Factors associated with job crafting among Chinese clinical nurses-a systematic review and meta-analysis
- 1School of Nursing, Inner Mongolia Medical University
- 2Department of Emergency, Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University
Abstract
Objectives: To quantitatively evaluate factors associated with job crafting among nurses and to provide evidence for improving nurse well-being and developing targeted interventions.
Methods: This review systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and China Biomedical Literature Database from the establishment of the databases to November 28, 2025. Two researchers independently screened literature and extracted data. The AHRQ cross-sectional study quality assessment tool was used for quality evaluation. The GRADE system was used to grade the certainty of evidence for each factor. RevMan 5.4 was used for meta-analysis.
Results: A total of 16 cross-sectional studies were included, all conducted in China, involving 11,678 nurses. Meta-analysis showed that educational level (SMD = −0.30, 95% CI: −0.42 to −0.19, I ² = 29%), night shift frequency (SMD = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.18 to 0.40, I ² = 42%), and employment type (SMD = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.40 to 0.72, I ² = 0%) were significantly associated with job crafting. Self-efficacy (pooled r = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.33 to 0.79, I ² = 99%), professional identity (pooled r = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.62 to 0.95, I ² = 98%), perceived organizational support (pooled r = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.31 to 0.75, I ² = 97%), and empowering leadership (pooled r = 0.58, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.66, I ² = 93%) were positively correlated with job crafting. The pooled results for night shift work, age, professional title, and years of work experience were not statistically significant. However, each factor was based on only 2 to 4 studies, and some factors had extremely high heterogeneity (I ² = 93 to 99%) so results should be interpreted with caution.
Conclusion: This study based on 16 Chinese cross-sectional studies preliminarily identified factors associated with job crafting among nurses. Educational level, night shift frequency, employment type, self-efficacy, professional identity, perceived organizational support, and empowering leadership were associated with job crafting. These findings may help nursing managers to focus on factors associated with job crafting and to explore intervention strategies. However, given the limited number of studies in each meta-analysis and the extremely high heterogeneity, the pooled estimates have substantial uncertainty, and the above associations should be considered exploratory. Future high-quality, longitudinal, or interventional studies are needed for verification.
Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD420251270123 .
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BibTeX
@article{guo2026factors,
title = {{Factors associated with job crafting among Chinese clinical nurses-a systematic review and meta-analysis}},
author = {Fei Guo and Wei Zhao and Mei Zhou and Wen-Nv Hao},
journal = {Frontiers in Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1961368},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1961368/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Factors associated with job crafting among Chinese clinical nurses-a systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - Fei Guo
AU - Wei Zhao
AU - Mei Zhou
AU - Wen-Nv Hao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1961368
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1961368/full
AB - Objectives: To quantitatively evaluate factors associated with job crafting among nurses and to provide evidence for improving nurse well-being and developing targeted interventions. Methods: This review systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and China Biomedical Literature Database from the establishment of the databases to November 28, 2025. Two researchers independently screened literature and extracted data. The AHRQ cross-sectional study quality assessment tool was used for quality evaluation. The GRADE system was used to grade the certainty of evidence for each factor. RevMan 5.4 was used for meta-analysis. Results: A total of 16 cross-sectional studies were included, all conducted in China, involving 11,678 nurses. Meta-analysis showed that educational level (SMD = −0.30, 95% CI: −0.42 to −0.19, I ² = 29%), night shift frequency (SMD = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.18 to 0.40, I ² = 42%), and employment type (SMD = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.40 to 0.72, I ² = 0%) were significantly associated with job crafting. Self-efficacy (pooled r = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.33 to 0.79, I ² = 99%), professional identity (pooled r = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.62 to 0.95, I ² = 98%), perceived organizational support (pooled r = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.31 to 0.75, I ² = 97%), and empowering leadership (pooled r = 0.58, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.66, I ² = 93%) were positively correlated with job crafting. The pooled results for night shift work, age, professional title, and years of work experience were not statistically significant. However, each factor was based on only 2 to 4 studies, and some factors had extremely high heterogeneity (I ² = 93 to 99%) so results should be interpreted with caution. Conclusion: This study based on 16 Chinese cross-sectional studies preliminarily identified factors associated with job crafting among nurses. Educational level, night shift frequency, employment type, self-efficacy, professional identity, perceived organizational support, and empowering leadership were associated with job crafting. These findings may help nursing managers to focus on factors associated with job crafting and to explore intervention strategies. However, given the limited number of studies in each meta-analysis and the extremely high heterogeneity, the pooled estimates have substantial uncertainty, and the above associations should be considered exploratory. Future high-quality, longitudinal, or interventional studies are needed for verification. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD420251270123 .
SN - 2296-2565
ER -