Testing the Effects of Workplace Variables on the Job Burnout Among Prison Officers in India: An Application of the Job Demands–Resources Model

Abstract

The current study used the job demands–resources model and survey data from prison officers in India in order to examine how workplace variables are associated with three job burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of work accomplishment. Job demands make the job more difficult and are generally linked to negative outcomes, while job resources make the job less difficult and are generally linked to positive outcomes. The job demands for the current study were role overload, routinization, and fear of being victimized at work, and the job resources were training views, instrumental communication, and job autonomy. Based on ordinary least squares regression results of surveys from 168 officers from a prison in the Haryana State of India, this study found that role overload was associated with higher levels of all three burnout dimensions, while routinization was only associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Curiously, fear of victimization was associated with lower levels of depersonalization and reduced sense of work accomplishment. Instrumental communication was associated with lower levels of all three burnout dimensions, while training views and job autonomy had no significant effects on any burnout dimension.