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International Journal of Management (IJM)
Volume 11, Issue 10, October 2020, pp. 200-215, Article ID: IJM_11_10_020
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=10
ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510
DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.10.2020.020
© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ON JOB
BURNOUT OF THE EMPLOYEES AND ITS
CORRELATIVE FACTORS IN CHINA
DURING COIVD-19
Tamer M. Alkadash
Assistant Professor, Gulf University, Bahrain
Shi Jun Bo
Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia
Baligh Besher
Assistant Professor, Gulf University, Bahrain
Qais Almaamari
Assistant Professor, Gulf University, Bahrain
Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-Absy
Assistant Professor, Gulf University Bahrain
ABSTRACT
In recent years, job burnout has become a new and vigorous research hotspot in the
field of psychology and human resources management at home and abroad. Job burnout
has a serious impact on personal health and performance but also harms the work
efficiency, organizational effectiveness, and even social stability of employees. In
China, there are many studies on Job Burnout of teachers and doctors, but few studies
on job burnout from different fields of work. This paper takes Liaoning employees as
the research sample, aiming at investigating the status quo of role stress, social support,
job satisfaction, job demand, and job burnout, exploring the root causes of job burnout
and their relationship, and putting forward intervention suggestions to prevent job
burnout, which has practical significance for human resources management in various
industries. The main enlightenments of this study on management practice are, firstly,
the study finds that job burnout consists of four dimensions: job stress, job satisfaction,
job demand, and social support. This provides targeted operational suggestions for
organizing the implementation of job burnout intervention and prevention. Secondly,
the difference test of job burnout on demographic variables brings beneficial inspiration
to managers’ practice and provides basis and support for individual difference
management of job stress management and job burnout intervention.
Tamer M. Alkadash, Shi Jun Bo, Baligh Besher, Qais Almaamari and Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-
Absy
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Keywords: Job burnout; Job satisfaction; Job demand; Job stress; Social support:
COVID-19 in China.
Cite this Article: Tamer M. Alkadash, Shi Jun Bo, Baligh Besher, Qais Almaamari and
Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-Absy, Conceptual Framework on Job Burnout of the Employees
and its Correlative Factors in China During Coivd-19, International Journal of
Management, 11(10), 2020, pp.200-215
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=10
1. INTRODUCTION
Since China joined the World Trade Organization in November 2012, the development of
enterprises is in an era of opportunities and challenges. The fierce market competition forces
enterprises to change their production model. At first, extensive production mode relying solely
on manpower and material resources has no way to adapt to the market. If enterprises want to
achieve good development, they must keep pace with the times and innovate constantly in
technology and management. The enterprise hopes that the staff can devote more time to work,
to create greater labor value. When employees are unable to effectively deal with the pressures
they face, employees will have many negative symptoms both physically and psychologically.
Among them, job burnout is the most common manifestation of these negative symptoms (Raja,
Javed, and Abbas, 2018). The negative impact of job burnout on employees has led to job
burnout becoming a hot issue for current researchers. The study of Farber (1991) found that 5-
20% of American teachers were in a state of burnout. Moreover, 30-35% of teachers are very
dissatisfied with this profession. Two studies of the European epidemic show that burnout
affects about 25% of nurses. According to the survey, the time of job burnout is becoming
shorter and shorter. A survey in Shanghai shows that 33.3% of the people who have worked for
two years in the same position have job burnout. Another survey of 447 kindergarten teachers
in Beijing showed that 59.5% of them had "obvious burnout tendency". On December 6, 2004,
China Youth Daily published a survey report entitled "China Job Burnout Index" conducted by
the China Human Resources Development Network. The survey showed that about 70% of the
respondents (about 4,000 people) had job burnout. Job burnout has a great negative impact on
individuals, organizations, families, and society. For individuals, job burnout can induce and
produce a series of negative psychological symptoms and physical and mental illnesses, such
as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, headache, insomnia, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and
so on. For organizations, job burnout can induce and produce absenteeism, high employee
turnover rate, low work efficiency, high turnover intention, and high turnover intention. For
families and societies, individuals with high job burnout tend to reduce social interaction,
alienate friends and family members, and sometimes even attack others and commit suicide.
