Burnout and depressive symptoms are not primarily linked to perceived organizational problems. Issue 9 (21st October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bianchi, Renzo; Mayor, Eric; Schonfeld, Irvin Sam; Laurent, Eric
• Is Part Of: Psychology, health & medicine. Volume 23:Issue 9(2018)
• Page Start: 1094
• Page End: 1105
• Publication Date: 2018-10-21
• Subjects: Job stress -- neuroticism -- occupational health -- personality -- relative weight analysis; Medicine and psychology -- Periodicals; Clinical health psychology -- Periodicals; 610
• DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2018.1476725
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1354-8506

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this 257-participant study (76% female; mean age: 44.84), we examined two ideas that are widespread among burnout researchers: (a) the idea that burnout is primarily related to occupational-level factors; and (b) the idea that burnout should be considered a sentinel indicator in research on negative occupational outcomes. We investigated the links between burnout and a series of generic and work-related variables, namely, depressive symptoms, neuroticism, extraversion, effort-reward imbalance in the job [ERI], social support at work (SSW), and turnover intention. Burnout was assessed with the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure, depressive symptoms with the PHQ-9, neuroticism and extraversion with the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, ERI with the 10-item version of the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, SSW with the Job Content Questionnaire, and turnover intention with a dedicated 3-item measure. Correlation, multiple regression, and relative weight analyses were conducted. Burnout was not found to be more strongly linked to organizational and work-contextualized variables than to personality traits. In addition, turnover intention was not associated to a greater extent with burnout than with ERI. Burnout and depressive symptoms were highly correlated and exhibited overlapping nomological networks. Overall, our findings question the way burnout has been generally conceived.