Receiving help at work mitigates the negative consequences of performance pressure: implications for depletion and citizenship behavior

Drawing from job-demands resources theory and conservation of resources theory, this study examines the effect of performance pressure on interpersonal citizenship behavior through exhaustion. We also explore the extent to which receiving help mitigates the exhaustion caused by performance pressure. In a critical incident design of employees from various industries (N = 268), performance pressure was positively associated with exhaustion. Subsequently, employee exhaustion decreased the tendency to perform acts of interpersonal citizenship. The relationship between performance pressure and exhaustion was weakened among employees who had received help from their colleagues. Thus, these results, supported by moderated mediation analyses, suggest that receiving help can mitigate the deleterious effects of performance pressure on interpersonal citizenship behavior through exhaustion. Implications for research and practice are discussed.