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Effects of Demographic and Personal Factors on Job Burnout: An Empirical Study in Iran

2011; Globeedu Group; Volume: 28; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

2277-5846

Ali Attafar, Nastaran Simar Asl, Arash Shahin,

Emotional Intelligence and Performance

While burnout is a type of job stress which might be affected by a variety of factors, can have negative implications for both employees and employers. This study aims to examine the level of job burnout among Iranian librarians. Also, focuses on the differences of three constituents of burnout as emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP) and perceived sense of personal accomplishment (PA) among different genders, age groups, tenure levels, organizational positions and librarians' educational backgrounds. A 22 items questionnaire has been designed and submitted to a sample of 150 librarians, who are members of the Iranian library and Information Science Association. 122 filled questionnaires have been returned and the data including the level of EE, PA and DP has been statistically analyzed. Results indicate that Iranian librarians suffer from moderate levels of job burnout. Compared to female librarians, males suffer from higher degrees of EE and DP, while there is no significant difference among librarians in EE based on other factors. Also, higher levels of DP are found among librarians who are not library science graduates and those with less than five years experience. In addition, librarians with over five years and those with relevant educational background to librarianship have higher levels of PA. The results of the impact of age analysis imply that the highest level of PA is experienced by librarians with 50 years old and over. The findings contribute to understanding of the job burnout in Iran's libraries as a developing country as well as the effects of demographic factors; provide critical implications for managers of libraries; and highlight directions for future research. Introduction Burnout is an advanced state of mental strain in which become frustrated or angry with themselves as they realize that they can not give the company in which they work, the same kind of enthusiasm as in the past (Muhammad and Hamdy, 2005). In other words, occurs when depletion of physical and emotional resources, develop cynical attitudes and feel a loss of professional self-efficacy (Brewer and Shapard, 2004) which can be originated from chronic and repeated pattern of stress in individuals (Appel and Kim- Appel, 2008). Possible effects of burnout at the organizational level are job turnover and absenteeism (Lebreton et al, 2004). On the other hand, burnout consequences on employees include headaches, neck and back pains, stomach disturbances, breathing problems, insomnia, nightmares, general fatigue and slow recovery from illnesses (Garland, 2004). Job-related factors such as high demands and low influence, low social support, and low role-clarity are among the factors that increase the risk of burnout (Boritz and Rugulies, 2006). Despite the fact that many scholars believe that it is foreign to the nature of librarians to emphasize negative aspects of the library experience (Pease, 1995, p.36), librarians have been exposed to many of the job-related stressors such as frequent technological changes, increased competition for fewer positions and shifting priorities identified in the literature, all as highly correlated with job burnout. Burnout was initially limited to helping professions and was later broadened and defined as a crisis in one 's relationship with work in general and not necessarily as a crisis in one's relationship with people at work (Salanova et al., 2005). Since the 1970s, burnout has become a subject of concern in the literature of helping professions including librarianship (Kupersmith, 1992). However, in Iran as a developing country, burnout studies have mainly concentrated on nurses (Sotodeh AsI and Bakhtiari, 2006), high school teachers (Mohammadi, 2006), university professors (Ahmadi and Abedi, 2007) and psychiatry hospital workers (Mirabzadeh, et al, 2007). This paper aims to explore the extent to which librarians are burnt-out according to three constituent factors of job burnout including Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP) and Personal Accomplishment (PA). …