Work-related ill- and well-being among Finnish sport coaches: Exploring the relationships between job demands, job resources, burnout and work engagement

Abstract

Objective This research examined the work-related ill- and well-being of Finnish sport coaches and the associations of job demands and resources with burnout and work engagement. Our study was based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. The JD-R model proposes that job demands relate especially to burnout and job resources relate especially to work engagement. Methods Finnish coaches (N = 499) within top-level sports completed a questionnaire measuring burnout, work engagement, job demands and resources. Results The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that burnout was explained with job demands, but also lack of job resources added the explanation rate almost equally. The most important single contributor to burnout was lack of positive challenge at work. Work engagement was explained by job resources, from which positive challenge at work together with mastery of work were the strongest contributors. In addition, decision demands contributed slightly to the explanation of work engagement. Conclusions The results suggest that in the work of sport coaches, job resources or lack of them are more essential than job demands to explain both burnout and work engagement.