411

Burnout
Arnold B. Bakker1 and Ana Isabel Sanz-Vergel2
1
Erasmus University Rotterdam
2
Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia

I­ ntroduction

It was in the 1970s when Freudenberger (1974) first used the term burnout. With this
term, he wanted to describe the gradual emotional depletion and loss of motivation that he
observed among volunteers working for aid organizations in New York. Although
Freudenberger observed this phenomenon within a clinical context, after years of research,
it has been shown that burnout may occur in any working context.
In the 1980s, Maslach and colleagues (1981) interviewed human services workers in
California to find out how they handled stressful situations with clients. In the interviews,
the workers often used the word burnout when explaining how they felt interacting with
clients. However, they did not only show symptoms of emotional exhaustion but also
reported a lack of professional competence and they endorsed a negative, callous attitude
towards their clients. As a result, Maslach and her colleagues identified three core dimen-
sions of burnout:
●● Emotional exhaustion: feelings of being emotionally drained by one’s contact with other
people. This is the central strain dimension of burnout.
●● Depersonalization/Cynicism: a negative or excessively detached response toward these
people, who are the recipients of one’s service or care.
●● Lack of personal accomplishment: a decline in one’s feelings of competence and success-
ful achievement at work.
Nowadays, most scholars agree that exhaustion and cynicism are the core dimensions of
job burnout. Personal accomplishment develops largely independent of the syndrome and
is often excluded from the definition of burnout. Since burnout means that employees have
lost the motivation and ability to invest effort in their work, research has confirmed that
burnout is an important predictor of reduced performance, lower productivity, and reduced

The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences: Clinical, Applied, and Cross‐Cultural
Research, Volume IV, First Edition. Edited by Bernardo J. Carducci and Christopher S. Nave.
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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 412 Burnout

client satisfaction. Moreover, burnout has a negative impact on employee well-being and
psychological and physical health. It is therefore important to understand the possible
causes of burnout. These causes are related not only to the characteristics of the work itself,
but also to the way in which people experience their work and how they cope with difficult
work situations. Therefore, the study of personality and individual differences is crucial to
better understand the burnout syndrome.

­Personality and Burnout

Personality characteristics are relatively stable aspects of the self that can help to explain
why some individuals are more prone to experience burnout than others. Alarcon and col-
leagues conducted a meta-analysis in 2009 and after reviewing 114 samples they concluded
that the environment is not the only predictor of burnout. They focused on the Big Five
personality factors and found that all these factors were related to the different dimensions
of burnout. Individuals high in emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, and
agreeableness were less likely to experience exhaustion, cynicism, and lack of personal
accomplishment. Specifically, emotional stability was the most important predictor of
exhaustion and depersonalization, whereas extraversion was the most important predictor
of personal accomplishment. Finally, openness to experience was positively related only to
one dimension of burnout (personal accomplishment). Beyond the Big Five, there are
other personality factors that are also important to predict burnout. For example, optimism
reduces the likelihood of experiencing feelings of exhaustion and to develop a negative
attitude toward work (cynicism).
Therefore, regardless of the objective nature of the work environment, people tend to
perceive their job favorably or unfavorably, depending on their personality. We can take as
an example a specific work task: the submission of an important report. Individuals with
low emotional stability may view this task as stressful and threatening, because these peo-
ple have a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions such as anxiety or anger. However,
individuals with high emotional stability may view the same task as challenging and moti-
vating, because these people are usually calm and react favorably to demands. Apart from
the perception of the environment as stressful or challenging, individuals may also differ in
their ability to cope with job demands. Extraverts may be better able to cope with emotion-
ally demanding situations, because they have the skills to use coping strategies such as
seeking out social support and accepting help from others. Personality is indeed reliably
related to burnout.
Swider and Zimmerman (2010) used meta-analytic path modeling to investigate the rela-
tionships between Five-Factor Model personality traits and job burnout. Their results were
consistent with those of Alarcon, and showed that neuroticism (positive) and extraversion
(negative) were the most important predictors of emotional exhaustion, whereas
agreeableness was the most important predictor of depersonalization (negative).
Conscientiousness and openness hardly explained any meaningful and unique variance in
burnout. Furthermore, they found that job burnout partially mediated the relationships
between Five Factor Model personality traits and personnel turnover and job perfor-
mance, while fully mediating the relationships with absenteeism.

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 ­Personality versus Environmen  413

­Job Demands and Resources

The Job Demands-Resources theory developed by Bakker and Demerouti (2014;

Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001) proposes that burnout is the result of a
suboptimal work environment in which the job demands are too high, and job resources
are too low. Job demands are aspects of the job that require sustained physical, emotional,
or cognitive effort. Repeated confrontation with a high workload and emotionally chal-
lenging client interactions is draining and results in high levels of exhaustion. Job resources
are the ­physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that help to
achieve work goals, reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychologi-
cal costs, or stimulate personal growth, learning, and development. Resources such as sup-
port, feedback, task variety, and autonomy can be used to deal with high job demands, and
are also motivating in themselves. Employees who have access to an abundance of job
resources are typically engaged in their work and have a positive, enthusiastic attitude
toward work. However, when important job resources are missing, employees may develop
negative attitudes toward work (cynicism).
Thus, the combination of high demands and low resources is an important predictor of
burnout. This means that work environments can be designed such that the risk of burnout
is limited. For example, in 2005, Bakker, Demerouti, and Euwema conducted a study
among teachers who experienced job demands such as overload or work-home interfer-
ence. These teachers did not experience burnout when they had access to job resources
such as autonomy or social support. However, as discussed above, not only job demands
and job resources interact in predicting burnout – personality also plays an important role.

