The energy and identification continua of burnout and work engagement: Developmental profiles over eight years

Abstract

Understanding of the mutual developmental dynamics between burnout and work engagement is limited due to the lack of longitudinal studies with long follow-ups and multi-wave data. This study sought to identify subgroups of employees characterized by long-term exhaustion-vigor (energy continuum) and cynicism-dedication (identification continuum). A further important aim was to investigate differences between the identified subgroups in their experiences of progress in their personal work goals. Five-wave, eight-year follow-up data among Finnish white-collar professionals (n=168) were studied using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). The analysis yielded three exhaustion-vigor subgroups: 1) “Low stable exhaustion – high stable vigor” (n=141), 2) “Fluctuating exhaustion and vigor” (n=19), and 3) “Stable average exhaustion – decreasing vigor” (n=8). Three subgroups were also found for cynicism-dedication: 1) “Low stable cynicism – high stable dedication” (n=124), 2) “Increasing cynicism – decreasing dedication” (n=27), and 3) “Decreasing cynicism – increasing dedication” (n=17). Exhaustion and vigor were found to be stable and mutually exclusive experiences for the great majority of the participants. However, mean changes were also detected – especially in vigor – but these were rare. A notable finding was that the levels of and changes in cynicism and dedication showed opposite trends in each subgroup: among the majority of the participants (74%), the levels of cynicism and dedication were stable and inversely related, while among one-third their levels simultaneously changed in the reverse direction. The most successful progress in personal work goals was found in the groups described by the identification continuum, i.e., in the groups of “Low stable cynicism – high stable dedication” and “Decreasing cynicism – increasing dedication”.