title: The reciprocal relationship between work characteristics and employee burnout and engagement: a longitudinal study of firefighters.
abstract: The paradigm of this study is positive occupational psychology, with the job demands-resources model as the research model and the Conservation of Resources theory as the general stress theory. The research design analyses the job demands-resources model's dynamic nature with normal and reversed causation effects between work characteristics and psychological well-being among Portuguese firefighters. In addition, we analyse a positive (engagement) dimension and a negative (burnout) dimension in the firefighters' well-being, because previously, studies have merely focused on the strain or stress of these professionals. The research questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 651 firefighters, and a two-wave full panel design was used. Cross-lagged panel analyses indicated that the causal direction of the relationship between organizational demands and burnout is reciprocal. Also, we found that the reciprocal model, including cross-lagged reciprocal relationships between organizational demands/supervisory support and burnout/engagement, respectively, is what fits the data best. Practical implications to develop organizational change programmes and suggestions for future research regarding the promotion of occupational health are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Psicologia, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Ângelo
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chambel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D061388:Firefighters / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D016272:Occupational Health; D011174:Portugal; D012944:Social Support; D040921:Stress Disorders, Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014937:Work; D016526:Workload
keywords: burnout; engagement; stress management; traumatic stress/disaster relief operations