Expanding Conceptual Understanding Of Interview Anxiety And Performance: Integrating Cognitive, Behavioral, And Physiological Features

Interview anxiety is common among interviewees and has the potential to undermine an applicant's interview performance. Nevertheless, there is much that we do not understand about the role of anxiety in job interviews. In this paper, we advance a conceptual model that highlights the multidimensional nature of interview anxiety by incorporating its cognitive, behavioral, and physiological components, termed the Tripartite Interview Anxiety Framework (TIAF). This model highlights the role of person, interviewer, and contextual characteristics in shaping interview anxiety, elucidates the underlying relations between interview anxiety and performance, and delineates critical moderators of these important relations. In doing so, the TIAF simultaneously advances the theory of interview anxiety, promotes further work in this area, and highlights implications for practice.