Oral Raters’ Stress, Motivation and Work Performance

The aim of this study is to investigate oral raters’ stress and motivation and the relation of these factors to work performance. In order to examine this issue thoroughly, we collected statistical data from 94 oral raters working in different English language certifiers in Greece. The quantitative results were also triangulated with the managers’ and supervisors’ comments, which were excerpted from semi-structured interviews, with the aim of arriving to a more representative picture. Work motivation, commitment and work stress were correlated with social identity factors such as gender, educational level, nationality and work experience. The results of our study concluded that a significant proportion of oral raters reported that low levels of work stress, high motivation and high work commitment can positively affect high quality service and high work performance. We further found that work motivation, task performance and work stress are positively related to personal identification. Implications of these findings are discussed proving to a large extent that a positive work environment and good working conditions can actually guarantee high work performance.