A Review and an Integration of Research on Job Burnout

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Abstract
Burnout is a unique type of stress syndrome, characterized by emo- tional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal ac- complishment. Although burnout has been shown to be potentially very costly in the helping professions, such as nursing, education, and social work, little work has been done thus far to establish its generalizability to industry. This article reviews the literature on burnout and provides a conceptual framework designed to improve the understanding of burnout. Propositions are presented that are aimed at clarifying the dynamics of burnout, including determinants of and interrelationships among the three burnout components. Empirical evidence has shown that burnout has important dysfunc- tional ramifications, implying substantial costs for both organizations and individuals because of, for example, increases in turnover, absen- teeism, reduced productivity, and human considerations (Jackson & Maslach, 1982; Leiter & Maslach, 1988; Shirom, 1989). That same research points out the need to understand the many factors and conditions that contribute to burnout in a wide variety of service, industrial, and corpo- rate settings. The effective implementation of individual, managerial, and organizational practices to deal with burnout critically depends on managers' clear and accurate understanding of the construct. The purposes of this article are to examine the construct of burnout, to consider how this construct has evolved, and to provide an overview of the literature on the antecedents and consequences of burnout. In addi- tion, propositions are presented regarding the process of burnout, the determinants of burnout, and the interrelationships among the burnout components. The study of burnout has been unnecessarily limited to the helping professions, but it is experienced by a variety of occupational groups beyond nurses, teachers, and social workers. This article points to a more widespread occurrence of burnout than has previously been dis-