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Abstract

The field of public relations is inherently stressful, and burnout, a progressive occupational syndrome marked by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of ineffectiveness, is a significant issue within this context. This autoethnographic study addresses the research question: “How do individual and organisational factors in the public relations sector contribute to burnout, and what role did these elements play in the first author’s personal experience?” Using analytical autoethnography, we explore the first author’s lived experience of burnout within a government public relations role in Australia. By combining the Three Dimensions of Burnout framework which emphasises emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness with insights from the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this paper analyses how burnout manifested through both micro-level individual responses and macro-level organisational factors. Key stressors included excessive unrelated tasks, limited autonomy and inadequate organisational support. Moreover, this study introduces “confusion” and “frustration”, otherwise “confrustion”, as a combined additional proposed dimension of burnout, capturing the disorientation often associated with this condition. Ultimately, this paper advocates for changes in public relations education and workplace environments, emphasising the importance of balancing job demands and resources to protect professionals from burnout, promote workers’ rights, and encourage sustainable work-life balance.

Keywords

public relations burnout dimensions job demands-resources (JD-R) model workplace environment autoethnography

Introduction

Working in public relations can be incredibly stressful. Shen et al. (2015) deem public relations to be “one of the most stressful professions” (p. 416). Gilkerson et al. (2018) found public relations agency practitioners working in social media and digital strategy reported that an expectation to be available 24/7 and unrealistic expectations resulted in extreme stress and burnout. A survey (Muck Rack, 2024a) of more than 1100 public relations professionals, predominantly from the United States, found AI ranked as a higher priority than media relations, and just below strategic planning. Broader challenges of public relations practice in the 21^st century have the potential to fuel stress and burnout.

Gendered organisational structures and societal expectations further complicate the stressors experienced by public relations professionals. For example, entrenched organisational discourses shaped by gender norms and societal expectations (Fitch and Third, 2010, 2014) have resulted in numerous professional disadvantages for its predominantly female workforce. These disadvantages include disproportionate representation of males in senior management roles with women more frequently occupying lower-level positions and persistent gender disparities (Lee et al., 2018; Place and Vardeman-Winter, 2018). Furthermore, gender inequalities persist in hiring practices, career advancement opportunities, and overall career satisfaction (Sha and Toth, 2005). Given these gendered challenges and their potential contribution to burnout, it is crucial to explore how individual professionals experience and navigate burnout within specific organisational contexts.

By highlighting workplace stressors and increasing awareness of burnout, an occupational phenomenon with significant implications for both individuals and organisations, this research seeks to inform preventive strategies and advocate for meaningful change. Autoethnography offers a valuable methodological approach for exploring how individuals experience and navigate burnout, and it is increasingly recognised in public relations scholarship as a means of examining the lived experiences of practitioners in professional communication settings (see James, 2012; Sison, 2016; Wise, 2021). Building on this trajectory, the present study adopts a co-authored autoethnographic approach, grounded in social constructionism, to analyse and collectively reflect upon the first author’s experience of burnout while employed as a senior government public relations adviser. Operating on the premise that reality is socially constructed (Ellingson and Ellis, 2008), we share the first author’s personal narrative and engage in a collective reflection to contribute to the broader social construction of public relations practice.

The central data source is a reflective piece written in 2017, approximately 8 years after the first author’s experience of burnout. The process of recognising and naming this experience as burnout involved significant time and introspection, underscoring the challenges of identifying such conditions. To explore the interplay between micro and macro-level influences, we draw on Maslach and Leiter’s (2022) “Dimensions of Burnout” framework which encompasses emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness, alongside the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model (Bakker et al., 2023). We also propose an extension to this conceptual framework by introducing the dimension of “confrustion” (Baker et al., 2025), a term that fuses confusion and frustration to represent the sense of disorientation frequently reported during experiences of burnout.

Through the documentation, critical analysis and collaborative reflection of the first author’s experience, the study seeks to illuminate internal and external factors contributing to burnout in public relations practice. An alternative autoethnographic way of doing organisational autoethnography research (Sambrook and Herrmann, 2018) was selected to balance the depth and authenticity of a single individual’s lived experience with the reflective strength offered by multiple perspectives (Lee and Gregory, 2008). In this way, the first author’s reflective narrative served as a rich, contextually grounded data source, which was coded and analysed by the first researcher, before her initial findings and recommendations were collaboratively reflected upon by all three researchers to deepen insight and enhance the credibility and rigour of the findings and recommendations. By positioning the first author as a “highly visible social actor” (James, 2012: p. 557) within this narrative, emotional insight and personal reflection provide what Anderson (2006) describes as “vital data” (p. 384), essential for deepening our understanding of burnout in the public relations context and informing meaningful change within the public relations industry.

