Burnout research最新文献

Past research has frequently cast doubts on the theoretical and empirical distinction between the concepts of work engagement and burnout. Drawing on cross-sectional survey data from 1535 Dutch police officers, the current study examined (a) the associations among the two core dimensions of burnout (i.e. exhaustion and cynicism) and work engagement (vigor and dedication); and (b) the concurrent and discriminant validity of these dimensions by relating these four dimensions to various important job demands and job resources. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the distinction between burnout and engagement is elusive. Moreover, although the indicators of burnout and those of engagement differed in terms of their job-related correlates, these patterns of associations only partly supported previous theorizing on the antecedents of burnout and engagement. We conclude that burnout and engagement are to a large degree overlapping concepts and that their conceptual and empirical differences should not be overestimated.

The distinctiveness between work engagement and burnout has long been an issue of debate. To address this issue, we use a recently developed technique by Yu et al. (2016) to specify and test a meta-analytic structural equation model (MASEM) which accounts for the non-independence between engagement and burnout as well as the simultaneous effects of all relationships in our model, based on job demands-resources (JD-R) theory. We also estimate the degree of variability of these relationships across subpopulations. We report the findings as a distribution of effect size estimates—each estimate in the distribution representing the true effect size for a potential subpopulation—around the mean average estimate for each relationship in the model. Based on the findings, we conclude that overall burnout and engagement display empirically distinct relationships within the JD-R model (i.e., they are not antipodal), particularly in terms of antecedents. Perhaps most interestingly, rather than a polar opposite pattern of relationships, challenge demands have a similarly positive relationship to both burnout (ß = 0.35, SD = 0.10) and engagement (ß = 0.35, SD = 0.08), suggesting that challenge demands simultaneously lead—in equal force—to both engagement and burnout. In addition, the distributions of effect sizes are nearly identical for both relationships. As expected, hindrance demands have a positive relationship with burnout (ß = 0.31, SD = 0.10) and have a relatively weak, negative relationship on average to engagement (ß = −0.07, SD = 0.07); work resources have a negative relationship with burnout (ß = −0.15, SD = 0.06) and are positively related to engagement, but in absolute terms they are a stronger predictor of engagement (ß = 0.33, SD = 0.05). In terms of outcomes, burnout and engagement predict a variety of behavioral and attitudinal outcomes differentially from one another, although the differences are less clear due to wide variation in effect sizes in the population. Future research directions are discussed alongside practical implications.

Understanding of the mutual developmental dynamics between burnout and work engagement is limited due to the lack of longitudinal studies with long follow-ups and multi-wave data. This study sought to identify subgroups of employees characterized by long-term exhaustion-vigor (energy continuum) and cynicism-dedication (identification continuum). A further important aim was to investigate differences between the identified subgroups in their experiences of progress in their personal work goals. Five-wave, eight-year follow-up data among Finnish white-collar professionals (n = 168) were studied using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). The analysis yielded three exhaustion-vigor subgroups: 1) “Low stable exhaustion – high stable vigor” (n = 141), 2) “Fluctuating exhaustion and vigor” (n = 19), and 3) “Stable average exhaustion – decreasing vigor” (n = 8). Three subgroups were also found for cynicism-dedication: 1) “Low stable cynicism – high stable dedication” (n = 124), 2) “Increasing cynicism – decreasing dedication” (n = 27), and 3) “Decreasing cynicism – increasing dedication” (n = 17). Exhaustion and vigor were found to be stable and mutually exclusive experiences for the great majority of the participants. However, mean changes were also detected – especially in vigor – but these were rare. A notable finding was that the levels of and changes in cynicism and dedication showed opposite trends in each subgroup: among the majority of the participants (74%), the levels of cynicism and dedication were stable and inversely related, while among one-third their levels simultaneously changed in the reverse direction. The most successful progress in personal work goals was found in the groups described by the identification continuum, i.e., in the groups of “Low stable cynicism – high stable dedication” and “Decreasing cynicism – increasing dedication”.