Therefore, how to prevent, detect, face, and reduce employee burnout has become increasingly
concerning a topic in social psychology, clinical psychology, management psychology,
organizational behavior, and so on. The study of job burnout was initially confined to the United
States. Later, this phenomenon attracted the attention of English-speaking countries such as
Canada and the United Kingdom. After articles, books, and measuring tools were rapidly
translated into many languages, a series of studies began to emerge around the world. After
nearly 30 years of development, the research on job burnout has been deepened, and the
concept, measurement methods, research methods, and research fields of job burnout have been
deepened and expanded. At present, the study of job burnout has become important research in
organizational psychology and occupational health psychology. The motivation of this study is
to introduce job burnout into the field of human resources management, analyze the causes and
effects of job burnout from the perspective of human resources, prevent and alleviate job
burnout through human resources management, and provide ideas for organizations and
Conceptual Framework on Job Burnout of the Employees and its Correlative Factors in China
During Coivd-19
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individuals to alleviate job burnout. This study is aimed at analyzing the causes and
relationships of variables of job burnout in four dimensions (job stress, social support,
satisfaction, job demand) among Chinese employees.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The domestic scholars have a lot of research on the factors affecting job burnout, Wang, Liu,
and Wang, (2015) pointed out that psychological capital job burnout is significantly related
(emotional exhaustion, low sense of accomplishment and cynicism), and it has a negative
influence. Li, (2013) takes middle-level managers as the research object and summarizes job
burnout into three dimensions, namely exhaustion, cynicism, and low professional efficiency.
The research found that job matching is negatively correlated with job burnout. Chen et al.,
(2015) divided job burnout into three dimensions: exhaustion, alienation, and inefficiency. The
research took coal mine dust exposed workers as research objects. The impact of job satisfaction
and social support on job burnout was analyzed. The results showed that job satisfaction and
social support were negatively correlated with the three dimensions of job burnout. Liang Wei
(2015) regards the low sense of work achievement, depersonalization, and emotional
exhaustion as three dimensions of job burnout. The results show that emotional labor has an
impact on job burnout, and the service atmosphere has a moderating effect on the relationship
between them. Zhu Yan (2015) divides job burnout into three dimensions: emotional
exhaustion, low sense of achievement, and dehumanization. Based on the perspective of
efficacy, the causes of job burnout are analyzed from internal and external factors. Chen Zhong
Yan and Hu Hong Mei (2015) also divided job burnout into three dimensions: a low sense of
achievement, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. Nurses were taken as the subjects
of study. The results showed that psychological capital management had a positive impact on
all dimensions of job burnout.
In summary, the influencing factors of job burnout mainly include demographic related
factors, individual internal conditions, and external environmental factors. The purpose of this
review is to identify the factors that lead to employee burnout. There are two theories about job
burnout. One theory holds that the most idealistic and dedicated people are apt to experience
job burnout because they devote too much and sacrifice too much to achieve their goals. Once
they fail to achieve their goals, they will easily lead to exhaustion. Cynicism is another theory
holds that job burnout is a response to long-term work stress, so job burnout should occur at a
later stage of people's career, and that job burnout results from overburdened or under burdened
work (e.g. monotonous work).
2.1. Job Burnout
Job burnout, also known as burnout, is sometimes translated as "job burnout", "job burnout",
"job exhaustion" and “job exhaustion" and so on. Its research began with American
psychologists Freudenberg (1974) and Maslach (1976). Job burnout is a group of negative
symptoms caused by long-term work stress, such as physical and mental exhaustion, job
disgust, and lack of job achievement. Subsequently, researchers have put forward many theories
about the causes of job burnout. The following are several representative theories:
2.1.1. Matching-Mismatching Model
The model was proposed by Maslach (1997-2001), which is based on the hypothesis that job
burnout is the interaction between individuals and work situations. Maslach and Leiter (1997)
pointed out that job burnout is not caused by one-sided reasons of work or individual, but by
their matching-mismatch degree: the bigger the gap, the easier it is to produce.
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2.1.2. Conservation of resource theory, COR theory
This theory focuses on the influence of social and cultural factors on job burnout and explains
the mechanism of job burnout with demand and resources. Resource conservation theory holds
that people are trying to acquire and preserve valuable resources and job burnout will occur
when they lose these valuable resources
2.1.3. Equity theory
Equity theory holds that people evaluate their relationships with others according to their input
and output. Equity theory is the main point of the people in interpersonal relationships to seek
mutual benefit and reciprocity (reciprocity) is an ingrained tendency. According to Blau (1964),
interpersonal relationship equity theory is the same in social exchange. People in high positions
expect to be respected, obeyed, and appreciated by people in lower positions.
2.1.4. Dual-level social exchange model
Proposed by Schaufeli (1996), this model believes that the lack of social exchange in
interpersonal relationships and the organizational relationship will lead to job burnout.
2.2. Job Demand
Job demand can be categorized into several categories and described in various ways. Karasek
believes that job demand is the sense of stress that work brings to employees. Jonnson and Hall
believe that job demand is composed of workload and time pressure. Bakker believes that work
needs are the social and organizational requirements of work, which makes individuals
constantly invest in their psychological and physiological efforts. There are four types of work
needs: quantitative needs; cognitive needs which mainly affect the brain process in information
processing; emotional needs which mainly refer to the efforts needed to process the
organization. Ideal emotions in interpersonal communication; or physical needs related
primarily to the musculoskeletal system. Also, the ergonomics principle defined in ISO 10075
classifies the four main sources of work requirements this includes task requirements, work
equipment, physical working environment, social and organizational factors. Task requirements
include all factors related to work content and control, workload, and schedule (e.g. shift work
or permanent night work, irregular work schedule, role ambiguity, and lack of motivation).
