Person-job fit on career sustainability: in the human-machine collaboration context

Purpose Against the backdrop of digital transformation in the hospitality industry and the widespread adoption of human-machine collaboration (HMC), this study aims to examine how employees can maintain career sustainability by actively adapting to intelligence technologies. Design/methodology/approach This study used a three-phase follow-up survey design and collected matched questionnaires from 432 hotel employees and their supervisors. A framework integrating person-job fit theory and the job demands-resources model, with a structural equation model, was used to test their hypotheses. Findings Both needs-supplies fit and demands-abilities fit are positively associated with employees’ career sustainability (including task performance and career satisfaction). Mediation results indicate that needs-supplies fit affects career sustainability via digital work task crafting and digital technology use crafting. Demands-abilities fit affects career sustainability via cognitive crafting and digital technology use crafting. Relationship crafting exerts no mediating effect in either pathway. Practical implications Hospitality managers should categorize employees based on their person-job fit profiles under HMC scenarios and deliver targeted support strategies to foster digital job crafting, thereby supporting employees’ long-term career sustainability. Originality/value This study unpacks the distinct underlying mechanisms linking two core dimensions of person-job fit to career sustainability through differentiated subtypes of digital job crafting. It provides new empirical insights into employee adaptive behaviors and differentiated human resource practices amid industry-wide technological disruption.