Negative Emotions and Job Burnout in News Media Workers: A Moderated Mediation Model of Rumination and Empathy

Abstract

News media workers are in stressful and competitive professions susceptible to negative emotions. Although the relationship between negative emotions and job burnout has been evidenced in some professional fields, it has not yet been examined in the population of news media workers. Far few studies have revealed the mediating and moderating mechanism between negative emotions and job burnout. Based on Resource Allocation Theory and Theory of Compassion Fatigue, this study examined (a) the mediating role of rumination in the relationship between negative emotions and job burnout, (b) the moderating role of empathy in the direct and indirect effect of negative emotions on job burnout, and (c) the moderating role of gender in the direct effect of negative emotions on rumination. Two hundred and eleven Chinese news media workers filled out questionnaires regarding negative emotions, job burnout, rumination, and empathy. The results indicated that negative emotions were positively correlated with job burnout. Mediation analysis revealed that rumination partially mediated the association between negative emotions and job burnout. Moderated mediation analysis further indicated that empathy moderated the effect of negative emotions on rumination, with a high level of empathy strengthening the association between negative emotions and rumination; gender moderated the effect of negative emotions on rumination, with the association between negative emotions and rumination was stronger among males than females. These findings encourage to design psychological interventions to reduce rumination and express proper empathy in the face of stress or negative affective status to avoid job burnout among news media workers.