The role of fear of negative evaluation in interview anxiety and social-evaluative workplace anxiety

We investigated the consequences of interview and social-evaluative workplace anxiety on job performance, and whether these two anxieties share a common antecedent-fear of negative evaluation. Job applicants (n = 128) completed a survey following their interview and halfway through their work term; supervisory performance ratings were collected at the end of the work term. Fear of negative evaluation was positively correlated with both interview anxiety and social-evaluative workplace anxiety. The correlation between interview anxiety and job performance was near zero, as was the correlation between social-evaluative workplace anxiety and job performance; these relations were not moderated by the social-evaluative nature of the job. This study suggests that anxious interviewees and employees perform as well as their less anxious counterparts, even in social-evaluative jobs.