From organizational commitment to professional burnout : the role of perceived organizational justice

Abstract

Generally, organizational commitment is considered to have positive implications for organizational effectiveness and employees' wellbeing. Supposedly, organizational commitment may even act as a buffer against the strain at work (Begley, Czajka, 1993). But some studies have found that high levels of organizational commitment could drain resources of employees at work (Panaccio, Vandenberghe, 2009). These effects may occur through a focus on fast task accomplishment and high requirements on job performance. Organizational injustice is also able to sustain employee's exhaustion (Taris et al., 2004). The purpose of this study was to test the relational model of organizational commitment and employees’ professional burnout with perceived organizational injustice as mediating variable. A cross-sectional survey was employed to gather data from 975 employees (678 women and 296 men) from different organizations in Lithuania using the Organizational Commitment questionnaire, Maslach Burnout inventory, and Organizational Injustice scale. Distinct models for men and women were constructed to test the relationships among all study variables using structural equation modelling (SEM). Both models showed an adequate fit to data (men: χ²(8)=11,061; p=0,198; RMSEA=0,036; women: χ²(3)=1,945; p=0,584; RMSEA=0,00). The analysis of the results yielded different impact of three components of commitment on professional burnout through organizational injustice as a mediating variable. Additionally, the model for women had more complex and stronger effects compared to men. More specifically, organizational injustice had a mediating effect between organizational commitment and burnout in the sample of women. Affective commitment was found to have a significant negative effect on professional burnout for both samples. Whereas continuous commitment positively affected professional burnout. [...]