Role of demands-resources in work engagement and burnout in different career stages

Abstract

Integrating the life-span approach with the Job-Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study examined the associations between personal and job demands and resources and work burnout and engagement during the early, mid, and late career stages. A further aim was to include novel job-related demands caused by digitalization, globalization and diversity. We also examined the extent to which work engagement and burnout were associated with general well-being, i.e., life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, among employees in different career stages. Employees (N = 1415) from three large organizations participated in the study via their occupational health services. The research questions were analyzed using structural equation modeling. In line with the life-span approach, the results for personal demands showed that, especially during the early career stage, economic problems were associated with work burnout symptoms, whereas during the late career stage caregiving demands were associated with work burnout and, negatively, with work engagement. In line with the JD-R model, job resources were related to work engagement in all career stages and high resilience buffered against the associations between demands and work engagement and burnout. The results for job demands showed that ICT demands were associated with work burnout during the early career stage and multicultural job demands with work burnout during the middle career stage. Finally, work engagement was associated with life satisfaction and work burnout was associated with depressive symptoms in all career stages. To conclude, an integrative life-span framework can be applied in the context of the demands-resources model.