Burnout in health care:: The role of the five factors of personality

Job burnout continues to plague organizations and individuals, resulting in costly consequences. In examining the antecedents to job burnout, prior research has primarily focused on role stressors present in the job environment, with little attention given to individual characteristics. The purpose of this field study was to examine the extent to which dimensions of an individual's personality have differential effects on the 3 components of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment) among nurses working in a hospital. After controlling for several demographic variables and 3 role stressors, findings indicate that specific dimensions of personality do significantly and differentially impact the experience of the 3 components of burnout.