Burnout and work engagement: A thorough investigation of the independency of both constructs. (original) (raw)
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AB: Burnout and work engagement: a thorough investigation of the independency of both constructs
2014
This study among 528 South African employees working in the construction industry examined the dimensionality of burnout and work engagement, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. On the basis of the literature, we predicted that cynicism and dedication are opposite ends of one underlying attitude dimension (called “identification”), and that exhaustion and vigor are opposite ends of one “energy ” dimension. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that while the attitude constructs represent opposite ends of one continuum, the energy constructs do not—although they are highly correlated. These findings are also supported by the pattern of relationships between burnout and work engagement on the one hand, and predictors (i.e., work pressure, autonomy) and outcomes (i.e., organizational commitment, mental health) on the other hand. Implications for the measurement and conceptualization of burnout and wor...
Burnout and work engagement: Independent factors or opposite poles?
Journal of Vocational …, 2006
Burnout researchers have proposed that the conceptual opposites of emotional exhaustion and cynicism (the core dimensions of burnout) are vigor and dedication (the core dimensions of engagement), respectively . We tested this proposition by ascertaining whether two sets of items, exhaustion-vigor and cynicism-dedication, were scalable on two distinct underlying bipolar dimensions (i.e., energy and identification, respectively). The results obtained by means of the non-parametric Mokken scaling method in three different samples (Ns = 477, 507, and 381) supported our proposal: the core burnout and engagement dimensions can be seen as opposites of each other along two distinct bipolar dimensions dubbed energy and identification.
Burnout and work engagement: Do individual differences make a difference?
Personality and …, 2006
The central aim of the present study among 572 Dutch employees was to examine whether burnout and its positive antipode-work engagement-could be differentiated on the basis of personality and temperament. We expected burnout to be characterized by high neuroticism and low extraversion, and engagement by low neuroticism and high extraversion. Additionally, we predicted that burnout would correlate negatively with the temperament traits (strength of excitation, strength of inhibition, and mobility), whereas work engagement would correlate positively. Discriminant analyses were used to distinguish burned-out and engaged employees from their non-burned-out and non-engaged counterparts, respectively. Results showed that high neuroticism is the core characteristic of burnout, whereas work engagement is characterized by low neuroticism in combination with high extraversion and high levels of mobility. Thus, personality and temperament make a difference as far as burnout and work engagement are concerned.
Does work engagement burn out? The person-job fit and levels of burnout and engagement in work
This research (N=943) examines the relationship between burnout, work engagement, and organizational factors that play an important role in the strain process (development of burnout), and in the motivational process (work engagement). The aim of the study is to test the relationships of burnout and work engagement, on the one hand, and organizational factors—job demands (workload) and job resources (control, relations with co-workers and superiors, rewards, fairness, and values)—on the other. The results of the analysis call into doubt whether burnout and work engagement are opposite poles of the same dimension, or whether they are independent, though correlated, constructs. Exhaustion and vigour are not the extremes of the same energy dimension, but in the case of cynicism and dedication, the situation is not so clear. It can be said that we are not dealing with the burnout of engagement, but rather with a change in attitude to work (increasing cynicism) on the part of people not suited to their jobs.
European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2020
Researchers have often debated whether burnout and work engagement are truly different concepts, or whether they are opposite poles of the same construct and therfore redundant. Recent perspectives postulate that they are both real and redundant. In this paper we examine these three competing views using a bifactor modelling approach. A sample of 1787 Argentine employees completed the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), and other work-related measures. Bifactor analysis showed that at the construct level, work engagement and burnout are not adequately represented by a single well-being dimension, indicating that they are distinct constructs. At the dimension level, vigour and exhaustion could not be accounted for by a general energy factor, meaning that these constructs are distinct rather than direct opposites of one energy continuum. In contrast, dedication and cynicism were substantially explained by a single identification factor, suggesting that they represent each other's opposite along an identification continuum. However, dedication and cynicism displayed a unique pattern of relationships with different external variables, implying that they are also real constructs. Collectively, the findings indicate that each of the competing views on the work engagement-burnout relationship has its merits. Implications for conceptualization and measurement are discussed.
