Share:


Coping with burnout? Measuring the links between workplace conflicts, work-related stress, and burnout

    Evelina Danauskė Affiliation
    ; Agota Giedrė Raišienė Affiliation
    ; Renata Korsakienė   Affiliation

Abstract

Purpose. The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship between workplace conflicts and employee burnout.
Design/methodology/approach. The survey method was chosen, and the questionnaire was posted online to share among Lithuanian employees. Finally, 495 employees completed the questionnaire, which included four parts: questions about workplace conflicts, burnout, burnout due to conflicts, and consequences of burnout. Statistical analysis was used to process the research data.
Findings. The study revealed that the more conflicts employees have with clients, colleagues, or managers, the more burnout they experience as a consequence. Furthermore, conflicts with colleagues have the strongest relationship with consequences of burnout which are not as unambiguous as they may also be the outcome of burnout.
Research limitations/implications. The study was conducted in Lithuania and revealed the conflict-induced burnout of employees and the consequences of the burnout they face.
Practical implications. Understanding the links between conflict at work and burnout let organizational leaders prioritize conflict resolution, pay more attention to the mental health of employees, and protect the organization from the costly consequences of burnout.
Originality/Value. This study reveals the consequences of labour conflicts not only in the context of burnout but also in its consequences which allow to understand the real threat of disputes.

Keyword : burnout, workplace conflicts, consequences of burnout, burnout due to conflicts, conflicts with co-workers

How to Cite
Danauskė, E., Raišienė, A. G., & Korsakienė, R. (2023). Coping with burnout? Measuring the links between workplace conflicts, work-related stress, and burnout. Business: Theory and Practice, 24(1), 58–69. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2023.16953
Published in Issue
Feb 3, 2023
Abstract Views
2090
PDF Downloads
1536
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Akca, M., & Küçükoğlu, M. T. (2020). Relationships between mental workload, burnout, and job performance: A research among academicians. In Evaluating mental workload for improved workplace performance. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-1052-0.ch003

Akoglu, H. (2018). User's guide to correlation coefficients. Turkish Journal of Emergency Medicine, 18(3), 91–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjem.2018.08.001

Aronsson, G., Theorell, T., Grape, T., Hammarström, A., Hogstedt, C., Marteinsdottir, I., Skoog, I., Träskman-Bendz, L., & Hall, C. (2017). A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and burnout symptoms. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 264. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4153-7

Aukštikalnytė, E. (2021). Burnout and workplace conflicts from an employee perspective. Contemporary Research on Organization Management and Administration, 9(1), 18–31. https://repository.mruni.eu/handle/007/17467

Bates, S., McIlwrath, M., Howell, R., & Phillips, I. (2022). Dispute and conflict: Finding stability in uncertain times. The Resolver: The Quarterly Magazine of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, 2, 11–12. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18158137

Bekešienė, S. (2015). Duomenų analizės SPSS pagrindai: mokomoji knyga. LKA.

Benitez, M., Leon-Perez, J. M., Orgambídez, A., & Medina, F. J. (2021). Interpersonal conflicts in the unit impact the service quality rated by customers: The mediating role of work-unit well-being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(15), 8137. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18158137

Brummans, B. H., Higham, L., & Cooren, F. (2022). The work of conflict mediation: Actors, vectors, and communicative relationality. Human Relations, 75(4), 764–791. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726721994180

Cortez, P. A., Zerbini, Th., & da Silva Veiga, H. M. (2019). Work context and burnout: Confirmation of moderators from meta-analysis evidence [Contexto de Trabajo y Burnout: Confirmación de Los Moderadores En Meta-Análisis]. Revista Psicologia: Organizações e Trabalho, 19(4), 755–761. https://doi.org/10.17652/rpot/2019.4.17499

Datagame. (2021). Likert question best practices. Survey design, BioCentric.Inc. https://datagame.io/likert-question-best-practices/