Work equipment includes all factors related to work equipment and ergonomic workplace
facilities. The physical working environment includes lightning, noise, climatic conditions,
vibration, weather conditions, and odor. Social factors include relationships, team structure,
social connections, and conflicts. Organizational factors are, for example, cultural standards,
communication structures, organizational principles, and leadership styles. Cox and Griffith
describe a more detailed classification of job requirements. They distinguished the eight aspects
such as work content, workload, and rhythm, work schedule, control, environment and
equipment, organizational culture and functions, interpersonal relationships at work, roles in
organizations, career development, and family work interface.
2.3. Theoretical Model of Demand
Content theory mainly focuses on factors affecting job demand, such as the hierarchy of needs
theory and the two-factor theory of procedure theory. These explore the process of job
satisfaction resulting from the interaction of expectations, needs, and values with job
characteristics, such as expectation theory and fairness theory as follows:
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2.3.1. Hierarchy Theory of Needs
The hierarchy of needs theory divides human needs from low to high into five levels. There is
a ladder relationship between the needs of each level. When the needs of the lower level are
satisfied fairly, the needs of the upper level will appear. The five levels of the hierarchy of needs
theory are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, need for respect, and need for self-
actualization. Maslow believes that human behavior is subject to a variety of needs. Therefore,
to achieve the purpose of motivation, it is necessary to understand that the current needs are at
that level, and then try to meet the needs of that level; and only when the lower level after the
satisfaction is needed, the higher-level needs will emerge.
2.3.2. ERG Theory
Based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, Alderfer revised and simplified it. He believes
that human needs can be divided into three categories such as 1) survival needs 2) relational
needs, and 3) growth needs. Each need can exist simultaneously, and the hierarchy of needs is
changing, which changes with the success and frustration of pursuing satisfaction. Robbins
pointed out that the difference between ERG theory and hierarchy of needs theory is that ERG
theory studies workers’ motivation and holds that individuals have multiple needs at the same
time. It is not limited to only one need, but also not to meet low-level needs first, and then to
meet higher-level needs. The hierarchy of needs theory is based on the way of "satisfying-
advancing", while ERG theory holds that when higher-level needs cannot be met, lower-level
needs will be stronger. Therefore, ERG theory has not only the way of "satisfying - advancing",
but also the way of "setback - retrogression".
2.3.3. Achievement Needs Theory
McClelland's Achievement Needs Theory studies the relationship between achievement level
and work behavior. It holds that people have three kinds of internal needs: achievement needs,
power needs, and social needs. The intensity of needs varies from person to person, and
different behaviors depend on motivation. Therefore, organizations must understand the
intensity of the different needs of employees and find out the most appropriate job nature and
requirements to achieve the satisfaction of the individual. McClelland found that these three
needs have no hierarchical relationship and can use for training to increase employee’s
achievement needs
2.3.4. Goal-Setting Theory
This theory was put forward by Locke in 1968. The goal-setting theory holds that human
behavior is influenced by goals. A specific and challenging work goal is the main source of
motivation. Especially for work with completion deadlines or test criteria, its motivation effect
is greater; and achieving higher goals will lead to higher performance than achieving lower
goals. Managers should strive to combine organizational goals with employees’ personal goals
and make it possible to achieve personal goals so that employees' work enthusiasm can be
improved, which is conducive to the realization of organizational goals and personal goals.
2.3.5. JD-C Model (Job Demand Control Model)
Karasek pioneered the combination of the two traditional research directions based on many
works of literature and proposed a well-known "work demand-control" model in the field of
work stress. He pointed out that job demand is a factor that reflects the number of tasks, the
complexity of work, and the difficulty of work, and so on. It is also a source of stress, such as
workload, role conflict, and problem-solving requirements. Work control is also known as the
work decision-making range, which refers to the extent to which employees influence their
Tamer M. Alkadash, Shi Jun Bo, Baligh Besher, Qais Almaamari and Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-
Absy
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work behavior. In this case, the high job demand is not only a source of stress but also an
incentive to employees, resulting in "beneficial pressure". When employees have higher job
demands, that is, when they are faced with difficulties, complexity, and a lot of work, job control
can play a buffer role for employees, making employees less vulnerable to work stress.
3. SOCIAL SUPPORT
Social support is the product of social links, referring to the resources flowing in social links.
