Effects of Stress and Trait Anxiety on Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Tourism Employee

Tourism significantly contributes to the country's economy with its vast employment opportunities. In addition to this significant contribution, the sector's structure can place considerable physical and psychological pressure on employees. Tourism, a labor-intensive service sector, presents high job demands and a stressful working environment for employees. This work environment makes the factors directly affecting employees' motivation and job performance remarkable. Therefore, this study examines the relationships between perceived stress and trait anxiety, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and job performance among employees in tourism. It is aimed to establish the mediating role of motivation in the effects of stress and anxiety on job performance. The study was conducted on 370 hotel employees using the structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology. The most interesting result of the study is that anxiety does not have a negative effect on the job performance of tourism employees. The study concluded that perceived stress and anxiety affect extrinsic motivation and job performance. Moreover, there is no mediating role for intrinsic or extrinsic motivation in the relationship between perceived stress and job performance. The findings show that perceived stress negatively affects motivation, thus reducing job performance. These results suggest various implications for developing human resources management strategies in tourism.