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International Business Research; Vol. 12, No. 1; 2019
ISSN 1913-9004 E-ISSN 1913-9012
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education
110
The Role of Social Support on Job Burnout in the Apparel Firm
Treshalin Sellar1 & Anthonypillai Anton Arulrajah2
1Research Student, Department of Management, Eastern University, Sri Lanka, Vantharumoolai, Chenkalady, Sri
Lanka
2Senior Lecturer, Department of Management, Eastern University, Sri Lanka, Vantharumoolai, Chenkalady, Sri
Lanka
Correspondence: Anthonypillai Anton Arulrajah, Faculty of Commerce and Management, Eastern University, Sri
Lanka, Vantharumoolai, Chenkalady, Sri Lanka.
Received: November 5, 2018 Accepted: December 18, 2018 Online Published: December 24, 2018
doi:10.5539/ibr.v12n1p110 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v12n1p110
Abstract
Managing the causes of job burnout has become a momentous phenomenon in career management literature.
Majority of the apparel firms in Sri Lanka are experiencing job burnout as a massive dispute where it represents
many work-related and non-work related issues that employees endure. In this context, the present study was
conducted with the aim of investigating the impact of social support on job burnout among the female worker
level employees of a leading apparel firm in Sri Lanka. The study is mainly considering the primary data.
Present study is using survey method to analyze the objectives. The data were collected through a
self-administrated questionnaire from 142 respondents of the selected apparel firm. The correlation analysis of
the study revealed that the social support has a strong negative relationship with job burnout while regression
analysis identified that social support is significantly contributing to determine job burnout (51.1%). Moreover,
multiple regression analysis indicated that family support has the highest impact on job burnout among the
worker level employees. The findings of the study have various managerial implications for other apparel
manufacturing firms and other industries in Sri Lankan social context.
Keywords: co-worker support, supervisor support, family support, society support, job burnout
1. Introduction
The continuous changes in the organization create a strain on organization and individuals as well by raising the
expectations regarding employees’ time, performance and energy. Job burnout is a negative psychological state
people experience when they are suffered from stress for a longer period. Job burnout may arise when meeting
the job demands require high effort and is therefore, associated with high cost (Aerts, 2017). Among various
factors that reduce employee motivation and productivity at work, job burnout could be considered a critical
concern for managers. Traditionally, burnout is encompasses into three dimensions of emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment (Lamb, 2009). Studies have also found that the chronic
experience of job burnout tends to increase depression and other health related problems. Therefore,
understanding the causes of job burnout in apparel industry is essential in order to prevent the issues and to
perform well in the current business world.
The stress levels of worker level employees as well as the management in apparel industry have shown a
tremendous growth due to lead time, competitive nature and socio cultural impacts. The results of these
challenges are that an employee will have greater job demands and need a good work-related or non-work
related support to overcome the bundle of strain. Social support is defined as “that subset of persons in the
individual’s social network upon whom he or she relies for socio-emotional aid, instrumental aid, or both”
(Thoits, 1982, p. 148), at work as a key antecedent of job burnout. Therefore, the support from supervisors,
co-workers, family members and society are really important to tolerate the work related stress among the
employees. Also this social support is a key coping resource, which may help reduce job burnout by providing
individuals with socio-emotional aid in the form of affection, understanding, or esteem and instrumental aid in
the form of advice, information, and assistance with work responsibilities. The support from working
environment is more highlighted by many authors as supervisors and co-workers likely to provide valuable
information and feedback daily. Also the degree of family support and negative perception of society on garment
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workers also directly impact on the level of stress. Hence, it is needed to focus on both work-related and
non-work related social support gained by the worker level employees in apparel industry.
Managing people in the particular apparel organization has become a challenging aspect in the modern days due
to its competitive nature and higher exposure to the global market. In industry, it is highlighted that the job stress
significantly impact on worker compensation claims, health care costs, disabilities, absenteeism and productivity
losses. It is also obvious that supervisor support may reduce job stress, burnout, and health problems related to
work and similarly co-worker support could reduce the absenteeism rate, enhance the opportunities to use new
skills and attitudes and enhance the job satisfaction of the employees by having a profuse relationship in the
workplace. At the same time emotional and supportive hands of family members in needs and agreeable support
from the society are also have a major impact on the machine operators and team leaders who work in shift basis
to complete the target based work assignments. This emphasizes giving more concentration to manage social
support is very important as that impact to employee job burnout in the workplace. It is also noted that the
current study concepts such as social support and job burnout have not been studied much among the worker
level employees so far and not especially in the Sri Lankan apparel industry. More specifically the support gains
from family members and affirmative support from the society for apparel sector employees have not been
revealed by many authors is a knowledge gap in the literature. Therefore, it is needed for an additional study to
investigate the effect of social support on job burnout in the particular sector. In this context, the objective of the
study is to investigate the effect of social support on job burnout among the worker level employees in a leading
apparel firm in Sri Lanka.