Broadhead proposed in 1988 that social support should be divided into two categories:
structural support refers to the network structure that can provide social support while
functional support refers to the quality of social support. In the 1970s, Raschke proposed that
social support refers to the care and support that people feel from others. As a theoretical
paradigm, social support originated from "social etiology", which was first associated with an
individual's physiological, psychological, and social adaptability. Based on this, some scholars
limited it to the field of "social mental health". However, according to the existing research, the
use of social support at home and abroad has gone beyond the original explanation, expanding
it into a combination of social behaviors used to refer to vulnerable groups as providing spiritual
and material resources to help them get rid of the plight of survival and development. Social
support theory is based on the hypothesis of the needs of vulnerable groups, that is to say, based
on forming a scientific understanding of the vulnerable groups, to determine what resources the
vulnerable groups need to improve and get rid of the existing disadvantage. According to the
current research, social support can be divided into four categories: formal support led by
government and formal organizations (NGOs); quasi-formal support led by the community;
social support provided by personal networks; professional and technical support provided by
social work professionals and organizations. These four types of support overlap with each
other, but complement each other at more levels, and have initially formed a framework of
government-led and pluralistic social support system.
3.1. Theoretical Model of Social Support
There are currently three theoretical models for the impact of social support on mental health
as follows:
3.1.1. The Main-Effort Model
Social support has a universally beneficial effect on the physical and mental health of
individuals. It not only plays a health care role under the condition of psychological stress but
also is beneficial to maintaining a good emotional experience and physical and mental condition
of the individual. In the view of the advocates of the main effect model, regardless of the
occurrence of pressure events, as long as the level of social support is increased, it will
inevitably lead to an increase in the individual's health level.
3.1.2. The Buffeting Model
Social support is only related to physical and mental health under stress conditions. It cushions
the negative effects of stress events on physical and mental health and maintains and improves
the physical and mental health of individuals. Social support as a buffer often plays a role
through people's internal cognitive system, which mainly refers to the individual consciousness,
psychological characteristics, conscious tendencies, and self-concept that affect the intensity
and endurance of psychological stress and regulate the relationship between psychological
stimulation and disease. Cohen (1984) believes that social support may play a role in two links
of the chain between stress events and health status. Turner's research shows that the role model
of social support is influenced by socioeconomic status. Under the condition of low
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socioeconomic status, the research results support the main effect model, and under the
condition of high economic status, the research results support the buffer effect model.
3.1.3. The Dynamic-Effect Model
Taking social support and stress as independent variables, they play an important role in
physical and mental health through direct or indirect effects. The relationship between stress
and social support is interacted and interacted, and this relationship will change with time. The
dynamic model of social support has been well proved in the study of Munroe. Therefore,
researchers believe that the relationship between social support, stress, and physical and mental
health is not a simple linear relationship, sometimes it may be a curve relationship, sometimes
it may be a periodic change or the relationship between thresholds.
4. JOB SATISFACTION
Job satisfaction happens when an employee feels he or she is having job stability, career growth,
and a comfortable work-life balance. This implies that the employee is having satisfaction at
the job as the work meets the expectations of the individual. Generally speaking, job
satisfaction usually refers to a person's psychological state of benign feelings towards the work
itself and its related aspects (including working environment, working status, working methods,
work pressure, challenges, interpersonal relationships at work, etc.) in the process of working
within the organization. A high level of job satisfaction occurs when work is consistent with
personal needs, interests, and working conditions, and interpersonal cooperation.
4.1. Theoretical Model of Job Satisfaction
4.1.1. Two-factor theory
Herzberg studied the relationship between satisfaction and demand with more than 200
accountants and engineers. The factors of satisfaction and dissatisfaction were divided into
health care and incentive factors. The results of Herzberg's research were called incentive-
health theory, also known as the two-factor theory.
Incentives: Factors directly related to work, also known as internal factors, including a sense
of accomplishment, recognition of others, promotion of positions, etc., are related to work,
psychological growth and personal positive attitude towards work, so good incentives can
improve employees.
Health factors: Factors that are not directly related to work, also known as external factors,
such as interpersonal relationships, supervision and assessment, salary and compensation, work
environment and working conditions, company policy, and management.
4.1.2. Equity theory
Fairness theory is put forward by Adams, also known as social exchange theory or social
comparison theory. The theory of fairness focuses on social comparison, employee union
evaluation, and comparison of the organization's treatment to oneself and others. If a person
with the same ratio thinks that it is fair, the employee will be satisfied without the cognitive
disorder, so he will not take action; if the ratio is different, it will cause cognitive disorder, and
the employee will have a strong motivation to take action to reduce or reduce this unfair
cognition; according to the theory of fairness, when people feel unfair, they may produce the
following reactions to balance recognition.
