This daily diary study aims to expand the understanding of workplace embitterment (i.e. an emotional response to unjust work experiences) by determining its daily antecedents and consequences. By drawing on the stress-as-offense-to-self theory and the recovery literature we hypothesise that daily illegitimate (i.e. unnecessary and unreasonable) tasks (ITs) relate positively to daily embitterment. We argue that this relationship weakens on days employees experience higher appreciation from colleagues and supervisors than usual. Further, we expect daily ITs to relate positively and indirectly with work-related rumination (i.e. affective rumination, problem-solving pondering) and negatively and indirectly to psychological detachment via enhanced embitterment particularly on days employees experience lower appreciation. Seventy-one employees completed a diary for up to five consecutive workdays twice daily: at the end of the workday and bedtime. Daily unreasonable tasks related positively to embitterment, while higher appreciation from colleagues was found to mitigate this positive relationship. Finally, unreasonable tasks related positively to affective rumination and negatively to detachment via increased embitterment but only on days when appreciation from colleagues was lower than usual. This study expands the nomological network of workplace embitterment and highlights its relevance for understanding daily employee wellbeing.
Burnout, or physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from chronic workplace stress, is highly prevalent and of high consequence. Most U.S. workers (60%) report experiencing at least one symptom of burnout, and symptoms pose a significant threat to worker performance, worker wellbeing, and workplace operation. Despite burnout's detrimental effects, limited research considers the development of burnout over the early career stage. Applying time-stress exposure and initial impact models, this study uses the Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families (FSPSF; n = 1,019 individuals, n = 3,424 observations), a statewide, longitudinal cohort study of newly-hired child protective services (CPS) workers, to consider burnout symptoms from 6 months to 3 years on the job. Multi-level mixed effects regression analyses indicated the curvilinear nature of both work - and client-related burnout symptoms over time; the two-year, protective benefit of changing child welfare jobs; and the importance of job attributes in explaining protective effects of job change for work-related, but not client-related, burnout. Findings suggest the importance of targeted strategies to lower burnout (e.g. supervisory support, within-agency job change) particularly after 12-24 months on the job at the peak of burnout symptoms.
This concluding rejoinder responds to the commentaries of De Witte and Schaufeli (2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2025.2468715), Demerouti and Bakker (2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2025.2473385), and Leiter and Day (2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2025.2473152) on our original paper, "Beliefs About Burnout." After clarifying potential points of confusion, we delve into the history of burnout to contextualise the controversies that surround the construct. We note that burnout emerged as a largely predefined entity - an entity whose cause and symptoms were specified before any systematic research was conducted. We then emphasise the need for stricter adherence to the burden-of-proof principle in debates about burnout. We take stock of the disagreements that cut across the field in an effort to reflect on its future. As a general recommendation, we propose shifting the focus from burnout to the core manifestations of human distress - depressive and anxiety symptoms. We contend that the burnout construct offers a truncated view of job-related distress, neglecting crucial features such as worker suicidality and hindering the identification of individuals experiencing clinically significant symptoms. We see little justification for maintaining such a limiting framework. Finally, we underline that the attempt to preserve a distinct "niche" for burnout is at odds with current integrative approaches to psychopathology.
Previous research has found that job demands can have a negative effect on employee physical activity after work. However, the evidence has been mixed and inconclusive. Here, we argue that this is due to most previous studies treating job demands as a broad composite variable, encompassing qualitatively different aspects of job demands. Blending the ideas of the challenge-hindrance framework with the physical-activity-mediated-Demand-Control model, we hypothesise that day-level hindrance demands are negatively related to physical activity, whereas we do not assume such a relationship for challenge demands. Furthermore, drawing on self-regulation research, we argue that the effect of day-level hindrance demands on physical activity is mediated by temporary self-regulatory capacity. We analysed data from 208 employees who participated in a 14-day experience sampling study including two daily reports. Our results support the hypothesis that day-level hindrance demands, but not challenge demands, are negatively related to physical activity. Furthermore, temporary self-regulatory capacity mediated the relationship between hindrance demands and physical activity. In conclusion, our findings highlight the importance of differentiating between challenge and hindrance demands for advancing our theoretical understanding of job demands as predictors of employee physical activity after work. In addition, our research contributes to refining the pamDC model.
