BMC Psychol. 2025 Dec 11. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03808-4. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, organizations expect employees to change from passively accepting task requests to actively pursuing improvement. Feedback-seeking behavior has gained widespread attention. The study aims to adopt Conservation of Resources Theory to examine the influence mechanism and boundary condition of performance pressure and time pressure on employee feedback-seeking behavior.
METHODS: To investigate the mediating role of work rumination and the moderating role of competitive climate on the relationship between performance pressure, time pressure and employee feedback-seeking behavior, data were collected from 410 Chinese employees through a two-wave survey distributed via WJX.cn. Statistical analyses were performed with Spss 26, Amos 26 and Process 4.0.
RESULTS: The findings indicate that work rumination mediates the relationship between performance pressure, time pressure and employee feedback-seeking behavior. The impact of performance pressure is stronger than that of time pressure. Competitive climate positively moderates the indirect influence of performance pressure and time pressure on employee feedback-seeking behavior through work rumination.
CONCLUSION: The study deepens the understanding of how diverse workplace stressors shape employees’ feedback-seeking behavior. Particularly in competitive work environments, organizations can foster a culture of healthy competition by implementing well-designed performance requirements and reasonable time expectations, thereby motivating employees to transform work pressures into proactive feedback-seeking for professional growth.
PMID:41382169 | DOI:10.1186/s40359-025-03808-4
