The Impact of Personality Traits on the Burnout promoting Effect of poor Supervisor Support

Abstract

The skill of supervisors to provide adequate social support is an indispensable prerequisite for the economic success of the organization. The two-way relationship (dyad) between the leader and the led, is in the focus of this investigation. For this research in the field of social support, the moderating effects of personality traits have been considered. The question arises, as to whether they can compensate or moderate inadequate social support from supervisors and its effects on burnout. The sample comprises of managers in middle management (N=338) from different German automotive suppliers. In the examination, the Survey of Perceived Supervisor Support (SPSS), the German version (MBI-D) of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the 10-Item Big-Five Inventory (BFI-10) were used. It was postulated that “neuroticism”, “openness” & “conscientiousness” have no, but “extraversion”, “agreeableness” have a moderating effect between “perceived supervisor support” and the three burnout dimensions. After all, no moderating effect for all Big-5 traits was observed. Nonetheless, a negative significant correlation between the personality dimensions “openness” and the MBI dimensions “emotional exhaustion” (r=-.245, p<.05) and “depersonalization” (r=-.301, p<.01) was found. Furthermore, there is a significant connection between “neuroticism” with the MBI dimension of “reduced personal accomplishment” (r=.396, p<.01).