Drawing on stress-as-offense-to-self (SOS) theory and dynamic stressor-strain perspectives, we develop and test a model of reciprocal relations between illegitimate tasks and employee wellbeing. Across two preregistered longitudinal studies with n = 1,734 and n = 1,037 employees, we examine how illegitimate tasks and negative affect as well as physical and mental health are related to one another over time. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models indicated that illegitimate tasks were positively related to negative affect and negatively related to physical and mental health at the between-person level of analysis. The assumed within-person dynamics were partially supported. In Study 1, unreasonable tasks were positively associated with high-activated negative affect over the following six months, and vice versa. In Study 2, illegitimate tasks were positively related to next-month anger, depression, and fatigue and negatively related to next-month physical health. Furthermore, anger was positively related to next-month illegitimate tasks, whereas anxiety unexpectedly predicted reduced unnecessary tasks. Overall, evidence for associations between unreasonable tasks and wellbeing was stronger compared to unnecessary tasks. These findings advance the understanding of the directionality of relations between illegitimate tasks and impaired wellbeing and suggest the need for future research to account for dynamic, within-person relations among these variables.
Illegitimate tasks (ITs) are a common workplace stressor, often perceived as undermining work meaning. However, recent research suggests ITs may also foster self-determined behaviour. Yet, little is known about how this range of reactions occurs, as previous studies take a static approach, neglecting the variable nature of ITs and the role of prior experiences. Given ITs' everyday presence, understanding its full range of consequences is crucial for research and practice. This study examines when ITs promote adaptive behaviours, taking a dynamic perspective on how fluctuations in ITs influence workplace outcomes. Drawing on an energetic-resource framework, we argue that variability in ITs (VIIT) prompts employees to strategically reallocate resources, influencing job crafting - adjusting their work to align with personal goals. Our theoretical framework accounts for response heterogeneity, providing a mechanism for the dynamic regulation of adaptive behaviour. Thus, ITs can, under specific conditions, enhance meaningful work. A 10-day diary study (250 employees, 1,803 observations) supports this argument. We find that higher VIIT predicts greater average meaningfulness via job crafting. At the daily level, prior-day ITs strengthen the job crafting - meaningful work relationship. These results challenge the conventional view of ITs and highlight the importance of capturing their dynamic nature.
Burnout, a phenomenon extensively studied over the past 50 years, has gained recognition as an occupational phenomenon by the World Health Organisation. It is characterised by three dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy, resulting from chronic workplace stress. While Bianchi and Schonfeld (2025, Beliefs about burnout. Work & Stress, 1-19) argue that burnout overlaps with depression, we take a different stance. We acknowledge the pitfalls of burnout research and suggest how to uncover valid indicators that make it distinct from depression. Our approach emphasises the workplace as the origin of burnout. To advance the field, we propose moving beyond mere measurement and exploring robust theoretical frameworks and innovative methodologies. These efforts can shed light on the complex mechanisms underlying burnout, revitalising our understanding and management of this syndrome.
This article critically examines the misconception that burnout is unrelated to work conditions, arguing that such a stance perpetuates a harmful tradition of absolving exploitative and poorly managed workplaces of responsibility for employee distress. This perspective disregards a well-established body of research on burnout, leading to distorted interpretations of empirical data. While individuals may experience distress across multiple life domains, this does not negate the significant role that workplace conditions play in the development of burnout. The failure to acknowledge these systemic factors results in analytical missteps, including the erroneous conflation of burnout with clinical depression. Although both conditions share some symptomatic overlap, they remain distinct in terms of etiology, diagnostic criteria, and intervention strategies. By equating burnout with a medicalized framework of individual pathology, organizations and policymakers obscure the structural and managerial deficiencies that contribute to workplace stress. This article highlights the necessity of maintaining conceptual clarity in burnout research to ensure that interventions target the organizational factors that drive burnout rather than reducing the issue to an individualized psychological disorder. A more accurate understanding of burnout is essential for designing evidence-based policies and workplace reforms that promote employee wellbeing and sustainable work environments.
