Professional paper
Personality, organizational stress, and attitudes toward work as prospective predictors of professional burnout in hospital nurses
Jasna Hudek-Knežević
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Barbara Kalebić Maglica
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Nada Krapić
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
Aim To examine to what extent personality traits (extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism,
and openness), organizational stress, and attitudes toward
work and interactions between personality and either organizational
stress or attitudes toward work prospectively
predict 3 components of burnout.
Methods The study was carried out on 118 hospital nurses.
Data were analyzed by a set of hierarchical regression
analyses, in which personality traits, measures of organizational
stress, and attitudes toward work, as well as interactions
between personality and either organizational stress
or attitudes toward work were included as predictors,
while 3 indices of burnout were measured 4 years later as
criteria variables.
Results Personality traits proved to be significant but weak
prospective predictors of burnout and as a group predicted
only reduced professional efficacy (R2 = 0.10), with
agreeableness being a single negative predictor. Organizational
stress was positive, affective-normative commitment
negative predictor, while continuance commitment
was not related to any dimension of burnout. We found
interactions between neuroticism as well as conscientiousness
and organizational stress, measured as role conflict
and work overload, on reduced professional efficacy
(βNRCWO = -0.30; ßcRCWO = -0.26). We also found interactions
between neuroticism and affective normative commitment
(β = 0.24) and between openness and continuance
commitment on reduced professional efficacy (β = -0.23),
as well as interactions between conscientiousness and
continuance commitment on exhaustion.
Conclusion Although contextual variables were strong
prospective predictors and personality traits weak predictors
of burnout, the results suggested the importance of
the interaction between personality and contextual variables
in predicting burnout.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
71472
URI
Publication date:
15.8.2011.
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