Influence of role stress on Spanish social workers’ burnout and engagement: the moderating function of recovery and coping

Abstract

The working conditions in which many social workers practice their profession make it very likely that they will experience high strain and burnout and low engagement. Previous research has identified different risk and protective factors of burnout and engagement. This article attempts to: (i) analyse the relationship of burnout and engagement with two job demands (role conflict and role clarity) and three personal resources (recovery experiences, problem-focused coping, and emotion-focused coping); (ii) examine whether these personal resources moderate the association of job demands with burnout and engagement. Participants were 448 Spanish graduate social workers. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that burnout was positively predicted by role conflict and emotion-focused coping, and was negatively predicted by role clarity and recovery experiences; overall, the inverse pattern of results was found for engagement. Furthermore, problem-focused coping and recovery moderated the association of role conflict with burnout; problem-focused coping also moderated the relationship of role conflict with engagement. These findings support individual and organisational interventions that enhance the application of personal resources and the reduction of job demands to lessen burnout and increase engagement.