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4.1.3. Reinforcement theory
The Reinforcement theory is an incentive theory put forward by American psychologists and
behavioral scientists Skinner, Hessi, and Blanchard. This theory is based on the reinforcement
principle of learning to understand and modify human behavior. The so-called reinforcement,
in its most basic form, refers to the affirmative or negative consequences of an action (reward
or punishment), which to a certain extent determines whether the action will repeat in the future.
Positive reinforcement is rewarding those behaviors that are needed by organizations, thereby
strengthening such behaviors, while negative reinforcement is the opposite. Some behavioral
principles of the concrete application of reinforcement theory are as follows: reinforcement
tends to occur repeatedly; different reinforcement measures should be adopted according to
different reinforcement objects; small steps should be taken to set goals in stages, and the
objectives should be clearly defined and expressed; timely feedback; positive reinforcement is
more effective than negative reinforcement.
4.1.4. Expectancy theory
Expectation theory was first proposed by E. Tolman and Levin. But expectation theory is used
to illustrate that job motivation begins with V. Vroom. In 1946, Fromm put forward his
expectation theory of job motivation in his book Work and Motivation. It is a theory that
explains the incentive process and achieves the ultimate reward goal by investigating the causal
relationship between people’s hard work and the final reward they receive.
This theory holds that when people have the need and the possibility of achieving the goal,
their enthusiasm can be high. This theory can be expressed by the following formulas: M=∑V•E
In the formula:
M-motivation refers to the intensity of mobilizing one’s enthusiasm and stimulating
one’s internal potential.
V-Goal value refers to the value of achieving goals to satisfy individual needs.
E-expectation probability is the probability that people judge themselves to achieve
a certain goal according to experience.
5. JOB STRESS
Wafer Cannon, a famous physiologist at Harvard University, first introduced stress into the
field of physiological psychology in his monograph in 1932. He believes that stress is a kind of
internal balance disorder under the influence of external factors; the body is in a continuous
state of awakening, which will eventually damage health. Although there is a significant
increase in research on job stress, researchers have not agreed on the definition and nature of
job stress. Hans Selyels (1980) argues that “stress is the body’s non-specific response to any
demand that acts on it. John M. Ivancevich and Michal T. Matteson define stress simply as “an
individual’s response to the environment”. T.A. Beecher and J.E. Newman define work stress
as “a state that originates from the interaction between people and work, is characterized by
human internal changes and causes them to deviate from their normal functions”. Fred Luthans
combines these two definitions and generalizes them. Stress is defined as “adaptive response to
external conditions, which leads to physiological, psychological and behavioral deviations of
participants in an organization”.
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5.1. Theoretical Model of Job Stress
5.1.1. Traditional theory
The characteristics of traditional theories or research methods are to confirm and measure
various independent force-related concepts at a broader social level, and to consider their impact
on individuals and organizations.
In the research model of Hendrix (1995), researchers divide the factors causing stress into
three types namely, internal factors, external factors, and personality characteristics.
5.1.2. Person-Environment Fit Theory
Person-Environment Fit Theory, proposed by French and Caplan in 1972, is one of the most
widely used and accepted theories in the field of work stress. The theory holds that the factors
causing stress are not individual environmental factors or personal factors, but the results of
personal and environmental linkages.
Stress is caused by a mismatch between individual abilities and job requirements. Only
when the personality traits match the work environment, will there be better adaptability. After
years of research, French and other scholars have developed two patterns of human-
environment matchings such as 1) Need-Supplies fit, 2) Demands-Abilities fit, and 3) Person-
Environment fit.
5.1.3. Lazarus Transaction Theory
The interaction theory proposed by American psychologist Lazarus (1966) is one of the most
influential theories in stress research. As for the generation of pressure, Lazarus Transaction
Theory puts forward two main principles: one is the interaction between individual and
environment in the face of a situation; the other is that the relationship between individual and
environment transcends independence. The relationship between individuals and the
environment is always changing. If an individual-environment relationship is stressful, first, the
individual should think that the work he is facing has an important relationship with the
individual. Secondly, psychological stress occurs only when an individual makes an external or
internal request to use or exceeds the evaluation of his resources. Lazarus believes that stress is
not the product of personal characteristics or the environment. In interaction theory, stress is a
process that changes with time and tasks. The relationship between the individual and the
environment, as well as the matching degree between the individual and the environment, are
not fixed in terms of time, tasks, or activities.