Literature review

Dimensions of burnout framework

Burnout is an extended response to chronic workplace demands and stressors, recognised as an occupational syndrome characterised by a gradual shift from high motivation to emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness (Maslach and Goldberg, 1998). Maslach and Leiter’s (2022) ‘Dimensions of Burnout’ framework identifies three core symptoms—emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness—and builds upon earlier foundational work by Maslach and her colleagues (Maslach and Goldberg, 1998; Maslach and Jackson, 1981).

Although burnout manifests individually, Maslach and Leiter (2022) emphasise that it primarily arises from organisational and situational contexts, suggesting that individual burnout experiences cannot be fully understood independently of their work environments. Maslach and Goldberg (1998) highlight the critical importance of investigating how situational factors influence individual behaviour and perception, raising essential questions about workplace contexts:

An individual's experience of burnout can only be understood within the context of his or her work environment … How do situational factors shape or constrain individual behaviour? How does the person perceive the situation - its risks and benefits, or its prevailing social norms? (p. 69).

Despite the importance of these contextual questions, they have remained largely unanswered within the public relations academic literature, creating a significant gap in our understanding of burnout in this field.

Several studies have illustrated an unhealthy picture behind the scenes of public relations work. Waddington et al. (2025) found 53% of women cited burnout as their top career challenge, ahead of limited advancement opportunities and a high-pressure work environment. Muck Rack’s (2024b) study of more than 2000 United States-based public relations professionals found half of the respondents considered quitting their job in public relations that year due to exhaustion or burnout. About 44% of the study’s respondents said they had left a previous job for the same reason, citing heavy workloads, impending deadlines and being “always on” as the main contributors to stress. Considering such alarming figures outlined in these quantitative studies, there is more scope to explore how and why burnout happens in the public relations context.

The job demands and resources model (JD-R model)

Other recent studies on burnout have complemented Maslach’s conceptualisation of burnout as a response to excessive workplace stress by employing the Job Demands and Resources Model (JD-R model). Initially developed by Demerouti et al. (2001), the JD-R model is a theoretical framework that enriches our understanding of burnout by explaining how workplace conditions contribute to or buffer against burnout symptoms. Specifically, the JD-R model classifies workplace characteristics into two categories: job demands and job resources. Job demands are defined as physical, social, or organisational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort. In contrast, job resources refer to those physical, psychological, social, or organisational aspects of a role that can mitigate the negative impacts of job demands, facilitate achievement of work goals, reduce overall demands, or stimulate personal development.

According to the JD-R model, burnout primarily arises when job demands are high and job resources are inadequate, resulting in increased emotional exhaustion and cynicism (Bakker et al., 2023). While emotional exhaustion and cynicism are the two emphasised dimensions within the JD-R model, reduced personal accomplishment can also be acknowledged as the presence or absence of resources that contribute to this burnout symptom. A lack of resources such as poor autonomy and poor social support is connected to reduced personal accomplishment (Schaufeli et al., 1996), as are low job rewards (Bakker et al., 2023). Viewed through this lens, burnout is conceptualised as the negative pole on a continuum of employee wellbeing, with work engagement positioned at the opposite, positive end (Dall’Ora et al., 2020).

Recognising the complexity and variability of burnout experiences, scholars—including the JD-R model’s original theorists—have proposed various adaptations to better capture the nuances of workplace demands and resources. These adaptations include the “person × situation approach,” “multilevel JD-R theory,” “new proactive approaches,” and the “work–home resources model” (Bakker et al., 2023). Such developments integrate the JD-R model with other literatures, such as self-regulation, to explore new explanations and potential remedies for burnout. These remedies emphasise the strategic deployment of organisational resources, effective hiring and training practices, and fostering personal resources, including emotional intelligence and proactive personalities (Bakker and De Vries, 2021). Exploring these variations is particularly valuable to the public relations field, where burnout emerges from complex interactions of individual, organisational, and societal factors.

Building upon Maslach’s Dimensions of Burnout framework and the JD-R model, Chan et al. (2015) adapted the JD-R model to specifically consider the impact of information communication technology (ICT), reflecting its significance within the communications context including public relations. Their study found that managing client expectations and meeting deadlines, as well as striving for perfection, were among the primary job demands faced by communications practitioners. Conversely, job variety and social support from colleagues emerged as key job resources. ICT was perceived predominantly as a job resource rather than a demand; however, the continuous use of technology also contributed to blurring boundaries between work and non-work time. However, Chan et al. (2015) did not explicitly link these identified job demands and resources to emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness, leaving the precise manifestation of burnout symptoms in response to these workplace factors unexplored.

