Towards gaining a competitive advantage : the relationship between burnout, job satisfaction, social support and mindfulness

Abstract

The prevalence of burnout has increased in the past 30 years. A review of the literature suggested that burnout could be prevented through the application of interpersonal as well as intrapersonal strategies. Interpersonal strategies consist of employees having access to social support systems and human resources management’s ability that may have a positive influence on job satisfaction. Intrapersonal strategies take the form of training individuals to become mindful, thus being aware of their physical as well as psychological states. Little research has been conducted on the successfulness of such strategies and the need was identified to explore the relationship between burnout, job satisfaction, social support and mindfulness among employees in a South African corporate organisation. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between burnout, job satisfaction, social support and mindfulness within a South African corporate organisation. The study was a quantitative study and a correlational research design was used. Systematic random sampling was used to compile the sample. The sample consisted of 209 employees working in a financial corporate environment in Johannesburg. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for burnout, job satisfaction, social support and mindfulness. Moderate to strong inverse correlations were discovered among the constructs under investigation. Thereafter, a multiple regression analysis was deemed necessary to determine which of the independent variables (mindfulness, job satisfaction and social support) contributed significantly to explaining the variance in burnout scores. All the constructs (job satisfaction, mindfulness and social support) appear to be significant predictors of burnout. Job satisfaction displayed the highest beta value whilst mindfulness scored the second highest beta value in the multiple regression analysis.