Telecommuting, which is booming in the digital economy, poses a significant challenge to the formal innovation processes of employees. Bootlegging, as an important and common form of informal innovation among employees, requires greater attention in this context. However, existing research has overlooked the important role of leadership, particularly family supportive supervisor behavior, in promoting bootlegging among telecommuters. To address this gap, a moderated mediation model was constructed based on the work-home resource model. Data from 286 respondents collected through three-wave offline and online surveys were analyzed using Mplus 7.4 software. The results indicate that family supportive supervisor behavior positively influences telecommuter bootlegging, both directly and indirectly through job crafting towards strengths and interests. Promotion focus is found to positively moderate the relationship between family supportive supervisor behavior and job crafting towards strengths-interests, and strengthens the mediating role of job crafting towards strengths-interests. In contrast, the moderating effect of prevention focus is not supported. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the antecedents of telecommuter bootlegging, which is still in its nascent stage, and offer managerial insights into leveraging family supportive supervisor behavior to stimulate bootlegging among telecommuters.