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Job control and burnout across occupations
Toon W Taris1, Jeroen Stoffelsen, Arnold B Bakker
1Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, The Netherlands. t.taris@psych.ru.nl
Psychological Reports
|March 4, 2006
Summary
Low job control is linked to burnout in individuals. This study found that differences in job control between occupations also predict burnout rates across different professions.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health Psychology
- Organizational Behavior
Background:
- Individual workers with low job control report higher burnout.
- The relationship between occupational-level job control and burnout rates is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if differences in job control between occupations correlate with burnout rates.
- To determine if occupational-level job control explains individual and occupational burnout differences.
Main Methods:
- Survey data from 9,503 workers across 28 occupations in The Netherlands.
- Burnout measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory.
- Occupational job control assessed by eight expert judges.
Main Results:
- Occupational job control showed an inverse correlation with burnout.
- Job control differences between occupations accounted for 16% of the variation in occupational burnout.
- A systematic relationship exists between between-occupation job control and burnout.
Conclusions:
- Differences in job control between occupations are systematically related to burnout rates.
- Job control is a significant factor at both individual and occupational levels influencing burnout.