Denisa Semeráková

This three-wave longitudinal study examined whether transformational leadership predicts employees’ job crafting and well-being over time, and whether job crafting explains (mediates) the leadership–well-being link. Job crafting refers to employees’ proactive changes to their tasks, relationships, or demands in order to improve person–job fit, and prior research suggests it is associated with higher well-being and performance. Transformational leaders may encourage such proactivity by inspiring, supporting, and intellectually stimulating employees, yet most evidence so far has been cross-sectional, leaving the direction of effects unclear. To address this gap, we surveyed a representative sample of Czech employees at three points in time (September, October, and December 2024). The final longitudinal sample consisted of 225 participants, half of whom were women. At each wave, respondents completed measures of transformational leadership (Czech Leadership Questionnaire), job crafting (Job Crafting Scale), and well-being (Mental Health Continuum–Short Form). We analyzed the data using three-wave cross-lagged structural equation modeling with autoregressive and reciprocal paths, and model fit was acceptable. Results showed that transformational leadership predicted increases in job crafting at the next wave and also predicted increases in well-being at the next wave. However, job crafting did not mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and later well-being. Overall, the findings indicate that transformational leadership fosters both employees’ proactive job redesign and their well-being over time, but the improvement in well-being is not explained by job crafting in this study. Future research should test additional multilevel mechanisms and boundary conditions that may clarify how leadership translates into sustained employee mental health.