Deep, S., Othman, H., & Mohd Salleh, B. (2016). Potential causes and outcomes of communication conflicts at the workplace – a qualitative study in Pakistan. Journal of Management Info, 3(3), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.31580/jmi.v11i1.54

Demirel, E. E., & Erdirençelebi, M. (2019). The relationship of burnout with workaholism mediated by work-family life conflict: A study on female academicians. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(4), 1300–1316. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.668436

Edú-Valsania, S., Laguía, A., & Moriano, J. A. (2022). Burnout: A review of theory and measurement. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1780. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031780

Ellbin, S., Engen, N., Jonsdottir, I. H., & Nordlund, A. I. K. (2018). Assessment of cognitive function in patients with stress-related exhaustion using the cognitive assessment battery (CAB). Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 40(6), 567–575. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803395.2017.1388359

Fuente‐Solana, E. De la, Suleiman‐Martos, N., Velando‐Soriano, A., Cañadas-De la Fuente, G., Herrera‐Cabrerizo, B., & Albendín‐García, L. (2021). Predictors of burnout of health professionals in the departments of maternity and gynaecology, and its association with personality factors: A multicentre study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 30(1–2), 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15541

Ghanem, A. (2021). Organizational conflict and job burnout of Egyptian hotels employees. Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality, 20(3), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.21608/jaauth.2021.66488.1149

Haryanto, B., Suprapti, A. R., Taufik, A., & Fenitra, R. M. (2022). Moderating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between work conflict and employee performance. Cogent Business & Management, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2105578

Jaramillo, F., Mulki, J. P., & Boles, J. S. (2011). Workplace stressors, job attitude, and job behaviors: Is interpersonal conflict the missing link? Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 31(3), 339–356. https://doi.org/10.2753/PSS0885-3134310310

Jeung, D.-Y., Kim, Ch., & Chang, S.-J. (2018). Emotional labor and burnout: A review of the literature. Yonsei Medical Journal, 59(2), 187–193. https://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2018.59.2.187

Kalani, S. D., Azadfallah, P., Oreyzi, H., & Adibi, P. (2018). Interventions for physician burnout: A systematic review of systematic reviews. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 9(1), 81. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_255_18

Kanios, A., & Bocheńska-Brandt, A. (2021). Occupational burnout among workers in the long-term care sector in relation to their personality traits. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, 34(4), 491–504. https://doi.org/10.13075/ijomeh.1896.01636

Khalid, S., Fatima, I., & Khan, W. (2016). Types of conflicts in doctors in private and public sector hospitals. Annals of King Edward Medical University, 22(2), 139–143. https://doi.org/10.21649/akemu.v22i2.1298

Khan, K., Hussainy, S. K., & Iqbal, Y. (2016). Causes, effects, and remedies in conflict management. The South East Asian Journal of Management, 10(2), 4. https://doi.org/10.21002/seam.v10i2.7733

Koo, B., Yu, J., Chua, B.-L., Lee, S., & Han, H. (2020). Relationships among emotional and material rewards, job satisfaction, burnout, affective commitment, job performance, and turnover intention in the hotel industry. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 21(4), 371–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008X.2019.1663572

Lafta, A. H. (2016). Conceptualizing workplace conflict from diverse perspectives. Journal of Business and Management, 4(1), 49–53.

Leon-Perez, J. M., Antino, M., & Leon-Rubio, J. M. (2016). The role of psychological capital and intragroup conflict on employees, burnout and quality of service: A multilevel approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01755

Leon-Perez, J. M., Medina, F. J., Arenas, A., & Munduate, L. (2015). The relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(3), 250–263. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-01-2013-0034

Lin, P.-Y., Chang, Ch.-Ch., Tung, Ch.-Y., Chu, W.-H., & Tong, F.-G. (2021). Risk factors of prehypertension and hypertension among workers at public elderly welfare facilities in Taiwan. Medicine, 100(8), e24885. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000024885

Looff, P., Cornet, L., Embregts, P., Nijman, H., & Didden, R. (2018). Associations of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity in job stress and burnout: A systematic review. PloS One, 13(10), e0205741. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205741