Currently, burnout (BU) and work engagement (WE) and are considered different forms of workplace well-being, negatively related that might even co-occur, or as direct opposites and mutually exclusive. These contrasting views generate difficulties regarding the true nature of the relationship between the two concepts. In the present paper, we aim at clarifying this issue by testing the cross-lagged effects between BU and WE. We conducted systematic database searches using keywords relevant for WE, BU and design type (e.g., longitudinal), and we found 25 eligible research studies (N_total = 13271 participants). The selected papers a) reported a longitudinal research study; b) included measures of BU and WE, and c) reported the correlation matrix between BU and WE at all measurement moments. First, we used meta-analytical formulas to compute the averaged correlations between BU and WE. Second, we used the averaged effects to complete a correlation matrix, which was used to test the cross-lagged effects between BU and WE, using structural equations modeling. On the entire sample of studies, we found insignificant cross-lagged effects between BU and WE. However, when the time-lag between the two measurement moments was used as a moderator, significant reciprocal cross-lagged effects were found between exhaustion and WE, at 12-month time lag. Notably, it appears that the validity of causal perspective depends on the size of the time lag.

This theoretical paper differentiates work engagement from the burnout concept by using a task-level perspective. Specifically, I argue that work engagement (i.e., the experience of vigor, dedication and absorption, Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) emerges during the process of working. It does not only differ between persons and does not only fluctuate from one day to the other (or even within the course of a day), but can vary largely between different work tasks. Burnout (and particularly exhaustion) as a chronic state does not differ from one work task to the other. I describe task features derived from the job characteristics model (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) as predictors of task-specific work engagement and discuss interaction effects between task features on the one hand and job-level social and personal resources on the other hand. I outline possible avenues for future research and address practical implications, including task design and employee's energy management throughout the workday.

Burnout has adverse health and work-related outcomes but there is no consensus how to treat it. We systematically reviewed controlled studies evaluating the effects of individually- and occupationally-focused interventions on burnout symptoms or work status among workers suffering from burnout. Of 4430 potential abstracts, 14 studies reporting the effects of 18 interventions fulfilled the pre-set criteria. Fourteen interventions were individually-focused and four had combined individual and occupational approaches. The specific contents of the interventions varied considerably and the results were mixed. Meta-analysis of four individually-focused RCT interventions did not present effects on exhaustion and cynicism. Meta-analysis on the effect of combined interventions or on return to work could not be conducted. Tackling burnout needs more systematic intervention development and evaluation. The evaluation of interventions would benefit from consensus on definition and assessment of burnout.

This study investigated the cross-lagged associations between work engagement and burnout, and life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, their demands (i.e., workload) and resources (i.e., servant leadership, self-efficacy, resilience) and relationships with occupational health outcomes (i.e., recovery, number of mental health diagnoses, workaholism). This study is a part of an ongoing Occupational Health Study in which 1 415 employees (586 men, 829 women) were followed twice during two years 2011–12 through their occupational health services. The participants filled in a questionnaire on their work engagement, burnout symptoms, well-being, personal and work environmental resources and demands, and occupational health. The results showed that spillover existed, in particular, from work engagement to depressive symptoms (negatively), and to life satisfaction (positively) and from depressive symptoms to work engagement (negatively), and to burnout (positively). Work engagement was also negatively associated with work burnout, and depressive symptoms were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Moreover, servant leadership was positively associated with work engagement, which, in turn, was positively associated with high life satisfaction and recovery, and negatively associated with work burnout and depressive symptoms. High workload, in turn, was positively associated with burnout and depressive symptoms, which, in turn, were further positively associated with increased mental health diagnoses, and negatively associated with recovery.

Latent profile analysis, with two large datasets, was used to identify multiple person-centered profiles across the burnout – engagement continuum, as assessed by the three dimensions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Five profiles emerged from this analysis: Burnout (high on all three dimensions), Engagement (low on all three), Overextended (high on exhaustion only), Disengaged (high on cynicism only), and Ineffective (high on inefficacy only). Each of these profiles showed a different pattern of correlates with organizational variables. The Disengaged profile was more negative than Overextended, and closer to the Burnout profile, which argues against the use of exhaustion alone as a proxy for burnout. The results have important implications for theory, research, and interventions.