The Energy and Identification Continua of Burnout and Work Engagement: Developmental Profiles Over Eight Years

This study sought to identify subgroups of employees characterized by long-term exhaustion-vigor (energy continuum) and cynicism-dedication (identification continuum). A further important aim was to investigate differences between the identified subgroups in their experiences of progress in their personal work goals. Five-wave, eight-year follow-up data among Finnish white-collar professionals (n =168) were studied using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). The analysis yielded three exhaustion-vigor subgroups: 1) “Low stable exhaustion – high stable vigor” (n =141), 2) “Fluctuating exhaustion and vigor” (n =19), and 3) “Stable average exhaustion – decreasing vigor” (n =8). Three subgroups were also found for cynicism-dedication: 1) “Low stable cynicism – high stable dedication” (n =124), 2) “Increasing cynicism – decreasing dedication” (n =27), and 3) “Decreasing cynicism – increasing dedication” (n =17). Exhaustion and vigor were found to be stable and mutually exclusive experiences for the great majority of the participants. However, mean changes were also detected – especially in vigor – but these were rare. A notable finding was that the levels of and changes in cynicism and dedication showed opposite trends in each subgroup: among the majority of the participants (74%), the levels of cynicism and dedication were stable and inversely related, while among one-third their levels simultaneously changed in the reverse direction. The most succe...

Source: Burnout Research - April 29, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research