One who wishes to wear the crown, must bear its weight: How performance pressure benefits career-prospective employees in organizations

Abstract

Performance pressure is not uncommon in the field of human resource management, and it stands as a constant companion to those aspiring to advance their careers. Drawing on the appraisal theories of emotion and literature on fear and career prospects, this research explores how and when performance pressure fosters work-goal progress. Across two time-lagged, multi-industry field studies with full-time employees, we demonstrate that performance pressure intensifies mental preoccupation with work by triggering fear of performance failure, which in turn promotes work-goal progress. Furthermore, these positive serial mediation effects (performance pressure → fear of performance failure → mental preoccupation with work → work-goal progress) are moderated by employees' career prospects within organizations, being more pronounced among those with higher career prospects. Theoretically, this work deepens the understanding of the positive impacts of performance pressure and broadens its influencing mechanisms and contextual moderators. Practically, the findings can inform organizations in leveraging performance pressure to serve the best interests of both individuals and the organization. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.