This study aimed to investigate the interplay between burnout and work engagement. More specifically, we examined the energy and identification continua theorized to underlie the relationship between burnout and work engagement by simultaneously evaluating the factorial structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey (MBI–GS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Results from Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) offered little support for these continua, suggesting that burnout and work engagement are not diametrical counterparts. Moreover, ESEM significantly altered the relationships burnout and work engagement hold with job demands and resources (i.e., work overload, job autonomy, and recognition), as well as health-related (i.e., psychological distress) and moti-vational (i.e., turnover intention) outcomes. These findings shed new light on the health-impairment and motivational processes theorized by the JD-R model.
Organizational Predictors of Employees’ Burnout and Engagement Experiences
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Intervention and Applied Psychology (ICIAP 2018), 2019
This paper presents a model on how the degree of fit between a person and a work environment within the six areas of work life-including workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values-determines the extent to which the employee experiences what is described as engagement and burnout. A sample of 160 full-time Indonesian employees was involved in cross-sectional research. The data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of the Maslach's Burnout Inventory-General Survey, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and the Areas of Work-life Scale to measure employees' level of burnout and engagement, as well as the degree of congruence with their work environment. To explore the relationships among measured variables, the hypothesized models were tested using a structural equation model. The proposed model shows a good fit in which the result satisfies all the fit indices used. The influence of employees' match with workload, reward, community, and fairness on burnout was negative and statistically significant. A match in the workload had a positive, statistically significant influence on work engagement. Management must realize employees' degree of congruence with the work environment is an essential predictor of their engagement and burnout experience. This article complements the literature on occupational health psychology by explaining the degree of congruence with the work environment influences engagement and burnout level in the Indonesian workforce.
Empirical Assessment of the Constructs: Workplace Engagement, Job Burnout and Turnover Intention
There is a growing interest found in the study of workplace engagement and it has become a buzzword in the recent years. It is considered HRM's new best friend which is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. However, its paucity results in job burnout which is characterized by exhaustion, depersonalization and a diminished sense of professional accomplishment. Job burnout usually takes place due to erosion of engagement. Moreover, if the burnout issue remains unaddressed, it will ultimately lead the employees to quit and will make creating a congenial working environment an even bigger a challenge for today's managers. The objectives of this study are manifold: to find factorial validity of the original 17-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and 3-item Turnover Intention Scale by using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), to check the scores of respective sub-scales for good internal consistency, to test the proposed model through Path Analysis, and finally to establish validity and reliability of the constructs: workplace engagement, job burnout, and turnover intention in the context of Pakistan. For this study, cross-sectional data have been collected through convenience sampling from employees working in Karachi-based service oriented organizations. A Survey with 150 respondents was conducted and after data screening, 138 responses were found usable for analysis. The novel finding of this study was that more absorbed employees in their jobs do not face any kind of burnout syndrome in Pakistani context.
Work engagement and burnout: testing the robustness of the Job Demands-Resources model
The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2009
This study focuses on burnout and its positive antipode, work engagement, as well as their antecedents and consequences. According to the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model two different processes have to be distinguished: an energetic process that links job demands and health complaints via the mediating role of burnout and a motivational process that links job resources with turnover intention through work engagement. The robustness of the JD-R model was tested in a heterogeneous occupational sample (N = 956). Structural equation modeling analyses led to a slightly modified model with only exhaustion being indicative of burnout and vigor, dedication, absorption along with professional efficacy being indicative of engagement. The results provide evidence for the dipartite structure of the JD-R model. The mediating role of burnout and work engagement is, however, only partially confirmed because job demands and job resources directly affect health complaints and turnover intention. Multi-group analyses reveal the JD-R model to be invariant across age, gender and occupational level, underscoring the robustness of the model.