Newstrom (1997) put forward a theoretical model of job stress. The factors causing stress
are divided into working factors and a non-working environment. The model divides pressure
into positive pressure and negative pressure, which shows that positive pressure and negative
pressure can produce constructive and destructive results, respectively. The theoretical model
of the pressure is shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1 Newstrom's model of job stress
6. HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
6.1. Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Job Burnout
At present, there are not enough studies on the relationship between job burnout and job
satisfaction. Most of the studies are limited to the correlation between job burnout and job
satisfaction. Jiang Award's research on bank employees shows that emotional exhaustion and
cynicism are positively correlated with physical and mental health, and negatively correlated
with job satisfaction. Jehad ZakiAdwan(2013)used MBI to measure 120 pediatric nurses. The
research shows that job satisfaction is negatively correlated with job burnout, that is, the higher
job satisfaction is and the lower job burnout is. Ning Xiao Dong, Huang Xing Zhi, and Cheng
Hui Ling (2015) pointed out that job satisfaction was negatively correlated with job stress and
job burnout, while job stress was positively correlated with job burnout. Wang Dan (2017) took
kindergarten teachers as subjects to study the relationship between job satisfaction and job
burnout. The results showed that although natural teachers’ job satisfaction was low, their job
burnout was not high. In this regard, Wang Dan believes that on the one hand, teachers’ job
burnout is not high; on the other hand, it may be that the problem of job burnout cannot fully
detect the true state of teachers' burnout. However, there are also many differences in
demographic variables of kindergarten teachers’ job burnout. Huang Yi Ying and Niu Lin Yan
(2017) also found that the determination of the correlation degree of job burnout had a certain
intermediate effect on the process of job burnout guided by job stress. Nurses with higher job
stress did not produce job burnout or job burnout under the same high job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 1: Job Satisfaction has a negative and significant relationship with job Burnout
in China.
6.2. Relationship between Job Stress and Job Burnout
Many researchers acknowledge that job burnout is caused by long-term job stress. However,
job burnout and job stress cannot be substituted for each other. There are essential differences
between them: (1) conceptually, job burnout includes pairs of negative attitudes and behavioral
changes of service objects, work and organizations may not necessarily be accompanied by
these attitudes and behavioral changes. (2) From the production process, pressure forms rapidly
and manifests clearly, which can be an immediate response, while burnout is not easily detected,
which is the result of a long process of subtle evolution. (3) From the scope of production,
people at work may experience it. When it comes to stress, only some people, especially those
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engaged in helping others, experience burnout for various reasons. From the perspective of
function, stress has a positive side, which can be transformed into motivation to stimulate
people's potential to a certain extent, while burnout brings only negative effects. Foreign studies
have shown that job stress itself does not necessarily lead to burnout, but if individuals are
under long-term job stress, they cannot be solved. In the meantime, there are no buffer resources
and no support system, so these irregular pressures will develop into job burnout.
In the research on the relationship between job stress and job burnout, job stress is mainly
the source of stress. Job burnout is a special reaction from job stress. Li Yong Zhan (2015) took
304 special education teachers as subjects and used the method of a questionnaire survey.
Copper et al. compiled the revised Chinese version of the stress source subscale of the work
stress questionnaire. Four dimensions of workload, interpersonal relationship, career
development, and work-family balance were selected, the results show that there is a significant
positive correlation between job stress and job burnout of special education teachers. Wang
Fang, Duan Feng Guang, Yan Xin Xin (2015) took courier as a sample and found that there
was a significant correlation between job stress and job burnout. Different sources of stress had
different predictive effects on the three dimensions of job burnout. Examination pressure,
workload pressure, role responsibility pressure, employment pressure, career development
pressure, interpersonal relationship pressure, and emotional exhaustion dimension of job
burnout were different. A significant positive correlation between interpersonal relationship
stress and indifference dimension and loss of personal accomplishment dimension showed a
significant positive correlation. Interpersonal relationship stress and employment stress had
positive predictions on three dimensions of job burnout. You Li Qin, Jin Dong, Yang Hong,
Liu Tie Bang (2014)uses the Work Stress Scale, MBI-GS General Edition and Simple Coping
Style Scale to analyze the work stress, coping style and job burnout of employees, showing the
work pressure and job burnout of employees There is a significant positive correlation between
them.
Hypothesis 2: Job stress has a positive and significant relationship with job Burnout in
China.
6.3. Relationship between Job Demand and Job Burnout
The JD-R model is based on Demerit’s extensive empirical research and theoretical discussion.
The theory holds that job requirements and resources should match, otherwise job burnout will
occur. Its theoretical basis comes from the conservation of resource theory proposed by Hobfoll
in 1989. According to the theory of resource preservation, individuals are always inclined to
seek and occupy resources, and when they perceive that the existing resources may be lost or
have been lost, or that the expected resources cannot be obtained, they will lead to a state of
psychological stress and tension. To enrich and improve the theoretical research on burnout,
Zhang Yong Liang made a series of studies on employees based on JD-R model and found that
job burnout was positively correlated with job demand. Zhou Mi, Zhao Wen Hong, Jiang Yu
Jie (2016) also based on the JDR model made an empirical investigation on a high-tech labor-
intensive manufacturing enterprise and explored the influencing factors of job burnout of the
new generation of industrial workers from the perspective of job characteristics and individual
factors. The results show that there is a positive correlation between job demand and job
burnout. Zhu Jia Liang, Gan Yi Qun, Gan Ting Ting (2015) through the study of the dynamic
change of the occurrence and development of civil servants’ burnout and its influencing factors.
