Fostering Creativity: The Role of Job Crafting and Flourishing in Division I Sport Organizations

Ali B. Mondt, Tyler J. Hajek, Natalie L. Smith

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between flourishing, job crafting, and organizational creativity among 249 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision institutions. Previous research has explored flourishing and its influence on proactive behaviors, such as job crafting (Demerouti et al., 2015; Kim & Beehr, 2020). It has also been suggested job crafting (Kim et al., 2022; Loghmani et al., 2023; Zhang & Parker, 2019) can influence creativity. However, this study proposed a model with the integration of flourishing into a model for predicting organizational creativity. The results revealed that Division I intercollegiate sport employees who are flourishing will engage in increasing structural job resources, challenging job demands, and organizational creativity. Job crafting influenced organizational creativity in all aspects except hindering job demands. Through the findings of this study, it is our recommendation that leaders of sport organizations utilize job crafting strategies to change job demands and job resources to encourage innovation within the workplace. This can be achieved through self-initiated workplace adjustments, which can be advantageous for both employees and organizations. Creating an environment that fosters individual well-being, encourages employees to shape their roles, and promotes creativity can lead to better performance, innovation, and overall success in the highly competitive sport industry.

Keywords: organizational creativity, job crafting, flourishing

APA Citation: Mondt, A. B., Hajek, T. J., & Smith, N. L. (2026). Fostering creativity: The role of job crafting and flourishing in Division I sport organizations. International Journal of Sport Management, 27(1), 59-85.

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