Academics are expected to craft their jobs to keep up with changes in the teaching environment. Improving academics' willingness to engage in job crafting presents a significant challenge in higher education. Based on the Broaden-and-Build Theory, this study examines the association between teaching emotions and job crafting, and the mediating effect of teaching efficacy. Three hundred and thirty-two Chinese academics reported their demographic information, teaching emotions, teaching efficacy, and job crafting via an online platform. After controlling for gender, age, academic rank, and discipline category, the results of the mediation model indicated positive relations between teaching emotions and job crafting. Teaching efficacy fully mediated the relations between negative teaching emotions and job crafting. These findings offer valuable insights for future research on academics' job crafting and provide practical recommendations for both university managers and academics.