Performance Pressure, Workplace Anxiety, Emotional Exhaustion, and Job Performance: An Empirical Research on Chinese Public Universities

Abstract

Abstract

       This research surveyed the public universities in Sichuan Province of China, adopting the PlS-SEM for data analysis to verify (1) the different influences of performance pressure on teaching and research performance, (2) the role of workplace anxiety and emotional exhaustion on the relationship between performance pressure and teachers' job performance, and (3) the influence of performance-related pay size on the relationship between performance pressure, job performance, and workplace anxiety. The researchers selected by experts’ consultation 9 public universities in Sichuan Province, and obtained responses from 407 university teachers via online data collection. The results show that: (1) Performance pressure directly affects university teachers' teaching performance but has no significant effect on research performance; (2) Workplace anxiety and emotional exhaustion have a suppressing effect on the relationship between performance pressure and teaching performance; and (3) Performance-related pay size has no significant influence on the relationship between performance pressure, teaching performance and research performance. The research findings reveal the influence of performance pressure in the higher education field, and provide the theoretical basis and work suggestions for performance management in universities.

Keywords: University teachers, performance pressure, workplace anxiety, emotional exhaustion,  performance-related pay size, job performance