Mačiulis, A., & Sondaitė, J. (2017). Personalo vadovo išgyvenimai sprendžiant konfliktus organizacijoje. Socialiniai tyrimai, 40(2), 34–43. https://doi.org/10.21277/st.v40i2.193

Maslach, Ch., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Chapter 43 – Burnout. In Stress: Concepts, cognition, emotion, and behavior (pp. 351–357, Vol. 1). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800951-2.00044-3

Maslach, Ch. (2018). Job burnout in professional and economic contexts. In A. Ariyanto, H. Muluk, P. Newcombe, F. Piercy, K. Poerwandari, & S. H. Suratijono, Diversity in unity: Perspectives from psychology and behavioral sciences (pp. 11–15). CRC Press/Balkema. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315225302-2

Maslach, Ch., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397–422. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397

Michinov, E. (2022). The moderating role of emotional intelligence on the relationship between conflict management styles and burnout among firefighters. Safety and Health at Work, 13(4), 448–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2022.07.001

Misiolek-Marín, A., Soto-Rubio, A., Misiolek, H., & Gil-Monte, P. (2020). Influence of burnout and feelings of guilt on depression and health in anesthesiologists. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9267. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249267

Moukaddam, N., Parks, K., Le, H., Khawaja, L., & Shah, A. A. (2020). Burnout and suicide among physicians during times of stress. Psychiatric Annals, 50(12), 536–541. https://doi.org/10.3928/00485713-20201103-02

Nappo, N. (2020). Job stress and interpersonal relationships cross country evidence from the EU15: A correlation analysis. BMC Public Health, 20, 1143. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09253-9

Naseer, S., & Raja, U. (2022). Why does workplace bullying affect victims’ job strain? Perceived organization support and emotional dissonance as resource depletion mechanisms. Current Psychology, 40, 4311–4323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00375-x

Oh, V. Y. S. (2022). Torn between valences: Mixed emotions predict poorer psychological well-being and job burnout. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23, 2171–2200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00493-z

Oficialiosios statistikos portalas. (2021). Population and its composition. https://osp.stat.gov.lt/paieska?p_p_id=101&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=maximized&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-1&p_p_col_count=1&_101_struts_action=%2Fasset_publisher%2Fview_content&_101_assetEntryId=2922663&_101_type=content&_101_urlTitle=temines-lenteles-gyventoja-1&redirect=%2Fpaieska%3Fq%3Dpopulation%2520size

Okech, J. A., Pimpleton-Gray, A., Vannatta, R., & Champe, J. (2016). Intercultural conflict in groups. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 41(4), 350–369. https://doi.org/10.1080/01933922.2016.1232769

Palancı, Y., Mengenci, C., Bayraktaroğlu, S., & Emhan, A. (2021). Analysis of workplace health and safety, job stress, interpersonal conflict, and turnover intention: A comparative study in the health sector. Health Psychology Report, 9(1), 76–86. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.2020.99971

Pavlidou, K., Alevriadou, A., & Antoniou, A. S. (2022). Professional burnout in general and special education teachers: The role of interpersonal coping strategies. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 37(1), 191–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2020.1857931

Pavlidou, K., Alevriadou, A., & Antoniou, A.-S. (2020). Professional burnout in general and special education teachers: The role of interpersonal coping strategies. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 37(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2020.1857931

Ribeiro, N., Semedo, A. S., Gomes, D., Bernardino, R., & Singh, Sh. (2021). The effect of workplace bullying on burnout: The mediating role of affective well-being. Management Research Review, 45(6). https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-07-2021-0514

Salanova, M., Llorens, S., García-Renedo, M., Burriel, R., Bresó, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2005). Towards a four-dimensional model of burnout: A multigroup factor-analytic study including depersonalization and cynicism. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 65(5), 807–819. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164405275662

Salvagioni, D. A. J., Melanda, F. N., Eumann Mesas, A., Durán González, A., Lopes Gabani, F., & Maffei de Andrade, S. (2017). Physical, psychological and occupational consequences of job burnout: A Systematic review of prospective studies. PLoS ONE, 12(10), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185781