This paper examines the different roles of job requirements, job resources, and personality in
the dynamic development of civil servants' burnout. A half-longitudinal study was conducted
among 158 civil servants in the drug control system. The results show that job demand
increment positively affects job burnout increment. Huang Jie, Wu Guo Qian, Wang Yan Song,
Tamer M. Alkadash, Shi Jun Bo, Baligh Besher, Qais Almaamari and Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-
Absy
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 211 editor@iaeme.com
You Xu Qun (2015) used a three-wave longitudinal design with six-month intervals, the job
burnout, job requirements and job resources of 263 employees in domestic enterprises were
measured, and the dynamic changes of their working environment and the interaction of their
burnout experience under the background of Chinese culture were explored. The results show
that after controlling the baseline level, the increment of job demand positively affects the
increment of job burnout.
Hypothesis 3: Job demand has a positive and significant relationship with job Burnout in
China.
6.4. Relationship between Social Support and Job Burnout
Job stress itself does not necessarily lead to burnout, but if individuals are under long-term job
stress and cannot be solved, during which there are no buffer resources, no support system, then
these irreconcilable pressures will develop into job burnout. Therefore, social support is
considered to be an important factor in the study of job burnout. Comprehensive literature, the
source of social support comes mainly from two aspects; one is informal social support, such
as family members, relatives, friends, leaders, community friends, and colleagues at work. The
second is formal social support, schools providing services, health agencies, government or
private welfare agencies, and mutual aid groups for special purposes. Comprehensive literature,
summarizing the classification of social support from the nature of resources and the nature of
social support. Bai Yi Lu, Li Xin Wang (2015) conducted a questionnaire survey on 1379 front-
line firefighters in China. Using the Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory (CMBI) as revised by
Li Yong Xin, there are 15 items in CMBI scale, which reflect the individual's job burnout,
including three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, personality disintegration, and reduced
personal accomplishment. Social support questionnaire consists of four factors: family support,
comrade-in-arms support, organizational support, and social support. The content of the
questionnaire includes actual or perceived emotional or material support from family, comrade-
in-arms, organization, society, and friends. The correlation coefficient showed that social
support was negatively correlated with job burnout (r=-0.436, P<0.01), PTSD (r=-0.238,
P<0.01), indicating that the higher the level of social support, the lower the degree of job
burnout. Zou Zhi Li，Zhou Bo（2015）and Li Xiu Li，Rao Min（2015）believes that
positive social support includes providing emotional comfort, technical assistance, improper
human treatment, encouraging personal growth, active listening, and sharing values and beliefs.
There are different channels of social support, on the one hand, leaders, colleagues in the
working environment, on the other hand, family support outside the workplace. Both articles
use the CBMI scale to discuss the job burnout of Chinese medical staff and its relationship with
social support. The two articles used different scales for social support assessment, but the final
results showed that the relationship between social support and job burnout was negatively
correlated. Deng Yuan Ping, Dai Hai Qi, Lin Zan Ge (2013) MBI-GS scale was used to measure
job burnout and the SSRS scale was used to measure social support. The results show that there
is a significant negative correlation between job burnout and social support of production line
employees.
Hypothesis 4: Social support has a negative and significant relationship with job Burnout
in China.
7. CONCLUSION
Employee job burnout is an extreme psychological reaction caused by employees’ inability to
effectively cope with the pressure of work. It is a state of emotional attitudes and behavior
decline accompanied by long-term high-level stress experience. Employees’ job burnout is
Conceptual Framework on Job Burnout of the Employees and its Correlative Factors in China
During Coivd-19
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 212 editor@iaeme.com
mainly manifested in the lack of professional ethics and dedication in work, lack of progress in
work, low sense of self-efficacy, boredom with work and aggravation of turnover tendency.
Some self-regulation methods are summarized below for these problems:
7.1. Understanding oneself, positioning well and defining goals
In personal stress management, we should first recognize ourselves and have a comprehensive
and objective understanding of ourselves, including self-personality, values and personal
abilities. Self-knowledge can be acquired through self-assessment and other people's opinions.
When necessary, psychological tests can also be used to clarify their interests, values, abilities,
personalities and so on. Because individual factors are closely related to the perception and
perception of stress, recognizing these differences is the beginning of a targeted solution to
stress problems. On the basis of self-awareness, through the objective analysis of their strengths
and weaknesses, give them an accurate positioning and find the direction of work and life. Then,
set clear development goals. Take work and life as a whole to plan goals. The goals include not
only work areas, career development goals, but also personal and family goals. Individuals
arrange their goals according to their priorities and deal with them in turn. Particular attention
should be paid to the fact that the goals need to be measured, clear and specific, and that the
goals must be measurable and achievable through efforts and determine the order in which the
goals are accomplished, adjust the goals at any time, and evaluate them regularly. Increase self-
control over work and life through goal management.
