Wei Xing, Wei Xinyi, Yu Xiaotong, Ren Feifei
Department of Psychology, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2024 Aug 2;17:2905-2917. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S446520. eCollection 2024.
Economic pressure has become an important source of stress for employees. However, the conclusions regarding the relationship between financial stress and employees' work behavior are not consistent. The present study explored the relationship between financial stress and employee job performance with a Chinese sample and further explored how and when financial stress influenced job performance.
The present study investigated five distinct companies operating in diverse sectors using a convenience sampling technique. Three hundred and twenty-one employees were recruited. Financial Stress, Job Performance, Work Engagement, and Emotional Exhaustion were measured for this investigation. The mediation effect was tested using a four-step procedure. The analysis of the moderated mediation model was performed using Hayes's PROCESS macro for SPSS.
The results found financial stress was positively related to job performance, and work engagement mediated the positive relationship between financial stress and job performance. In addition, emotional exhaustion moderated the mediating process between financial stress, work engagement, and job performance. Specifically, the beneficial effect of financial stress on work engagement disappeared when emotional exhaustion was high. Besides, a high level of emotional exhaustion weakened the positive relationship between work engagement and job performance.
Financial stress plays a motivating role in employees' job performance in China. Work engagement is a key factor between financial stress and job performance. Notably, the positive effect of financial stress and work engagement on job performance is contingent upon the individual's level of emotional exhaustion. These results might explain the inconsistency of the effect of financial stress in previous research. Moreover, this finding suggests that emotional factors may not only be the result of stress but can also influence its effects.
经济压力已成为员工压力的重要来源。然而，关于财务压力与员工工作行为之间关系的结论并不一致。本研究以中国样本探讨了财务压力与员工工作绩效之间的关系，并进一步探讨了财务压力如何以及何时影响工作绩效。
本研究采用便利抽样技术，对五个不同行业的公司进行了调查。共招募了321名员工。对财务压力、工作绩效、工作投入和情感耗竭进行了测量。采用四步法检验中介效应。使用Hayes的SPSS PROCESS宏对调节中介模型进行分析。
结果发现财务压力与工作绩效呈正相关，工作投入在财务压力与工作绩效之间的正向关系中起中介作用。此外，情感耗竭调节了财务压力、工作投入和工作绩效之间的中介过程。具体而言，当情感耗竭程度较高时，财务压力对工作投入的有益影响消失。此外，高水平的情感耗竭削弱了工作投入与工作绩效之间的正向关系。
在中国，财务压力对员工的工作绩效起到激励作用。工作投入是财务压力与工作绩效之间的关键因素。值得注意的是，财务压力和工作投入对工作绩效的积极影响取决于个体的情感耗竭水平。这些结果可能解释了以往研究中财务压力效应不一致的原因。此外，这一发现表明情感因素不仅可能是压力的结果，还可能影响其效应。
