Abstract: By drawing on job crafting theory and attribution theory, this study examines the interactive effects of negative workplace event strength perception and employee internal attribution of events on employee task crafting and subsequent creativity. 3-stage data from 12 companies' 292 employees and their leaders are used to test the model. The empirical results show that internal event attribution moderates the positive relationship between perceived workplace negative event strength and employee task crafting, such that the relationship is stronger when internal event attribution is higher. Besides, perceived workplace negative event strength and internal event attribution interact to foster employee task crafting, which is in turn positively related to employee creativity. This research has several contributions:First, it expands our understanding of the drivers of task crafting by examining the impact of workplace event strength on task crafting. Second, it contributes to our understanding of how and when an event impacts task crafting by revealing the synergistic effects of perceived workplace negative event strength and internal event attribution on employee task crafting. Third, it uncovers employee task crafting as a pivotal behavioral mechanism underlying the interactive effects of perceived workplace negative event strength and internal event attribution on employee creativity. Fourth, this study contributes to the event-oriented literature by exploring the overall effects of event strength on employee task crafting and subsequent creativity. The study also provides important practical implications.

Key words: job crafting theory, task crafting, internal attribution, event strength, employee creativity