Research Burnout: A Refined Multidimensional Scale

Abstract

In a prevailing academic climate where there are high expectations for faculty to publish and generate grants, the exploration of Research Burnout among higher education faculty has become increasingly important. Unfortunately, it is a topic that has not been well researched empirically. In 1997 Singh and Bush developed a unidimensional scale to measure Research Burnout. A closer inspection of the definition of this construct and the composition of its items suggests, however, that the construct may be multidimensional and analogous to Maslach's Psychological Burnout Scale. In this paper, we propose a refined, multidimensional Research Burnout scale and test its factorial validity using confirmatory factor analysis. The nomological validity of this refined scale is established by examining hypothesized relationships between Research Burnout and other constructs such as Intrinsic Motivation for doing research, Extrinsic Pressures to do research, and Knowledge Obsolescence.