Patterns of job-related affect and their relation with burnout syndrome: cross-sectional and longitudinal studies

Abstract

Backgrounds. Taxonomy of job-related well-being (Bakker & Oerlemans, 2011), including the relationship between affect and indicators of health, requires empirical verification. The aim of the study is the identification of affective patterns and their relationship with job burnout. Affective patterns are a configuration of four groups of affect as a function of valence and arousal (Russell, 2003). The bottom-up paradigm from the inner layers (affect) to outer layers of occupational well-being (job burnout) is applied. Methods. Two cross-sectional and one longitudinal studies (average time 6 weeks) were conducted in a group of police officers (n=391) and two heterogeneous group of employees (n=271 and n=151). The Job-related Affective Well-being Scale and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory were used. Two-steps cluster analyses (Silhouette method) and the ANOVA (bootstrapping method with 95% confidential interval) were applied. Findings. The results showed three affective patterns that these cause in the level of job burnout in a police officers and a heterogeneous group of employees. Individuals of positive affective pattern were not burned out (flourishing group). In contrast, employees of negative affective pattern were burned out. They had a high level of exhaustion and disengagement (languishing group). Individuals represented mixed affective pattern demonstrating a moderate level of job burnout (realistic group). In the longitudinal study, these groups were different from each other in the level of future exhaustion, but not in disengagement. Discussion. The bottom-up paradigm revealed that exhaustion can be the most vulnerable to affective experience at work. Founding. The National Science Centre, Poland, UMO-2015/17/B/HS6/04178