Burnout and Work Engagement of Academics in Higher Education Institutions: Effects of Dispositional Optimism

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among dispositional optimism, job demands and resources, burnout, work engagement, ill health and organizational commitment of South African academic staff in higher education institutions. A cross‐sectional survey design was used, with stra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Stress and health 2014-10, Vol.30 (4), p.322-332
Main Authors: Barkhuizen, Nicolene, Rothmann, Sebastiaan, van de Vijver, Fons J. R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Burnout
Burnout, Professional - psychology
Commitments
Cross-Sectional Studies
dispositional optimism
Education
engagement
Faculty
Female
Higher education
Humans
ill health
job resources
Job Satisfaction
Male
Middle Aged
Personality traits
Random Allocation
South Africa
Staff
Surveys and Questionnaires
Work - psychology
Workload - psychology
Young Adult
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Summary:The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among dispositional optimism, job demands and resources, burnout, work engagement, ill health and organizational commitment of South African academic staff in higher education institutions. A cross‐sectional survey design was used, with stratified random samples (N = 595) taken of academics in South African higher education institutions. The results confirmed that job demands and a lack of job resources contributed to burnout, whereas job resources contributed to work engagement. Dispositional optimism had a strong direct effect on perceptions of job resources as well as strong indirect effects (via job resources) on burnout, work engagement, ill health and organizational commitment. The results of this study extend the dual‐process model of burnout and engagement by demonstrating the strong effects of dispositional optimism on the constructs in the model. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1532-3005
1532-2998
DOI:10.1002/smi.2520