P
­ ersonality versus Environment

Since personality influences how employees perceive, select, and manage their work
environment, it can be argued that personality factors interact with job demands and
resources in predicting burnout. For example, since extravert individuals like to meet
other people, they become socially competent and may be better able to deal with high
emotional job demands. Their social competence will also help them to mobilize their
social job resources (e.g. social support, performance feedback, coaching, recognition),
which they can then use to deal with their job demands. Only a few studies have exam-
ined the interplay between personality and the work environment (i.e. job demands and
resources). Bakker and his colleagues (2006) found that volunteer counselors low in neu-
roticism were hardly influenced by negative interactions with clients, whereas those high
in neuroticism reported higher levels of exhaustion and depersonalization after negative
interactions with clients.
Extravert employees may also be better able to mobilize their job resources. Because
extraversion is characterized by a tendency to be self-confident and to have frequent and
intense personal interactions, extraverts are more likely to craft their social resources, i.e.
take the personal initiative to ask for help and feedback. Indeed, Bipp and Demerouti
(2014) found that employees scoring high on approach temperament were more likely to
seek job resources in their work environment such as opportunities for development and

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 414 Burnout

social support. Such resources can be used to protect oneself against the impact of high job
demands, and thus avoid burnout. Future research should more explicitly investigate the
interplay between personality, job demands, and resources.

­Future Directions in Burnout Research

Bakker and Costa (2014) have recently argued that burnout may be the result of an accu-
mulation of job demands and strain over time, whereby employees at risk of burnout start
to make mistakes and create problems that further add to the already high job demands.
They refer to self-undermining – a consistent pattern of undesirable behaviors in the work-
place that undermine job performance. Self-undermining may be the consequence of high
levels of job strain, and be the fuel of a loss cycle of high job demands and burnout. Future
research should try to measure such behaviors and investigate whether self-undermining is
an important behavioral predictor of burnout.
Recent research has indicated that burnout may be a slow process of daily symptoms
of exhaustion and cynicism that may fluctuate over time. Xanthopoulou and Meier
(2014) argue that levels of exhaustion and cynicism may vary from day to day, depending
on the daily work characteristics. Exhaustion may also be the consequence of certain
performance episodes during which employees need to deal with complex and highly
demanding tasks with little resources available – for example, a performance episode
that consists of a long business meeting with tough negotiations with clients. It is con-
ceivable that repeated confrontation with such performance episodes leads to an accu-
mulation of short-term fatigue, which may eventually translate into chronic exhaustion
and cynicism (i.e. burnout).
Future research may also focus on job crafting as a possible means of preventing and
reducing burnout. Recent studies have produced some promising results, suggesting
that employees can be trained to engage in job crafting – to proactively optimize their
own job demands and resources. Job crafting improves the fit between the individual
employee and his/her environment, reduces burnout, and facilitates work engagement
and job performance. It would be interesting to find out whether such job crafting
interventions are also effective among individuals who already suffer from high (clini-
cal) levels of burnout. Finally, it is important to take into account the role of recovery
from work-related stress. In her paper on “Strategies to Prevent Burnout,” Demerouti
(2015) highlights that psychological detachment, engaging in relaxing activities, or
engaging in activities with family and friends are all crucial strategies that can reduce
symptoms of burnout.

S
­ ee Also
Hopelessness
Individual Differences in Coping with Stress
Learned Helplessness

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 Further Reading  415

References

Alarcon, G., Eschleman, K. J., & Bowling, N. A. (2009). Relationships between personality
variables and burnout: A meta-analysis. Work & Stress 23, 244–263.
doi:10.1080/02678370903282600
Bakker, A. B., & Costa, P. (2014). Chronic job burnout and daily functioning: A theoretical
analysis. Burnout Research, 1, 112–119. doi:10.1016/j.burn.2014.04.003
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2014). Job demands – resources theory. In C. Cooper & P. Chen
(Eds.), Wellbeing: A complete reference guide (pp. 37–64). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., Euwema, M. C. (2005). Job resources buffer the impact of job
demands on burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10,170–180.
doi:10.1037/1076-8998.10.2.170
Bakker, A. B., van der Zee, K. I., Lewig, K. A., & Dollard, M. F. (2006). The relationship
between the Big Five personality factors and burnout: A study among volunteer counselors.
Journal of Social Psychology, 146, 31–50. doi:10.3200/SOCP.146.1.31-50.
Bipp, T., & Demerouti, E. (2014). Which employees craft their jobs and how? Basic dimensions
of personality and employees’ job crafting behavior. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/joop.12089
Demerouti, E. (2015). Strategies used by individuals to prevent burnout. European Journal of
Clinical Investigation, Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/eci.12494
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-
resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499 –512. doi:
10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499
Freudenberger, H. J. 1974. Staff burnout. Journal of Social Issues, 30, 159–165.
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). Maslach Burnout Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting
Psychology Press.
Swider, B. W., & Zimmerman, R. D. (2010). Born to burnout: A meta-analytic path model of
personality, job burnout, and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76, 487–506.
doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2010.01.003
Xanthopoulou, D., & Meier, L. (2014). Daily burnout experiences. Critical events and
measurement challenges. In M. Leiter, A. B., Bakker, and C. Maslach (Eds.), Burnout at
work: A psychological perspective (pp. 80–101). London and New York: Psychology Press.

Further Reading

Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2014). Burnout and job performance: The
moderating role of selection, optimization, and compensation strategies. Journal of
Occupational Health Psychology, 19, 96 –107. doi:10.1037/a0035062
Leiter, M. P., Bakker, A. B., & Maslach, C. (2014). Burnout at work: A psychological perspective.
London and New York: Psychology Press.
Schaufeli, W. B., & Enzmann, D. (1998). The burnout companion to study and practice: A critical
analysis. London: Taylor & Francis.

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