In order to accomplish the objective of the present research, the study first review the literature on social support
and job burnout to form a baseline for justifying the relationship and/or impact of social support on job burnout
using the theoretical framework. Second, using a deductive approach, the study could accept or reject the
hypotheses and the findings from 142 respondents have being analyzed using bivariate and multivariate analysis.
Finally, the main findings obtained by the current study are discussed by the researcher and some
recommendations are suggested to be implicated by the relevant managers.
2. Literature Review
This section explores relevant literature related to social support and job burnout. Also this review of literature
allows the researchers to establish the theoretical framework and methodological focus and more specifically
justifies the reason for conducting the present study.
2.1 Job Burnout
Burnout is the exhaustion of physical or mental strength as a result of inability to balance the personal and
professional demand and it is due to prolonged heavy pressure on individuals. Although this concept was first
coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger, still now it is being studied by the researches as burnout cannot be
underestimated. Recently, Angeli, Michael, Mustafa and Terk (2015, p. 70) defined burnout as “a state of
physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that result from long term involvement in work situations that are
emotionally demanding, where the key features lies in the attribution of fatigue and exhaustion to specific
domains or spheres in the person’s life”. An investigation observed the concept burnout as a state of energy
depletion and loss of commitment (Peerayuth, Murad, & Sandra, 2016). Though different people can bear
different levels of stress for different length of time, burnout most of the times lead a person to become
completely nonfunctional. Also number of factors may influence a person to be burned out such as;
demographical characteristics, lifestyle factors, attitudes in the workplace and job factors. This burnout creates
many consequences to both the organization and employees. The consequences for the individual include
depression, health problems, spillover into one’s private life, not to be productive, satisfied with the job and
committed towards the organization which ends up with poor performance, poor quality, often absenteeism and
sick leaves. Burnout should not be underestimated as many research suggested that at the moment 17% of the
population have symptoms characterized by burnout (Aerts, 2017). According to Martina (2018), emotional
exhaustion is characterized by feeling emotionally drained, extremely tired, with a lack of energy and the
necessary emotional resources to cope with continuing demands. Excessive job requirements and endless
struggle leads to a chronic state of physical and emotional deficiency. This chronic exhaustion could make the
employees to distance themselves emotionally from their job, reduce their involvement with their work and
might cause individuals to quite from their jobs.
The second component depersonalization is relates with negative interpersonal or callous attitudes towards
others as a result of burnout at the workplace. Hence, employees in an organization may try to be isolated and
disjoin with the co-workers, customers and others at the organization due to the cynical feeling. And also will
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results in a negative, cynical, uncaring or usually detached response to various aspects of the job and people at
work (Martina, 2018).
2.2 Social Support
The provision of social support is the best way to support an employee to tolerate the unavoidable stressors at
workplace adequately. Simply it is the assistance or support one person can receive to achieve the day today
tasks through his or her interaction with supervisor, co- workers, family members or society. Social support has
been broadly defined as “social transactions that are perceived by the recipient or intended by the provider to
facilitate coping in everyday life, especially in response to stressful situation” (Pierce, Sarason, & Sarosan, 1990).
And the literature on social support that has accumulated over the past two decades suggests that high level of
social support can have direct impact on better health, fewer psychological issues, and speedy recoveries from
injuries, illness and better mental health.
Many studies in the occupational stress literature recognize that work support (supervisors and co-workers) and
non-work support (family, friends, and people outside the organization) may be differently effective in reducing
work-related stressors and burnout. Most of the studies consider the supervisor and/or co-workers to be the two
major sources of support of employees. It is proposed that in dealing with stressors at workplace, organizational
sources will provide more support than family and friends outside of the workplace (Ellis & Miller, 1994). The
argument that work support is more effective than non-work support in protecting employees from strains has
been supported in many literatures (Beehr, 1985). But with the concern of our scenario in the society, study
regarding the support from family members and people around the employee outside the organization is a need
to take action against the negative effects of job burnout among the selected sample. Therefore, the major
intention of the current study is to investigate regarding the level of support from all work and non-work related
people such as supervisors, co-workers, family and society support for the worker level employees in apparel
firm.
