Burnout among university faculty: The central role of work–family conflict

This study examined both direct and indirect associations of faculty burnout with psychosocial work environments, using the job resources-demands framework. A sample of 2,229 faculty members (57.1% male) throughout public universities in the Czech Republic completed a questionnaire comprising measures of burnout and psychosocial work environment characteristics from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II. We formulated a structural model that hypothesised a positive effect of job demands (quantitative demands, work-family conflict (WFC), job insecurity) and a negative effect of job resources (influence, social community, role clarity) on burnout. Results showed that the strongest predictor of burnout was WFC, which had a direct positive effect on burnout and mediated the positive effect of quantitative demands on burnout. Further, a small direct negative effect of age and an indirect positive effect of involvement in research grants and administrative paperwork on burnout were observed. The findings indicate that university management can most effectively address burnout in academic staff not only by implementing policies that reduce WFC, workload and administrative paperwork, but also by providing more job resources to younger faculty and faculty involved in grant-based projects.