Relationships between personality variables and burnout: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Most burnout research has focussed on environmental correlates, but it is likely that personality factors also play an important part in the development of burnout. Previous meta-analyses, however, have been limited in scope. The present meta-analysis examined the relationship between personality and three dimensions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI): emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Consistent with our hypotheses, self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control, emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, positive affectivity, negative affectivity, optimism, proactive personality, and hardiness, each yielded significant relationships with burnout. Type A Personality, however, was only related to personal accomplishment. Furthermore, regression analysis found that core self-evaluations, the Five-Factor Model personality characteristics, and positive and negative affectivity explained significant variance in each of the burnout dimensions. Finally, moderator analyses found several instances in which the strength of personality–burnout relationships depended upon whether burnout was assessed with the Human Services Survey of the MBI or the General Survey version of the MBI. It is concluded that employee personality is consistently related to burnout. Given the practical importance of employee burnout, it is recommended that personality variables be included as predictors in future research on burnout.     

WHAT DRIVES SECOND GENERATION SUCCESS? THE ROLES OF EDUCATION,CULTURE, AND CONTEXT

I explore differences in intergenerational income mobility among second generation Australians—why do some communities do better or worse than would be expected from first generation incomes alone? I present a new decomposition of this exceptional income mobility, finding exceptional educational mobility drives many of these differences. Drawing on rich survey and test score data, I provide evidence that educational mobility partly reflects a role for culture—but also the wider context of migration. In particular, migrants facing higher first generation income penalties tend to aspire to and acquire more education, and see it as more important to success. (JEL J62, F22, I2)     

Celiac disease in North America: the disabling experience

Diagnosed as having celiac disease during my final year of undergraduate studies at McGill University, in the spring of 2005, my identity and lifestyle have undergone a transformative process. In this article I examine my experience of having celiac disease post-diagnosis, using the social model of disability framework. I examine the barriers that persons having celiac disease experience, both generally and personally. At the general level I explore the parallels between the experience of having celiac disease and the experience of being disabled: culturally, environmentally and financially. At the personal level I recount the emotional experience of being disabled.     

Taxation and pricing when consumers value freedom

Suppose that beyond valuing the goods he consumes, a person also values freedom, which increases with the number of different bundles he can afford. We show that citizens may therefore favor proportional taxes over lump-sum taxes, progressive taxes over proportional taxes, quantity rationing over price increases, and fixed fees allowing unlimited use of a service.See, for instance, Nozick (1974) and Rawls (1971), although they disagree on the meaning of freedom.     

VERTICAL SEPARATION INCREASES GASOLINE PRICES

I examine the relationship between vertical separation and gasoline stations' prices and sales. The endogeneity of stations' organizational forms is addressed using both panel methods and an instrumental variables strategy. Controlling for the endogeneity of form, I find that vertical separation raises margins by 25%–45% but does not have a statistically significant impact on output. I interpret these results as suggesting that vertical separation induces local agents to exert effort in ways that increase consumers' demand. (JEL L14, L24, L81)     

A Swiss‐Army Knife? A Critical Assessment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Ghana

Within the current global atmosphere where a universally accepted police force is nonexistent, there are several voluntary norms and codes of conduct that exist to guide how corporations behave worldwide. These have come as a result of many years of poor performance in the areas of social, financial, and environmental responsibility. Such norms are expected to prescribe and proscribe certain types of corporate behavior but when one examines the reality on the ground, the story is not that straightforward. This article assesses the effectiveness of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the Ghanaian context with a focus on the mining sector. Based on primary qualitative data the argument is that even though the EITI is performing some function, it has ways to go before it can become an across‐the‐board viable tool for transparency and proper accountability. Five prevailing weaknesses are discussed to underscore this case.     

DO NEWSPAPERS SERVE THE STATE? INCUMBENT PARTY INFLUENCE ON THE US PRESS, 1869–1928

Using data from 1869 to 1928, we estimate the effect of party control of state governments on the entry, exit, circulation, prices, number of pages, and content of Republican and Democratic daily newspapers. We exploit changes over time in party control of the governorship and state legislatures in a differences‐in‐differences design. We exploit close gubernatorial elections and state legislatures with small majorities in a parallel regression‐discontinuity design. Neither method reveals evidence that the party in power affects the partisan composition of the press. Our confidence intervals rule out modest effects, and we find little evidence of incumbent party influence even in times and places with high political stakes or low commercial stakes. The one exception is the Reconstruction South, an episode that we discuss in detail.     

Population Growth,Development and the Environment

When Population Studies was founded in 1946 a main preoccupation of demographers and of the public was the prospective decline of the British population, and the falling off of its quality because on the average a poor family had more children than a better-off one. Over the course of the 50 years interests have shifted to the aging of populations as births decline and mortality improves; immigration, immigrants being welcomed for the decades after the war, and subsequently facing hostile political pressures; environmental degradation and the spread of new diseases. The fall in the birth rate, required both for development and for protection of the environment, is spreading from the original industrialized countries of Europe and America to Asia, somewhat more slowly to Latin America, slowest of all to Africa.     

Seeing What You Want to See: How Imprecise Uncertainty Ranges Enhance Motivated Reasoning

In this article, we consider a novel criterion for evaluating representations of uncertainty ranges, namely, the extent to which a representation enhances motivated reasoning. In two studies, we show that perceptions of the distribution underlying ambiguous numerical ranges are affected by the motivations and worldviews of end users. This motivated reasoning effect remained after controlling for objective numeracy and fluid intelligence but was attenuated when the correct interpretation was made clear. We suggest that analysts and communicators explicitly consider the potential for motivated evaluation when evaluating uncertainty displays.     

Predicting Social Wariness in Middle Childhood: The Moderating Roles of Childcare History, Maternal Personality and Maternal Behavior

Children with behavioral inhibition, a temperamental style characterized by infant distress to novelty and childhood social reticence, exhibit both continuity and discontinuity of this behavioral trait over the course of development. However, few researchers have identified factors that might be responsible for these different patterns. In the current study, childcare history, maternal personality, and maternal behavior were examined as moderators of the relations between infant temperament, preschool social reticence, and childhood social wariness. Seventy-seven children participated in this longitudinal study that began in infancy and continued into middle childhood. Maternal negative personality moderated the relation between infant temperament and childhood social wariness. In addition, maternal behavior moderated the relation between preschool social reticence and childhood social wariness. The findings suggest that a complex interplay of within-child and maternal factors affect the development of internalizing behavior in the early school years.