Abstract
M.Phil. (Industrial Psychology)
Burnout remains a popular area of research because of its costs to employers and employees. Research has shown that burnout occurs when there are high demands and low resources available in the workplace. But the development of burnout is dependent on both the work environment and individual factors. It is therefore necessary to consider both aspects when investigating burnout. In this study the focus is on the individual by investigating the relationship between burnout and personality traits. Two objectives were formulated: (a) to investigate the relationship between the five personality factors (i.e. Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) and burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism), to gain a specific understanding of which of the five-factors are related to burnout and to determine if the results replicate what was found in previous studies, and (b) to investigate the relationship between each five-factor facets and burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism). These two objectives hold important implications for understanding potential causes of burnout.
To investigate the relationship between the five-factor facets and burnout the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Scale and The Basic Traits Inventory were administered to 127 adults in South Africa. Pearson’s correlation coefficients and multiple regression were used to analyse the relationships between the variables. These analyses showed that Neuroticism had a positive relationship with emotional exhaustion and cynicism. There was also evidence that Conscientiousness was negatively related to emotional exhaustion and cynicism and that Openness to Experience was positively related to cynicism. At the facet level, all of the facets of Neuroticism were positively related to emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Extraversion as a whole was not related to burnout but at the facet level positive affectivity had a negative relationship with emotional exhaustion and excitement seeking had a positive relationship with emotional exhaustion. Results show that for Openness to Experience the facet of values had a positive relation to cynicism. The overall trait of Agreeableness had a non-statistically significant relationship with burnout, however, the facet of straightforwardness was negatively related to cynicism.