Burnout is more strongly linked to neuroticism than to work-contextualized factors

Burnout has been regarded as a negative affective state resulting from unresolvable job stress. A widespread idea among burnout researchers is that burnout is primarily linked to work-contextualized factors, and only limitedly dependent on general dispositional factors. The validity of this view, however, remains unclear. This 1,759-participant study addressed the issue of whether burnout is more strongly associated with effort-reward imbalance in the job (ERI) and job support than with personality traits neuroticism and extraversion. Burnout was assessed with the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure, ERI with the 10-item version of the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, job support with the Job Content Questionnaire, and neuroticism and extraversion with the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Correlation, multiple regression, and relative weight analyses consistently indicated that burnout was primarily linked to neuroticism. Relative weight analysis revealed that the variance in burnout was explained to a much greater extent by neuroticism (53.46%) than by ERI (31.85%) or supervisor and coworker support (5.47% and 2.97%, respectively). Supervisor and coworker support did not explain more variance in burnout than extraversion (6.25%). This study questions the idea that work-contextualized factors outweigh general dispositional factors in burnout. The relevance of personality trait indicators may have been underestimated in burnout research.