First dimension, co-worker’s support can be defined as “the extent to which one’s co-workers are helpful, can be
relied on in times of need, and are receptive to work-related problems” (Menguc & Boichuk, 2012, p. 1360). It is
obvious that having conversation among the co-workers about any work-related or non-work related matters may
reduce the feeling of tiredness, boringness, and other negative feelings at workplace due to high job demands.
Second dimension, Supervisor support is the most potent in reducing job related stress and strain as they set targets,
give feedbacks on performance, provide social and material support, and help to solve problems. The supervisors
tend to have an influence over attitudes and behaviour of employees (Liaw, Chi, & Chuang, 2010). Studies
indicated that there is a lower level of emotional exhaustion with more informational, emotional, instrumental and
appraisal support from supervisors (Li, Ruan, & Yuan, 2015). Further, Mansour and Tremblay (2016), explored that
low wages and less support from a supervisor can lead to more strain at work and as well as family.
Third dimension, family support refers to the sense of support that an individual perceives he or she receives
from his or her familial environment; it constitutes an important element of social support (Ilias, Hatzmichelakis,
Souvatzoglou, Anagnostopoulou, & Tselebis, 2001). Usually this support involves empathy, understanding and
assistance and in research it was also stated that partner support has a negative relationship with family-to-work
conflict (Voydanoff, 2005). The apparel industry is dominated by female employees and many research shows
that a working female, who is married and have children, is more prone to experiencing stress at workplace. Also
employees working in shifts, who have supportive interaction with a spouse, parent or best friend have to
experience fewer psychological effects while working under a vast pressure. Lack of awareness regarding the
culture inside of an apparel firm, distrust about the spouse or children, change of dressing sense after joining the
organization, getting newly married and dissatisfaction with the night shift work in apparel firm will not allow
the family members to be supportive to the worker level employees.
Support from society or people around the employees are also an important aspect to be focused by the human
resource management in apparel industry. Negative perception of the society regarding the workers working in
apparel firm and the negative image created among the community about apparel industry will not encourage the
employees to work with full satisfaction. Wrong way of communicating regarding the company policies and
procedures by the employees who get turnover, unethical behaviour of a set of garment workers and
communities’ bad thought regarding night shift creates a bitter work experience and especially women are
slightly more likely to drop out of depression. At the same time, reluctance of helping employees in an
emergency situation by the society will lead to higher employee absenteeism, less performance, feel of quitting
the work. Thus, it is a serious issue which is studied by very few researchers and this has a major impact on
employee performance which needs to be considered by the management in apparel firms.
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2.3 Empirical Findings
Table 1. Empirical Evidence Related to Relationship and Impact of Social Support on Job Burnout
Investigation
Empirical Evidence
Kilfedder, Power, & Wells
(2001)
The study examined the influence of social support on burnout among 510 psychiatric
nurses and reported that lower levels of emotional exhaustion (r = -0.30) and
depersonalization (r = -0.20) are associated with greater availability of social support.
Baruch-Feldman, Brondolo,
Ben-Dayan, & Schwartz
(2002)
In a study for 211 traffic enforcement agents reveled that a cluster of support (supervisor,
family and co-worker) accounted for 7% variance in burnout and 12% variance with job
satisfaction. And family support was more closely associated with burnout than satisfaction.
Spooner-Lane (2004)
The findings from a research for 273 Australian nurses working in public hospitals indicated
moderate level of work support and moderately high levels of burnout, but there is no
significant evidence to support the buffering effect of work support on burnout.
Li et al., (2015)
The study conducted for 396 ICU nurses to investigate the social support and burnout and
revealed that supervisor support had a significant negative relationship with emotional
exhaustion, while co-worker support had a positive relationship with emotional exhaustion.
