How job stress influences job performance among Chinese healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: Public service motivation refers to the idea of commitment to the public service, pursuit of the public interest, and the desire to perform work that is worthwhile to society. This study investigates how challenge stress and hindrance stress influence job performance among healthcare workers in Chinese public hospitals. It has also examined the mediating effect of public service motivation. METHODS: Data of 1594 healthcare workers were obtained from typical public hospitals in eastern, central, and western China. To test our hypotheses, we used descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and subgroup analysis to investigate the sample. RESULTS: Challenge stress and hindrance stress were strongly correlated among healthcare workers in Chinese public hospitals (β = 0.59; p < 0.001). Challenge stress was significantly positively associated with public service motivation (β = 0.14; p < 0.001) and job performance (β = 0.13; p < 0.001). Hindrance stress was significantly negatively associated with public service motivation (β = − 0.27; p < 0.001) and job performance (β = − 0.08; p < 0.05). Public service motivation was directly positively associated with job performance (β = 0.58; p < 0.001), and it indirectly mediated the association between job stress and job performance. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides important empirical evidence on the effects of job stress and public service motivation on job performance among healthcare workers in Chinese public hospitals. Job performance may be raised by limiting hindrance stress, which provides moderate challenge stress and increases public service motivation.