Work engagement and burnout: Testing the theoretical continuums of identification and energy

Using meta‐analytic correlations from Cole et al. (2012), we conducted secondary data analysis to further explore the empirical overlap between measures of work engagement (Utretch Work Engagement Scale) and burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory). We found that the dimensions of work engagement and burnout did not align with previously positioned theoretical continuums. In addition to finding a negative association between the aspects of dedication and inefficacy, we found that aspects of vigor and absorption were positively related to cynicism and exhaustion, respectively. We also found that very little of the shared variance between the measures of work engagement and burnout were the result of semantic equivalence between item sets.