Job Burnout and Employee Engagement

Abstract

Drawing on 50 unique samples (from 37 studies), the authors used meta-analytical techniques to assess the extent to which job burnout and employee engagement are independent and useful constructs. The authors found that (a) dimension-level correlations between burnout and engagement are high, (b) burnout and engagement dimensions exhibit a similar pattern of association with correlates, and (c) controlling for burnout in meta-regression equations substantively reduced the effect sizes associated with engagement. These findings suggest that doubts about the functional distinctiveness of the dimensions underlying burnout and engagement cannot be dismissed as pure speculation.