Are anxious workers less productive workers? It depends on the quality of social exchange

Julie M. McCarthy; John P. Trougakos; Bonnie Hayden Cheng

doi:10.1037/apl0000044

Are anxious workers less productive workers? It depends on the quality of social exchange

Julie M. McCarthy, John P. Trougakos, Bonnie Hayden Cheng

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

253 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this article, we draw from Conservation of Resources Theory to advance and test a framework which predicts that emotional exhaustion plays an explanatory role underlying the relation between workplace anxiety and job performance. Further, we draw from social exchange theories to predict that leader- member exchange and coworker exchange will mitigate the harmful effects of anxiety on job performance. Findings across a 3-wave study of police officers supported our model. Emotional exhaustion mediated the link between workplace anxiety and job performance, over and above the effect of cognitive interference. Further, coworker exchange mitigated the positive relation between anxiety and emotional exhaustion, while leader-member exchange mitigated the negative relation between emotional exhaustion and job performance. This study elucidates the effects of workplace anxiety on resource depletion via emotional exhaustion and highlights the value of drawing on social resources to offset the potentially harmful effects of workplace anxiety on job performance. © 2015 American Psychological Association.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	279-291
Journal	Journal of Applied Psychology
Volume	101
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000044
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2016
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publication details (e.g. title, author(s), publication statuses and dates) are captured on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis at the time of record harvesting from the data source. Suggestions for further amendments or supplementary information can be sent to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.

Funding

This research was supported, in part, by research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to Julie McCarthy (#410-2011-0313, #435-2015-0220) and John Trougakos (#410-2008-0505, #435-2014-0693). We thank Sunjeev Prakash for his invaluable support with this project and Kathleen Boies for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Research Keywords

Cognitive interference
Emotional exhaustion
Job performance
Social exchange
Workplace anxiety

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Are anxious workers less productive workers? It depends on the quality of social exchange

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