Lecture 8 Burnout and Work Engagement Flashcards
(16 cards)
Burnout
is a syndrome characterized by:
1. Emotional exhaustion
→ Feeling of being emotionally drained
2. Depersonalization/Cynicism
→ Distant attitude toward work in general
3. Lack of personal accomplishment/Reduced professional efficacy
→ Decline in one’s feelings of competence and successful achievement at work (social and non-social aspects)
How to measure burnout?
Classic way to measure burnout is using the Maslach Burnout Inventory which measures: exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy.
The newer option is using the oldenburgh burnout inventory which measures exhaustion and disengagement.
Dimensional approach
high to low exhaustion
Categorical/diagnostic approach
- involves fixed threshold values
- upper quartile of exhaustion and cynicism as well as the bottom quartile of personal accomplishment can lead to burnout
- cut-off scores were arbitrary and calculated by splitting the normative population into 3rds → score high due to being in the upper 3rd percentile of the population
- not recommended to use
Profile approach
- engaged, ineffective, overextended, disengaged, burnout. calculated using standardized values of the 3 dimensions.
- these profiles can inform the design of burnout interventions
- ineffective profile: loss of confidence in abilities and need more recognition for good work
- overextended profile: exhaustion due to long work hours or disruption, so solution involving workload is needed
Distal outcomes of JDR?
turnover intentions, health problems (depression, CVD, psychosomatic complaints)
Work engagement
a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption
1. Vigor → high levels of energy and mental resilience while
working, willingness to invest effort in one’s work, and
persistence even in the face of difficulties (opposite of exhaustion)
2. Dedication → being strongly involved in one’s work and
experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, and challenge (opposite of cynicism)
3. Absorption → being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in
one’s work, whereby time passes quickly
Personal resources
These are psychological characteristics or aspects of the self. They are:
* Functional in accomplishing work goals
* Stimulate personal growth and development
What are the relationships that personal resources have with the JD-R model?
- Direct effects on wellbeing
- Moderation of the relation between job characteristics and wellbeing
- Mediation of the relation between job characteristics and wellbeing
- Direct effects on the perception of job characteristics
- Personal resources as a third variable
Examples of personal resources
extraversion, intrinsic motivation, optimism, regulatory focus, resilience and self-efficacy. There will always be variation as we have our own lens in which we look through the world. This theory explains pretty much everything, making it difficult to falsify.
Other relationships?
Positive correlation between job demands and strain. Work-related constructs spilled over into non-work constructs. Like work engagement has a significant association with depressive symptoms
Criticisms of JD-R model?
- strength: can be used to predict a lot of constructs, but does not help with specific predictions
- always assume a linear association
- should be presented as an individual-level rather than applying to organizations
What is the role of health?
Issues with baseline health conditions can affect health and functioning. Sometimes have to adapt to the new reality.
1/4 of the EU population have physical or mental health conditions. People are having more autoimmune diseases, and the population is becoming older generally.
Health is mainly seen as an outcome like burnout, or can be a distal outcome. Very one-sided as work can result in health in JD-R model.
Health is also viewed as an energy resource in COR theory. So loss of resources can weigh heavier than a resource gain. Resources need to be invested to protect against resource loss, recover from losses, and gain resources.
How is health status an energy resource?
Investing energy can facilitate other types of resources.
- illness severity can lead to loss of financial resources
- physiological reactions to stress can be impaired depending on the health condition
- threat of loss can lead to unpredictability of many conditions
- disease management/burden of treatment
What are the hypotheses Cook and Zill, 2023?
- autoimmune illness symptom severity explains variance in employee burnout above and beyond the effects of job demands and resources
- autoimmune illness symptom severity explains variance in work engagement above and beyond the effects of job demands and resources
- both of these reflect incremental validity
- 1st study : employed people with inflammatory bowel disease
- 2nd study : employed people with multiple sclerosis
- treated with heavy medication, goes into remission and gets worse over time
- just inflammation which can affect the brain and affects the insulation of nerves
What are the results of Cook and Zill, 2023?
- IBD symptom severity is positively associated with exhaustion and total burnout score
- IBS symptom severity explains more variance in exhaustion than the demands and resources
- smaller association between IBD/IBS and disengagement
- symptom severity explains more than job demands and resources
- people with diseases found the demands to be higher and the resources to be lower
- symptom severity has a negative association with vigour
- important to investigate health conditions for burnout
- MS symptom severity explains variance in burnout above and beyond job demands and resources, and exhaustion, explains less variance in disengagement
