On Fire or Burned-Out?: The Role of Self-Monitoring on Burnout in the Workplace

Author

Elizabeth Marie Ellis, University of North FloridaFollow

Year

2020

Season

Spring

Paper Type

Master's Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

NACO controlled Corporate Body

University of North Florida. Department of Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Christopher Leone

Second Advisor

Dr. Paul Fuglestad

Department Chair

Dr. Lori Lange

Abstract

Workplace burnout (i.e., exhaustion, disengagement, lack of professional efficacy) produces turnover which, in turn, increases costs (personnel recruitment, selection, training) for businesses (Maslach et al., 2001). Job demands predict workplace exhaustion whereas job resources predict workplace cynicism (Demerouti et al., 2001). Burnout is also related to individual differences in personality (Alessandri et al., 2018). In the present study, we explore the potential mediating effect of demands and resources on the connection between self-monitoring (Fuglestad & Snyder, 2010; Wilmot et al., 2015) and burnout. Self-monitoring can be conceptualized as either a single, dichotomous variable (Snyder, 1974) or two, continuous variables: protective and acquisitive (Wilmot et al., 2015). Using Amazon' s Mechanical Turk Participants System (MTurk), we recruited 109 employees from mid- to large-sized companies. Participants completed one measure of self-monitoring (Snyder, 1974), two measures of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005; Maslach et al., 2001), and one measure of job demands and resources (Bakker, 2014). Mediation was assessed using Hayes’ PROCESS model (Hayes, 2013). No direct relationship between self-monitoring (all types) and burnout was found. An indirect effect -mediated by job resources - was found for univariate as well as acquisitive self-monitoring and burnout. No indirect effects were found for protective self-monitoring and burnout when controlling for age. Results were replicated across both burnout measures. Our findings offer a theoretical and empirical addition to the literature on self-monitoring and the workplace (Day & Schleicher, 2006) as well as workplace burnout (Maslach et al., 2001).

Suggested Citation

Ellis, Elizabeth Marie, "On Fire or Burned-Out?: The Role of Self-Monitoring on Burnout in the Workplace" (2020). UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 952.
https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/952