Active and passive regulatory attitudes and reactions to psychological burnout

This study examines the relationship between employee attitudes toward regulatory enforcement and psychological burnout. Subjects were approximately 1200 federal employees specializing in natural resource conservation through regulatory enforcement. The results reveal significantly different attitudes toward enforcement of environmental laws that were found to be significantly related to experienced psychological burnout. These differing attitudes (active versus passive enforcement) were also found to vary by phase of burnout. These research findings provide opportunity to offer specific intervention strategies for ameliorating abnormally high levels of burnout.