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The Reciprocal Relationship Between Work Characteristics and Employee Burnout and Engagement: A Longitudinal Study of Firefighters
Author(s) -
Ângelo R. P.,
Chambel M. J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
stress and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1532-2998
pISSN - 1532-3005
DOI - 10.1002/smi.2532
Subject(s) - burnout , work engagement , reciprocal , psychology , occupational burnout , occupational stress , work (physics) , longitudinal study , work environment , employee engagement , social psychology , job satisfaction , applied psychology , developmental psychology , emotional exhaustion , clinical psychology , medicine , public relations , political science , physics , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , thermodynamics
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. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.