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

Abstract 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.