How do stressors lead to burnout? The mediating role of motivation.
We extend existing stressor-strain theoretical models by including intrinsic motivation as a mediator between well-established job stressors and burnout. Though the link between situational stressors and burnout is well established, little is known about mechanisms behind this relationship. With a sample of 284 self-employed individuals, we examined motivation as a mediator to explain why situational factors impact 3 dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. Motivation is an explanatory mechanism that drives human behavior and thought, and thus may have an impact on important well-being outcomes. As expected, intrinsic motivation was a full mediator for the effect of perceived fit on the inefficacy dimension of burnout. Unexpectedly, neither perceived fit nor motivation was related to the other 2 dimensions of burnout, and role ambiguity had only a direct effect on the inefficacy dimension; it was also unrelated to exhaustion and cynicism. We discuss implications of these findings for researchers as well as for practitioners.
Rubino
Cristina
C
University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. crubino@uh.edu
Luksyte
Aleksandra
A
Perry
Sara Jansen
SJ
Volpone
Sabrina D
SD
D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D003625:Data Collection; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006686:Hobbies; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012380:Role; D012649:Self Concept; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology