Abstract: Existing researches have well documented a variety of contextual antecedents of employee job performance. Yet few of them have examined when and how critical happenings in workplace impact employee job performance. Based on event system theory, we propose a theoretical model that links event criticality with employee’s job performance. With a sample of 188 service employees from 58 teams in China, we find that event criticality is positively related to employees’ proactive work behaviors and in turn their job performance. In addition, employee mindfulness amplifies the positive impact of event criticality on proactive work behavior. In doing so, our research provides new theoretical insights into existing researches by exploring the impact of event criticality on employee’s job performance. In addition, our study provides constructive guidance for managers to improve employee job performance.

Key words: event criticality, proactive work behavior, mindfulness, employee job performance, event system theory