INFLUENCE OF BURNOUT ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the influence of burnout syndrome on healthcare professionals’ organizational commitment. The extant literature debates the conceptual independence of burnout and organizational commitment. This study contributes to the debate by empirically validating the independence of the two constructs and analyzing the relationship between burnout and three different dimensions of organizational commitment. The analyzed population was formed by doctors and nurses working directly with patients and their families from organizations located in Montes Claros, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Data was collected using an adapted Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) scale (Maslach & Jackson, 1987) and the organizational commitment scale (Meyer et al., 1993), and analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling. The results suggest that burnout and organizational commitment are independent constructs. Also, it was observed that burnout syndrome negatively affects the employee’s affective and calculative commitment to the organization, whereas there was no evidence of a negative relationship between burnout and normative commitment. Implications for theory development and organizational practice are discussed.