Job Resources Buffer the Impact of Job Demands on Burnout

• Published in: Journal of occupational health psychology Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 170 - 180
• Main Authors: Bakker, Arnold B, Demerouti, Evangelia, Euwema, Martin C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Educational Publishing Foundation 01-04-2005
• Subjects: Autonomy; Burnout, Professional - psychology; Chi-Square Distribution; Cynicism; Emotional States; Employee Attitudes; Fatigue; Feedback; Female; Human; Humans; Job Burnout; Job Demands; Job Performance; Job Resources; Male; Models, Theoretical; Occupational Diseases - psychology; Occupational Stress; Personal Autonomy; Regression Analysis; Self-Regulation; Social Support; Work Load; Workload - psychology
• ISSN: 1076-8998; 1939-1307
• DOI: 10.1037/1076-8998.10.2.170

This study tested and refined the job demands-resources model, demonstrating that several job resources play a role in buffering the impact of several job demands on burnout. A total of 1,012 employees of a large institute for higher education participated in the study. Four demanding aspects of the job (e.g., work overload, emotional demands) and 4 job resources (e.g., autonomy, performance feedback) were used to test the central hypothesis that the interaction between (high) demands and (low) resources produces the highest levels of burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, reduced professional efficacy). The hypothesis was rejected for (reduced) professional efficacy but confirmed for exhaustion and cynicism regarding 18 out of 32 possible 2-way interactions (i.e., combinations of specific job demands and resources).