Affectivity, Organizational Stressors, and Absenteeism: A Causal Model of Burnout and Its Consequences

Exclusion of dispositional factors and common method variance have been identified as shortcomings in existing causal models of stress (e.g., Lee & Ashforth, 1993; Schaubroeck, Ganster, & Fox, 1992). These issues are addressed by testing a causal model of burnout that includes affectivity and absenteeism. Data on these variables, role stress, workload, autonomy, social support, and job satisfaction were collected from 487 healthcare workers. Positive (PA) and negative (NA) affectivity differentially affected these variables: NA predicted low social support and job satisfaction, and high emotional exhaustion and depersonalization; PA showed the reverse pattern. Also, whereas NA was associated with increased workload, PA resulted in higher personal accomplishment, greater autonomy and lower absenteeism. In terms of moderator effects, the results indicated that high NA experienced greater depersonalization from co-worker support than low NA. Conversely, high NA experienced lower depersonalization from peer support than low NA. A possible explanation may be that co-worker and peer support produces a misfit between available (i.e., informational) and preferred (i.e., emotional) coping strategies. These results have implications for broad strategies such as stress management programs, which may have differential outcomes depending on dispositional affect.