In their commentary, [Bianchi, R. & Schonfeld, I. (2025. Beliefs about burnout. Work & Stress)] discuss three beliefs about burnout and state that these "rest on insufficient evidence": (1) burnout is primarily predicted by work-related factors; (2) a burnout epidemic exists; and (3) burnout can be differentiated from depression. We argue that the authors' presentation of these ideas runs the risk of not only throwing the baby out with the bathwater but also throwing away the bathtub. Our rejoinder first of all emphasises the need to distinguish between (typically mild) burnout complaints, and burnout disorder (or "clinical burnout"). We conclude that there are compelling empirical grounds to consider both burnout complaints and burnout disorder to be work related. Next, we present evidence that burnout complaints increased slightly over time, whereas clinical burnout is rather exceptional and stable, suggesting that the notion of a "burnout pandemic" is indeed overstated. Finally, conceptual and empirical evidence and evidence from clinical practice indicates that both burnout complaints and burnout disorder can be meaningfully differentiated from depression. We conclude that a nuanced debate is preferable to a simplistic rejection of burnout, based on both conceptual and empirical grounds and the relevance of the burnout concept for practice.
In this study we examine whether and why daily work stressors are associated with sleep quality and sleep quantity. We draw on the effort-recovery model to test daily relationships between challenge and hindrance work stressors and sleep through physical and psychological fatigue, and vigor. We analyze daily diary data from 98 working sole mothers collected over seven days. The within-person daily hypotheses linking challenge and hindrance stressors to sleep via energetic mediators in our model were not supported. Exploratory analysis revealed several of our hypotheses were supported at the between-person level. Challenge and hindrance stressors were differentially related to psychological fatigue and physical fatigue such that hindrance stressors were positively associated, and challenge stressors were negatively associated. Challenge and hindrance stressors were differentially related to vigor such that hindrance stressors were negatively associated, and challenge stressors were positively associated. Across individuals, challenge and hindrance stressors were indirectly related to sleep quantity through these energetic mediators. This study answers calls for more investigations into mechanisms linking work stressors and sleep, and emphasises the importance of examining phenomena at multiple levels of analysis. Theoretical and practical implications for the challenge-hindrance framework and effort-recovery model, including the appropriate timeframe for study, are discussed.
Up to 80% of workplace injuries and accidents are attributed to human error. In safety-critical occupations like firefighting, vigilant safety behaviour is essential to prevent avoidable incidents. While safety climate is known to foster safe behaviour, it remains unclear whether individual personality traits weaken this effect. Drawing on the theory of purposeful work behaviour, we explore how extraversion and conscientiousness influence the pathway through which safety climate impacts safety behaviour via safety motivation. We collected three waves of survey data from 322 firefighters across 46 fire stations in Malaysia. Using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) and the Monte Carlo method, we tested the hypothesised moderation and mediation effects. Results show that safety climate indirectly influenced safety compliance through safety motivation but had no effect on safety participation. No evidence was found to support the moderating role of personality in the safety climate-behaviour relationship. These findings align with the theoretical principle that organisational safety norms play a significant role in shaping safety motivation and behaviour, regardless of individual personality traits. The study underscores the importance of senior management in promoting firefighter safety behaviour, sustaining motivation, and fostering desirable safety outcomes.
The Occupational Depression Inventory (ODI) reflects a novel approach to job-related distress anchored in depression research. To date, the extent to which the ODI exhibits measurement invariance across countries, languages, and demographics is unclear. Measurement invariance refers to whether a measure has the same structure, or meaning, across groups of interest. Measurement invariance is thus crucial for between-group comparisons and study replicability. This study estimated the measurement invariance of the ODI across 14 countries - Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA - and 10 languages as well as across sexes and age groups (pooled N = 12,589). We found evidence for complete measurement invariance (configural, weak, strong, and strict) across countries, languages, sexes, and age groups. Looking into the invariance of structural parameters, we found latent variance-covariance invariance to hold across countries, languages, and sexes and to be equivocal across age groups. Expectedly, the levels of occupational depression, as indexed by latent means, varied within the four categories. Our results indicate that the ODI behaves similarly across countries, languages, sexes, and age groups. Our findings support the use of the ODI with respondents having different cultural backgrounds and individual characteristics.
