Idiosyncratic deal seeking for personal brand verification

Abstract

Purpose

Grounded in social learning theory and conservation of resources theory, this study examines the link between witnessing co-workers’ idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) and task crafting, task crafting and task i-deals negotiation; and the route that employees take to build their perceptions of personal brand equity.

Design/methodology/approach

A time-lagged survey was used to collect data from 259 information technology (IT) and consulting professionals in India. Hypotheses were tested using PROCESS MACRO in R.

Findings

Results show that witnessing co-workers’ i-deals is positively associated with both task crafting and task i-deals negotiation; and task i-deals negotiation is positively associated with employees’ personal brand equity. Findings also show that task crafting mediates the positive impact of witnessing co-workers’ i-deals on task i-deals negotiation. Further, the study shows that need for legitimization of task customizations moderates the positive relationship between task crafting and task i-deals negotiation, in such a manner that the relationship is stronger when employees’ need for legitimization is low, and it is insignificant when their need for legitimization is high.

Originality/value

This is one of the earliest studies that examine the relationship between task crafting and task i-deals negotiation; and shows that employees negotiate task i-deals to build their personal brand equity.

Citation

Garg, S., Sinha, S. and Anand, S. (2025), "Idiosyncratic deal seeking for personal brand verification", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-08-2023-0483