CORRELATES OF BURNOUT AMONG PUBLIC SERVICE LAWYERS

Abstract

Several hypotheses suggested by the theoretical literature on burnout were empirically tested in an attempt to identify the organizational conditions associated with employee burnout. Public service lawyers in the U.S. (N = 391) completed a survey designed to assess (a) three components of burnout, namely, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of low personal accomplishment; (b) perceptions of several job conditions predicted to be associated these three components of burnout, including workload, role conflict, social support, decision making policies, and autonomy; and (c) organizational commitment. Results indicate that emotional exhaustion is most strongly associated with role conflict and quantitative workload. Feelings of personal accomplishment were associated with supervisory social support and job level. Depersonalization was associated with role conflict and decision making policies. Finally, each burnout component is significantly related to organizational commitment.