It is commonly believed that job autonomy has a positive impact on employee well-being and protects workers from strain. However, an emerging counter-narrative challenges this assumption and identifies ways in which greater job autonomy has negative impacts, especially for jobs that already have substantial autonomy. Contributing to this debate, our longitudinal study disaggregates stable, between-person variation in job autonomy from dynamic, within-person change in job autonomy over a multi-year period with a sample of Church ministers. We argue that experiencing high and stable job autonomy is conceptually distinct from experiencing an increase in one's job autonomy; the former being positive for worker well-being while the latter often represents a form of role stress. We develop a two-level model tested by a random-intercept crossed-lagged panel analysis. We find that workers with higher job autonomy than others tend to have lower emotional exhaustion at the between-person level. Also at this level, trait positive affect and, more weakly, trait self-efficacy account for variance in aggregate levels of job autonomy and emotional exhaustion. Our model then evidences the counter-view that within-person increases in job autonomy are followed by greater emotional exhaustion. Implications for extending theory on within-person change in well-being are discussed.
Accumulating empirical evidence suggests that citizenship pressure (CP) in the workplace, the pressure to engage involuntarily in citizenship behaviour, has a detrimental effect on both the individual employee and the organisation. Personal coping strategies for dealing with CP can alleviate the negative effects. The purpose of this study was to develop a context-specific, reliable, and valid measure that could assess specific coping strategies individuals use to deal with CP in the workplace. We conducted a comprehensive inductive and deductive methods that included, firstly, a qualitative procedure of interviews, data analysis, and initial scale generation, and secondly, a quantitative process of construct validation of the measure. The factor structure yielded a 16-item measure, based on EFA and CFA, providing initial support for the utility of the measure as a self-report instrument of coping strategies to deal with CP. The analysis revealed a two-factor structure that describes conceptually meaningful patterns of coping: self-reliance vs. reliance on others. The former depicts nine strategies in which employees solely rely on themselves when coping with CP; and the latter depicts seven strategies in which employees rely on others' advice, support, or empathy to deal with CP. Applications, limitations, and implications for future research are discussed.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) profoundly permeated employees' day-to-day jobs, offering benefits like improved communication and flexibility, but also posing challenges such as interruptions and the blurring of boundaries between work and personal life. The state of being "always on" takes a toll on employees' mental well-being and job satisfaction. In response, digital disconnection emerged as a strategy for individuals to intentionally limit their use of electronic devices and digital applications. However, limited research exists on digital disconnection within the context of work, and a proper measurement tool is lacking. We address this by introducing the Employee Digital Disconnection Scale (EDDS), a multifaceted measurement tool that captures various disconnective behaviours. The EDDS encompasses three contexts of digital disconnection: disconnecting from work-related ICTs outside of work, disconnecting from private ICTs during work, and disconnecting from work-related ICTs during work. Across five studies, we develop the scale, demonstrate its strong psychometric properties, and explore its associations with stress coping, psychological detachment, concentration, and responsiveness, among other factors. The EDDS serves as a valuable instrument for future research on digital disconnection in the workplace, enabling empirical studies on the antecedents and consequences of digital disconnection on employee well-being and performance.
Burnout has garnered considerable attention from occupational health specialists for nearly 50 years. In this paper, we discuss three beliefs about burnout that remain ill-supported despite their popularity among researchers and their importance for burnout research. The three beliefs are the following: (a) work-related factors are the prime predictors of burnout; (b) burnout is a condition of epidemic magnitude in contemporary society; (c) burnout is not a depressive condition. As we examine these widely held views, we outline possible paths to clarification to aid future research. We close our commentary by recommending that researchers be vigilant about the risk of drawing premature conclusions about burnout.
This study aims to clarify what are the short-term effects of customer incivility on targeted employees' self-esteem and job satisfaction. We hypothesised that daily customer incivility reported at the end of the previous workday would predict decreases in next-day morning employees' self-esteem. In turn, lowered self-esteem would be related to lower job satisfaction levels at the end of the same workday. Additionally, we predicted that the link between lowered self-esteem and lowered job satisfaction would be weaker for employees who engaged more in deep acting. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a daily study on 144 customer-contact employees. Participants completed online questionnaires for 31 days reporting their morning self-esteem levels, together with evening customer incivility and job satisfaction levels. The data were analysed using dynamic structural equation models that allow examining intra-person time series trends, on a day-to-day level, while estimating individual differences therein. Consistent with our predictions, the results provided evidence for the short-term detrimental effects of customer incivility on next-day job satisfaction through lowered self-esteem and for the buffering role of deep acting. Service employees could benefit from training aimed at strengthening their self-esteem and skills on how to handle misbehaving customers effectively.
