Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Department of Management, University of Toronto Scarborough.
J Appl Psychol. 2018 May;103(5):537-560. doi: 10.1037/apl0000266. Epub 2018 Jan 22.
Researchers have uncovered inconsistent relations between anxiety and performance. Although the prominent view is a "dark side," where anxiety has a negative relation with performance, a "bright side" of anxiety has also been suggested. We reconcile past findings by presenting a comprehensive multilevel, multiprocess model of workplace anxiety called the theory of workplace anxiety (TWA). This model highlights the processes and conditions through which workplace anxiety may lead to debilitative and facilitative job performance and includes 19 theoretical propositions. Drawing on past theories of anxiety, resource depletion, cognitive-motivational processing, and performance, we uncover the debilitative and facilitative nature of dispositional and situational workplace anxiety by positioning emotional exhaustion, self-regulatory processing, and cognitive interference as distinct contrasting processes underlying the relationship between workplace anxiety and job performance. Extending our theoretical model, we pinpoint motivation, ability, and emotional intelligence as critical conditions that shape when workplace anxiety will debilitate and facilitate job performance. We also identify the unique employee, job, and situational characteristics that serve as antecedents of dispositional and situational workplace anxiety. The TWA offers a nuanced perspective on workplace anxiety and serves as a foundation for future work. (PsycINFO Database Record
研究人员揭示了焦虑与表现之间的不一致关系。尽管主流观点认为焦虑与表现呈负相关，即“负面”，但也有人提出了焦虑的“正面”。我们通过提出一个名为工作场所焦虑理论 (TWA) 的综合多层次、多过程的工作场所焦虑模型来调和过去的发现。该模型强调了工作场所焦虑可能导致削弱和促进工作绩效的过程和条件，包括 19 个理论命题。借鉴过去的焦虑理论、资源枯竭理论、认知动机加工理论和绩效理论，我们通过将情绪耗竭、自我调节加工和认知干扰定位为工作场所焦虑与工作绩效之间关系的不同对比过程，揭示了特质性和情境性工作场所焦虑的削弱和促进性质。扩展我们的理论模型，我们确定动机、能力和情绪智力是塑造工作场所焦虑何时会削弱和促进工作绩效的关键条件。我们还确定了作为特质性和情境性工作场所焦虑的前因的独特的员工、工作和情境特征。TWA 提供了一个关于工作场所焦虑的细致入微的视角，并为未来的工作奠定了基础。