Schnaider-Levi, L., Ganz, A., Zafrani, K., Goldman, Z., Mitnik, I., Rolnik, B., & Lev-Ari, Sh. (2020). The effect of inquiry-based stress reduction on teacher burnout: A controlled trial. Brain Sciences, 10(7), 468. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10070468

Schonfeld, I. S., Verkuilen, J., & Bianchi, R. (2019). An exploratory structural equation modeling bi-factor analytic approach to uncovering what burnout, depression, and anxiety scales measure. Psychological Assessment, 31(8), 1073–1079. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000721

Schonfeld, I. S., Bianchi, R., & Palazzi, S. (2018). What is the difference between depression and burnout? An ongoing debate. Publications and Research, 482. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_pubs/482

Shoman, Y., El May, E., Marca, S. C., Wild, P., Bianchi, R., Drevvatne Bugge, M., Caglayan, C., Cheptea, D., Gnesi, M., Godderis, L., Kiran, S., McElvenny, D. M., Mediouni, Z., Sivesind Mehlun, I., Mijakoski, D., Minov, J., van der Molen, H., Nena, E., [...] Canu, I. G. (2021). Predictors of occupational burnout: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 9188. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179188

Somaraju, A. V., Griffin, D. J., Olenick, J., Chang, C.-H. (D.), & Kozlowski, S. W. J. (2022). The dynamic nature of interpersonal conflict and psychological strain in extreme work settings. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 27(1), 53–73. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000290

Spector, P. E., & Jex, S. M. (1998). Development of four self-report measures of job stressors and strain: Interpersonal conflict at work scale, organizational constraints scale, quantitative workload inventory, and physical symptoms inventory. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3(4), 356–367. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.3.4.356

Tateno, M., Jovanović, N., Beezhold, J., Uehara-Aoyama, K., Umene-Nakano, W., Nakamae, T., Uchida, N., Hashimoto, N., Kikuchi, S., Wake, Y., Fujisawa, D., Ikari, K., Otsuka, K., Takahashi, K., Okugawa, G., Watanabe, N., Shirasaka, T., & Kato, T. (2018). Suicidal Ideation and burnout among psychiatric trainees in Japan. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 12(5), 935–937. https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.12466

Vaccaro, A. G., Kaplan, J. T., & Damasio, A. (2020). Bittersweet: The neuroscience of ambivalent affect. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620927708

Veiga, H. M. S., & Cortez, P. A. (2020). Predictors of work-related well-being inthe Brazilian psychology literature. Revista de Administração Mackenzie, 21(4), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-6971/eramg200094

Velando‐Soriano, A., Ortega‐Campos, E., Gómez‐Urquiza, J. L., Ramírez‐Baena, L., De La Fuente, E., & Cañadas-De La Fuente, G. (2020). Impact of social support in preventing burnout syndrome in nurses: A systematic review. Japan Journal of Nursing Science, 17(1), e12269. https://doi.org/10.1111/jjns.12269

Watson, N. T., Xie, L., Etchells, M. J. (2018). Cultural impact on conflict management in higher education. Information Age Publishing.

World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International classification of diseases. http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/

Wu, F., Ren, Z., Wang, Q., He, M., Xiong, W., Ma, G., Fan, X., Guo, X., Liu, H., & Zhang, X. (2021a). The relationship between job stress and job burnout: The mediating effects of perceived social support and job satisfaction. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 26(2), 204–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2020.1778750

Wu, Y., Jiang, F., Ma, J., Tang, Y.-L., Wang, M., & Liu, Y. (2021b). Experience of medical disputes, medical disturbances, verbal and physical violence, and burnout among physicians in China. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.556517

Zheng, G., Lyu, X., Pan, L., & Chen, A. (2022). The role conflict-burnout-depression link among Chinese female health care and social service providers: The moderating effect of marriage and motherhood. BMC Public Health, 22, 230. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12641-y