When do job demands particularly predict burnout?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on home care organization employees, and examine how the interaction between job demands (emotional demands, patient harassment, workload, and physical demands) and job resources (autonomy, social support, performance feedback, and opportunities for professional development) affect the core dimensions of burnout (exhaustion and cynicism). Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were tested with a cross-sectional design among 747 Dutch employees from two home care organizations. Findings – Results of moderated structural equation modeling analyses partially supported the hypotheses as 21 out of 32 (66 per cent) possible two-way interactions were significant and in the expected direction. In addition, job resources were stronger buffers of the relationship between emotional demands/patient harassment and burnout, than of the relationship between workload/physical demands and burnout. Practical implications – The conclusions may be particularly useful for occupational settings, including home care organizations, where reducing or redesigning demands is difficult. Originality/value – The findings confirm the JD-R model by showing that several job resources can buffer the relationship between job demands and burnout.

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