2.4 Role of Social Support on Job Burnout
When an employee is burn out, she/he can loss focus on her/his job and make fatal errors; which needs to be
handle by the organization. Employees with high social support, who were satisfied with that support, showed
less emotional exhaustion, less depersonalization and greater feeling of personal accomplishment than the
employees with few supports. Some studies have indicated a main or direct effect of social support, suggesting
that support reduces burnout regardless of the intensity of the work stressors experienced (Beehr, 1985). In a
study it was found that job autonomy has a limited negative effect on emotional exhaustion, while a lack of
social support will lead to experiencing burnout (Lin, 2013). It is noted that understanding and dealing with
employee issues, communicating and providing necessary information by the supervisor and the emotional
support in terms of empathy and care from co- workers can significantly help employees alleviate emotional
exhaustion and reduce depersonalization (Peerayuth et al., 2016). Therefore, the quality of the social support can
affect the level of burnout employees experience at workplace. With the empirical evidence and own reasoning,
the following hypothesis has being formulated:
H1: Social support is negatively related to job burnout.
In particular, the significance of social support on job burnout can be explained by the job demand-resource (JD-R)
theory. This theory emphasizes the importance of both the positive and negative indicators of the employee’s
well-being. The JD-R model is based on two main components. Job demands may exhaust a person’s resources,
leading to lower levels of energy and health problems. Job resources in contrast, can enhance growth and lead to
personal development (Yardley, 2012). According to the model, job demands refer to any physical, psychological,
social or organizational aspect of a job that create psychological strain on employees (Demerouti, Nachreiner,
Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2001). Examples of job demand include role ambiguity, role overload, work-family conflict,
unsafe work condition, time pressure, inadequate resources and staffing, poor management. On the other hand,
job-resources refer to any physical, psychological, social or organizational factors that facilitate employees’
achievement of their job objectives (Demerouti et al., 2001). Examples of job resource include job autonomy,
flexible job schedule and social support. The job demand resource model postulates that burnout tends to occur
when employees lack sufficient resources to deal with job demands at work (Peerayuth et al., 2016).
Based on the literature and the Job Demands-Resources Model by Demerouti et al., (2001), in particular, this
study conceptualizes the following conceptual framework as shown in Figure 1.
Independent Variables Dependent Variable
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework
Co- worker Support
Supervisor Support
Family Support
Society Support
Social Support
Emotional Exhaustion
Depersonalization
Job Burnout
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3. Methodology
This section deals with the methodological steps adopted in the present study. Research methodology provides
guidelines to do the research systematically.
3.1 Sample and Procedure
For the purpose of this study, 112 machine operators and 30 team leaders from a study population of 1440
workers in the selected apparel firm. In every type of research, it would be not be possible to include the whole
population. Therefore, simple random sampling technique is used in some cases to conduct the study.
The study relied on survey design which is characterized by a quantitative research method where a
self-administrated, structured questionnaire was used to collection of data. And this data were collected at a
single point of time, which is known as cross-sectional study by previous authors.
3.2 Research Instrument
The researchers used structured questionnaire with 5 point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
It consists with two separate sections. In the first section, researchers developed eight questions to get
demographic information and in the second section social support and job burnout were measured using standard
questionnaires. Independent variable social support measured as supervisor (4 indicators) and co-worker (3
indicators) support using psychosocial and lifestyle questionnaire 2006–2010 documentation report core section
LB; the HRS psychosocial working group and the family support (4 indicators) scale and society support (4
indicators) scale constructed by authors based on self-report perceived social support questionnaire for family.
And dependent variable job burnout is measured using Maslach Burnout Inventory- General Survey (1996).
3.3 Correlation Analysis
Correlation is a bivariate analysis that measures the the strength, direction and indicate whether there is a
statistically significant linear relationship between the two variables. Therefore, results of Pearson correlation is
used to investigate the relationship between social support job and job burnout among the respondents (see Table
2).
Table 2. Rules of Thumb about Correlation Coefficient
Coefficient Rage
Strength of Association
± 0.91 to ± 1.00
Very strong
± 0.71 to ± 0.90
High
± 0.41 to ± 0.70
Moderate
± 0.21 to ± 0.40
Small but definite relationship
± 0.00 to ± 0.20
Slight, almost negligible
(Source: Hair Jnr, Money, Samouel, & Page, 2007)
3.4 Simple Regression and Multivariate Analysis
The simple regression analysis was made to determine functional relationship between independent and
dependent variables to conclude whether there is an impact of social support on job burnout. Value of the B
coefficient of regression analysis represents the degree to which extent the dependent variable is changed due to
the changes of a certain independent variable while other independent variables are constant. Adjusted R2 is used
to compensate for the addition of variable to the model. Significant level (p-value) of B coefficient
(unstandardized coefficient) is used to test the hypothesis. If P ≤ 0.05, alternate hypothesis is supported and can
be used to make predictions. If P ≥ 0.05, the alternate hypothesis is rejected.
