1. Burnout and Emotional Exhaustion
By: Emily Tang and Jannisse Castro

2. Keywords
High-Involvement Work Practices (HIWPs) → set of broad practices used to improve employee performance and increase skills and motivation
Role Conflict → when the expectations/demands of one’s work role are incompatible
Role Overload → when demands of one’s work role exceeds resources available to them
Role Ambiguity → when one’s work role is unclear

3. What is Burnout?
A state of severe mental fatigue which is portrayed by 3 dimensions
Emotional Exhaustion: feeling overextended & emotionally drained
Depersonalization/Cynicism: feeling detached from your work; showing insensitive or uncaring attitudes towards job, performance, or those associated with the job
Inefficacy: a sense of ineffectiveness or feelings of reduced personal accomplishment

4. What is Burnout? Most often seen in healthcare settings
3 Types of Job Demands are associated with burnout:
Role Conflict
Role Overload
Role Ambiguity

5. Survey Study
Main Question: How are perceived HIWPs related to the experience of
burnout?
HIWPs
P - Empowerment (Autonomy)
I - Information Sharing
R - Reward
K - Training/Development linked to
acquiring knowledge and skills

6. Survey Study Canadian general hospital Sample Size (N) = 545 employees
Likert Scale: (1) Strongly Disagree ⟺ (7) Strongly Agree
9 Categories → 39 Statement Items
Empowerment (Autonomy)
Information Sharing
Reward
Training/Development
Role Conflict
Role Overload
Role Ambiguity
Emotional Exhaustion
Depersonalization
HIWPs
Job Demands
Burnout

7. Item Examples
“Employees are regularly informed about major projects in our organization”
“In our organization, we have access to the resources needed to improve our skills”
“I feel little enthusiasm for the work that I do”
“Exceptional contributions of employees are formally recognized”

8. Positive Perceptions of High-Involvement Work Practices
Relationship Model --
Role
Conflict + --
Emotional
Exhaustion +
Positive Perceptions of High-Involvement Work Practices + --
Role
Overload +
Depersonalization
Role
Ambiguity --

9. Takeaway
High-Involvement Work Practices are shown to have the potential to alleviate or eliminate burnout in healthcare fields
Positive Perceptions of HIWPs → Decreases burnout possibility
Different professions = Different approaches

10. Effect of HRM Attributions
Relationship between employee perceptions of HRM practices & employee well-being
Employee Exhaustion

11. Employee Exhaustion Investigate two discrete attributions:
HRM-performance attributions
employees’ belief that the underlying purpose of HRM practices is to maximise employee performance
HRM-cost attributions
employees’ belief that the underlying purpose of HRM practices is to reduce organisational costs

12. HRM Attribution Theory
Concerned with how people attach meaning to external events
In HRM context
Employees react to HRM practices‘ based on the attributions they make about management’s purpose in implementing the actual HR practices
Selection interviews & Performance appraisals

13. Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory
Describes the motivation that drives humans to both maintain their current resources and to pursue new resources
In HRM context:
The accumulation of resources enables people to invest and re-invest resources in their work.
Employees experience emotional exhaustion when they have depleted resources

15. Hypothesis’
Employee attributions that HRM practices are designed to increase their performance
Job involvement
2. Job involvement
Emotional exhaustion
3. Job involvement mediates the relationship between HRM performance
attributions and emotional exhaustion

16. Hypothesis’
Employee attributions that HRM practices are designed to decrease organisational costs
Work overload
2. Work overload
Emotional exhaustion
3. Work overload mediates the relationship between HRM cost
attributions and emotional exhaustion

17. Survey Study Questions measured: HRM attributions Job involvement
A Construction and Consultancy Organization
3 Divisions: 671 employees
1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) scale
First Study
414 surveys; response rate of 62%
Second Study
180 surveys; response rate of 43.5%
Questions measured:
HRM attributions
Job involvement
Work overload
Emotional exhaustion

18. Measures: HRM Attributions
2 variables: HRM performance & HRM cost attributions
Selected HRM practices with theoretical precedence
Training and development, selection processes and reward systems
Performance appraisal & employee participation
HRM Cost Attributions:
6.1% = low levels
70% = medium levels
23.9% = high levels
HRM Performance Attributions:
3.3% =low levels
51.7% =medium levels
45% =high levels

19. Age/Managerial Responsibilities
Measures
Job Involvement
9 item scale
Work Overload
6 item scale
Emotional Exhaustion
3 item scale
Control Variables
Gender
Age/Managerial Responsibilities

20. Conclusion
When employees believed that HRM practices were designed to enhance their job performance.
More involved in their job
emotional exhaustion
When employees believed that HRM practices were designed to reduce organisational costs
Workload was burdensome
emotional exhaustion

21. Takeaways Promote job involvement
Facilitate annual employee surveys
Create a culture that fosters continuous development
Increase employee participation in decision-making
Act on the feedback
Provide training and/or coaching