Relationships between perceived stress at work, occupational burnout and ego-resiliency in a group of public administration employees: testing the assumption about the moderating role of ego-resiliency (replication study in Poland)

Abstract

Objectives. The job demands–resources (JD-R) theory assumes that job demands can be balanced by resources, which ultimately leads to the development of engagement and prevent burnout. Research shows that human resources weaken the relationship between job demands/stress and employee health. However, some reports do not confirm this. The overriding goal of the research was to empirically verify the theory of the buffering role of personal resources in the JD-R model with a sample of public administration employees in Poland. Methods. The participants were 144 administrative employees. The study was carried out in a correlation scheme. Correlations between the variables of perceived stress at work, burnout and ego-resiliency were established. It was also checked whether ego-resiliency moderates the relationship between perceived stress at work and burnout. Results. As expected, burnout significantly correlated with perceived stress at work (positively) and ego-resiliency (negatively). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between ego-resiliency and perceived stress at work. Ego-resiliency did not moderate the relationship between stress and burnout. Conclusion. More research is required to test the role of different personal resources in the relationships between job demands and burnout, as well as between organizational resources and work engagement.