Time and Performance Pressure

Abstract

Abstract. Time pressure and performance pressure are among the most crucial job demands of today’s workforce. However, the literature on psychological stress barely distinguishes between these constructs. Therefore, we aimed to examine time pressure and performance pressure as two qualitatively different job demands in terms of unique moderators for both demands. We investigated whether time control would moderate the relationship between time pressure and both emotional exhaustion and work engagement. As a vulnerability factor for dealing with performance pressure, we investigated perfectionism. The cross-sectional data of 167 employees showed that time control was a significant moderator of the stress–strain relationship, but only for time pressure. By contrast, perfectionism acted as a personal risk factor only for performance pressure, strengthening the negative impact of performance pressure on strain. Our findings suggest that dealing with time and performance pressure seems to be affected by differential safety and risk factors. Therefore, both should be treated as two distinct constructs.