psychological contracts. It also investigates whether performance goal orientation, specifically performance-approach and performance-avoidance orientations, moderates these relationships.MethodsA three-wave, time-lagged survey was conducted with 312 construction and engineering professionals from seven engineering-related firms in eastern and southern China. EPM exposure, psychological contract types, and job crafting behaviors were measured across three monthly intervals. Performance goal orientations were also assessed. Structural equation modeling was used to test a moderated mediation model.ResultsEPM was associated with promotion-focused job crafting through relational psychological contracts, particularly among employees high in performance-approach orientation. In contrast, EPM was associated with prevention-focused job crafting through transactional psychological contracts, especially among those high in performance-avoidance orientation. These findings reveal distinct cognitive and motivational pathways underlying employees' responses to monitoring systems.ConclusionsThe findings show that EPM does not produce uniform effects, but rather shapes different forms of job crafting depending on employees' psychological contract perceptions and goal orientations. This study contributes to understanding employee adaptation under digital surveillance and offers practical insight for designing monitoring systems that support constructive engagement rather than defensive responses.