Locus of Control and Mindfulness as Moderators of the Job Demand-Control Model: Effects on Burnout

AbstractBurnout is considered a health hazard of contemporary workplaces and additional research is needed to identify protective factors against this phenomenon. The job demand-control model specifies job control as the key buffer against strains, but empirical support for its buffer hypothesis is limited. The present study accounted for both structural and person factors and tested a revised hindrance job demand-control model in prediction of burnout. By incorporating the challenge-hindrance stress framework with tenets of the transactional stress framework and the differential reactivity of personality theory, it was proposed that inclusion of hindrance stressors (i.e., interpersonal conflict, role conflict and organizational politics) and two person variables of locus of control (LOC) and mindfulness as secondary moderators would enhance chances of validating the buffer hypothesis. A survey study of 300 U.S. adult workers from diverse occupational fields was conducted. The results from hierarchical multiple regression revealed no support for the hypothesized buffering effects. However, the buffer hypothesis was partially supported with findings showing high job control attenuating the effects of moderate levels of interpersonal conflict and concurrent high job control and high mindfulness attenuating the effects of moderate interpersonal conflict and organizational politics job demands. Also, all hindrance job demands were consistently associated with greater burnout. A qualitative match between hindrance demands, mindfulness, and burnout enhanced the buffering effects. The results promote social change in that employers could help alleviate burnout by considering workers’ mindfulness and reducing hindrance job demands