7.2. Improving personal coping ability
In the present high-intensity and high-pressure working environment, since job burnout is
inevitable, it is very important to improve the coping ability of job burnout. In order to adapt to
society, individuals must constantly improve themselves in the aspects of thinking mode, life
attitude, emotional mode, behavior mode, value orientation and knowledge structure.
First of all, we should face it rationally. The philosopher Epicurus said that "human beings
are not troubled by problems, but by their views on them". In the same stress state, some people
can calm down in front of pressure, while others will panic, which is caused by different
perceptions of pressure. In fact, the generation of many pressures is an individual's wrong
irrational cognition. Psychologists have shown that in stressful events, there are never worries
about decisions made in the past, and there is no way to change critical worries about health
that are based on Inferiority complex. So we can't control the pressure itself, but we can control
the reaction to the pressure. Individuals need to establish a positive way of thinking, increase
the rational component of cognition, and deal with it in an objective and rational way.
Secondly, take the initiative to seek help. Everyone lives in a certain social network.
Seeking help from society is a positive way of behavior. Individuals can not only seek help
from organizations, get assistance and psychological support from organizations and
colleagues, but also expand the scope of social support, seek help from family members, friends,
or doctors and experts. These support, whether emotional support or material support, can help
to regulate the psychological stress events and make individuals feel cared for, valued,
confident and valuable. To alleviate the adverse consequences of stress, to maintain the physical
and mental health of individuals, and to improve their ability to adapt to various work
difficulties.
Thirdly, cultivate good working and living habits. It includes adjusting diet reasonably,
strengthening physical exercise, expanding interest and activities outside work, etc. Especially,
in modern society, driven by time, the sense of time urgency is often the source of pressure.
Therefore, conscious time management is very important in work and life habits. Reasonable
Tamer M. Alkadash, Shi Jun Bo, Baligh Besher, Qais Almaamari and Mujeeb Saif Mohsen Al-
Absy
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 213 editor@iaeme.com
use of time, distinguishing the importance and urgency of things, can reduce the daily rush,
increase personal work efficiency, and create more leisure time. Have positive and good habits
and mentality, looking for the joy of working life.
7.3. A balanced mind
Everyone's life is made up of different fields. According to German Professor Lothar Hewitt
who is known as the Pope of Time Management, people's life includes four aspects: body,
family, work and thought. Good health is the basis of all activities and the guarantee of
recognition, support and love from family and friends, wealth and success from work. The
ideological field of thinking about the future is the realization of self-worth. We believe that
achieving inner balance is actually a balance in four areas. Work is an important part of the
professional community, but if work does not bring pleasure, if we feel unhappy or tired at
work, then we will have doubts about the meaning of life as a whole. At the same time, work is
not everyone's whole, the other three areas are equally important. When we successfully handle
the relationship between these four aspects, we will have peace and tranquility in our hearts.
The pursuit of balance is a long and lasting process. Balance is both a process and a goal.
Find pleasure in work, become the master of work, have a calm mood and calm attitude, full of
expectations for the future, and ultimately whether work or life will be exceptionally wonderful,
to achieve spiritual balance, create a happy life.
In the enterprise, good interpersonal relationship within the enterprise cannot be separated
from communication. Work communication can make the work smooth, ideological and
emotional communication can enhance mutual understanding; eliminate misunderstandings,
barriers and suspicions, so that enterprises have a harmonious organizational atmosphere. With
the improvement of enterprise management level, communication is used more and more in it.
It is an important management means throughout enterprise management, and a powerful lever
to regulate employees’ psychology and improve enterprise performance. If communication
channels are blocked, information is not exchanged, feelings are not harmonious, and
relationships are not coordinated, employees will have stress and burnout problems. Effective
communication can reduce unnecessary suspicion and psychological problems caused by
uncertainties. It is also a good incentive. At the same time, modern enterprise is an organization
composed of multiple task-based teams. The tasks within each team are not absolutely
independent and have certain interdependence. The tasks among teams are also interdependent
and interactive. In short, the purpose of job burnout intervention and management is to
effectively integrate and resolve different factors of job burnout, create a good working
environment, accurately understand and grasp the psychological state of different employees in
different periods, adjust the psychological tension of employees, prevent the occurrence of job
burnout or reduce the degree of job burnout. To enable employees can work healthily and
actively, and ultimately improve organizational performance and achieve organizational goals.
Limitation and suggestion of the future research, the researchers has been faced many
limitation due to spread of covid-19 in China. However, the future research could apply this
model in health sector to see the result of job burnet in health sector after covid-19.
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