Multiple linear regression analysis is a method of analyzing the collective impact of two or more variables on a
dependent variable. For this study purpose this analysis was used to measure the impact of each dimension
(namely work support and non-work support) of social support on job burnout.
4. Findings
4.1 Analysis of Reliability
The reliability of the instrument is measured using Cronbach’s Alpha analysis. It measures the internal
consistency of the instrument. According to this study the overall variables reliability analysis of Cronbach’s
Alpha Coefficient value for the social support is 0.805 and job burnout is 0.712. So, it indicated that all variables
are in accepted level of reliability.
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4.2 Relationship between Social Support and Job Burnout
Table 3. Correlation among Social Support and Job Burnout
Variable
Job Burnout
Social Support
Pearson Correlation
-0.715
Sig. (2-tailed)
0.000
Covariance
0.095
N
142
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
(Source: Survey Data)
Table 3 specifies the results of Pearson correlation between social support and job burnout. The significance is at
0.01 levels (2-tailed) is 0.000, and Pearson Correlation (r) is -0.715. It is found as a significant and strong
negative relationship between social support and job burnout. Based on the above evidence, it is concluded that
the social support is negatively related to employee job burnout. So, the hypothesis of the current study was
accepted.
H1: Social support is negatively related to job burnout.
4.3 Impact of Social Support on Job Burnout
The simple linear regression was used to measure the impact of social support on job burnout and the step wise
regression analysis is used to measure the impact of dimensions of social support on job burnout in the current
study.
Table 4. Model Summary of Simple Linear Regression for Social Support and Burnout
R
R Square
Adjusted R
Square
St. Error of the
Estimate
Change Statistics
R Square
Change
F Change
Sig. F
Change
0.715
0.511
0.508
0.24336
0.059
146.428
0.000
Predictors: (Constant), Social Support
(Source: Survey Data)
Table 4 presents the R square statistics is 0.511 it means social support has 51.1% impact on employees’ job
burnout. Adjusted R Square statistics indicated that the 50.8% of the variation in the employees’ job burnout is
explained by social support. In other words, the independent variable of social support in the regression model
account for 50.8% of the total variation in the job burnout.
Table 5. Coefficient of Simple Linear Regression between Social Support and Job Burnout
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t
Sig.
95% confidence interval
for B
B
Std. Error
Beta
Lower
Bound
Upper
Bound
Constant
5.372
0.104
51.754
0.000
5.157
5.578
Social
Support
-0.653
0.054
-0.715
-12.101
0.000
-0.760
-0.560
Dependent Variable: Job Burnout
(Source: Survey Data)
According to Table 5, the significance of t value is 0.000 (p<0.05). The unstandardized constant statistic is 5.372
it shows that the model would predict if all of the independent variables were zero. Regression results indicate
that the b value of social support is -0.653, it means if social support increased by one point job burnout is
reduced by 0.653. Significant of t value is 0.000, it is less than 0.05 and the beta value is -0.715. So, it is
concluded that social support has a significant impact on job burnout of the selected apparel firm in Sri Lanka.
Table 6. Model Summary of Step Wise Multiple Linear Regression for Dimensions of Social Support and Job
Burnout
R
R Square
Adjusted R
Square
St. Error of the
Estimate
Change Statistics
R Square
Change
F Change
Sig. F Change
0.604
0.365
0.360
0.27745
0.365
80.369
0.000
0.621
0.386
0.377
0.27377
0.021
4.784
0.030
0.699
0.489
0.478
0.25068
0.103
27.783
0.000
0.721
0.520
0.506
0.24385
0.031
8.846
0.003
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Predictors: (Constant), Family Support
Predictors: (Constant), Family Support, Supervisor Support
Predictors: (Constant), Family Support, Supervisor Support, Society Support
Predictors: (Constant), Family Support, Supervisor Support, Society Support, Co-worker Support
(Source: Survey Data)
Table 6 shows the impact of each dimension of social support on job burnout, as it is needed to give solutions for
the current research gap in the literature. R square change statistics indicated that the 36.5%, 2.1%, 10.3% and
3.1% of proportion of variance of the job burnout is explained by family, supervisor, society and co-worker
support respectively.
5. Discussion
The correlation of coefficient (r) between social support and job burnout as -0.715 which was significant at 0.01
levels. There was a strong, significant and negative relationship between social support and job burnout. This
supports the findings of Kilfedder, Power, & Wells (2001), that the lower levels of emotional exhaustion (r =
-0.30) and depersonalization (r = -0.20) are associated with greater availability of social support. But in the
current study, a higher level of burnout is associated with lower availability of social support which creates a
negative relationship.
The objective of study is to determine the impact of social support on job burnout among the worker level
employees of a leading apparel firm in Sri Lanka. Based on the findings it presents that, the social support has a
significant impact on job burnout (51.1%) and the b value of social support (-0.653) indicates that if social
support increase by one points, job burnout will reduce by 0.653 value. Then the lack social support gain by the
respondents lead to feel high level of job burnout. This supports the findings of Baruch-Feldman et al., (2002)
which revealed that a cluster of support (supervisor, family and co-worker) accounted for 7% variance in burnout.
Also the results of the current investigation is in contrast to the findings of Spooner-Lane (2004), as their study
reported there is no significant evidence to support the buffering effect of work support on burnout.
Additionally, multiple regression analysis is studied to understand the impact of each dimensions; co-worker,
supervisor, family and society support on job burnout. Beehr (1985) stated that work support is more effective
than non-work support in protecting employees from strains has been supported with many literatures. But
consequently, the present research illustrates that the results is in contrast to previous research studies that
non-work support; family support (36.5% of proportion of variance) and society support (10.3% of proportion of
variance) is having a vast variance of job burnout than the variance of supervisor and co-worker support among
the worker level employees of the selected apparel in Sri Lanka. However, some contradictory findings of the
current research may also reveal because of the different cultural characteristics of the sample, some traditions
followed by the females and the nature of the society.
The relationship between social support and job burnout is explained by many researches in different context but
very few studies examine these concepts in Sri Lanka and more specifically in the Sri Lankan apparel sector.
Also lack of researches related to family support and society support for the worker level employees in Sri
Lankan context is a considerable gap in the previous literature. By referring to the other research studies most of
the studies suggesting that work related support like supervisor support and co-worker support as the major
components of social support which influence on burnout. But this arguments of the literature contrast with the
findings of the current research as it concluded that family and society support are having higher impact on job
burnout among the employees in the selected apparel firm. Therefore, the current study has approach each gap of
the literature and revealed the impact of social support on job burnout and highlighted the most influencing
source of social support in Sri Lankan apparel firm.
6. Recommendations
It is necessary to arrange some awareness programs to parents/spouse of the employees to deliver proper
information regarding the facilities, nature of firm and work policies to create a positive image in the society
ultimately.
Vestibule training method practicing in the selected firm should be much more effective to enhance the
performance of the trainees as it creates conflicts with the other co-workers when the trainee cannot meet the
expected target in the production floor.
Moreover, a special HR team could be appointed in the apparel firm to deal with negative consequences of job
burnout through proper guidance and support.
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Further, family-friendly policies, family get-togethers, allowing employees to get leave for family needs, not
breaking the promises given to employees by the management and reducing compulsory over time work may
reduce the level of burnout in the organization.
7. Limitations and Direction for Future Research
Despite the interesting findings in this study, a number of limitations should be acknowledged. First of all, data is
only obtained in the selected apparel firm in Sri Lanka in a quite small sample (N=142). This study focused on
Sri Lanka and nothing can be said about other cultures or countries. Another limitation is the use of
cross-sectional design in the study. The data is gathered at one time point, and therefore no conclusion can be
taken about causal relations. The study is based only on quantitative research approach, where the qualitative
research approach will be effective to get more explanation regarding the objectives of the study.
Future studies should be done to investigate the impact of social support on each of the dimensions of job
burnout separately. Further, research should take resources from all the different positions into account, different
interpersonal and social relation and the level of the task of the employees in studying the relevant concepts.
Also future research should incorporate the mediating effect of workplace or job characteristics, culture-specific
factors and demographic characteristics will be required to address the issue.
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