Gendered dimensions of burnout

The experience of burnout within public relations is shaped by gendered organisational dynamics and broader societal expectations. Research focused on gender and women (Bilowol et al., 2024) revealed six critical workplace factors perceived as contributing to burnout in the Australian public relations context: unrelenting pressures; disregard of public relations counsel; disproportionate outcomes relative to effort; management, organisational, and client misunderstandings of the public relations role; lack of professional respect; and recognition that workplace stressors are experienced variably. Public relations shares many characteristics with other feminised professions, such as teaching and nursing, particularly regarding the emotional labour involved in continuously managing client and organisational relationships and expectations (Yeomans, 2019).

Although the JD-R model has been explicitly applied to study burnout within public relations (Chan et al., 2015), it features extensively in burnout studies focused on the teaching and nursing professions similarly characterised by feminised workforces and significant emotional demands. As such, valuable insights can be drawn from the burnout literature within teaching and nursing, professions similarly marked by gendered structures and emotional labour. Burnout research in these fields consistently supports the JD-R model, underscoring the significant role of job demands and resources in shaping experiences of burnout across its dimensions (Dall’Ora et al., 2020; Saloviita and Pakarinen, 2021).

Schools, like public relations environments, are complex workplaces characterised by significant demands, including workload pressure, role conflict, colleague conflicts, and student behavioural issues (Saloviita and Pakarinen, 2021). Skaalvik and Skaalvik’s (2020) longitudinal study of Norwegian high school teachers examined relationships between teachers’ perceptions of job demands and resources and burnout dimensions. Their findings indicated a lack of time to complete tasks was the strongest predictor of emotional exhaustion, while low student motivation and working in contexts with dissonant values were the primary predictors of cynicism. Conversely, autonomy was positively associated with increased perceptions of personal accomplishment, whereas low student motivation negatively impacted perceived accomplishment. A comprehensive study of 4,567 Finnish primary school teachers conducted by Saloviita and Pakarinen (2021) employed a similarly integrative JD-R approach, identifying individual teacher characteristics and environmental (student and organisational) factors contributing to burnout. Unexpectedly, they found burnout levels to be highest among subject teachers and lowest among special education teachers.

In nursing, similar patterns emerge. Burnout has been consistently associated with job demands including high workloads, emotional stressors, role conflict, and extended shifts. Dall’Ora et al. (2020), in their theoretical review of burnout research in nursing encompassing 91 studies, identified clear associations between job demands and burnout dimensions, with role conflict, limited autonomy, and lack of task variety being particularly influential factors. Broetje, Jenny and Bauer’s (2020) integrative review of 14 quantitative and qualitative nursing-focused JD-R model studies identified workload pressures, insufficient formal rewards, and interference between work and personal life as critical job demands. Conversely, supervisor support, fair and authentic management practices, transformational leadership styles, interpersonal relationships, autonomy, and availability of professional resources emerged as essential job resources.

Collectively, these insights from teaching and nursing literature provide valuable parallels to the public relations context, illuminating the importance of examining the nuanced interplay between gender, occupational demands, and resource allocation as they relate to burnout experiences. However, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of how these individual and organisational factors shape burnout within public relations. To address this gap, the present autoethnographic study seeks to explore the research question:

How do individual and organisational factors in the public relations sector contribute to burnout, and what role did these elements play in the first author’s personal experience as a professional in this field?

Through analysing and critically reflecting upon her lived experience, this inquiry aims to offer deeper insights into the complex dynamics underlying burnout in public relations.

Methodology

Autoethnography defies a single, concise definition, with ongoing academic debate about its nature, composition, and methodological approach. At its core, however, autoethnography provides an opportunity to deeply connect personal experiences to broader cultural contexts, positioning the researcher’s self within their specific social environment (Reed-Danahay, 1997a). By integrating ethnography, biography, and self-analysis, autoethnography stands out as “qualitative, self-focused and context-conscious” (Ngunjiri et al., 2010: p. 2). This distinctive combination is particularly appropriate for exploring burnout in public relations—a field defined by intensive personal interactions, organisational pressures, and context-specific stressors.

In contrast to traditional ethnography, which translates foreign cultures for one’s own audience, autoethnography uniquely enables the researcher to translate their own “home” culture—in this instance, the public relations industry—for external audiences (Reed-Danahay, 1997b). Coffey (2002) notes autoethnography allows the researcher and their field to become integrally connected, making it ideal for studies exploring phenomena like burnout, where personal lived experiences are deeply intertwined with professional settings. Davies et al. (2019) further highlight this integration, acknowledging both its profound value and potential risks.

Although autoethnography has faced criticism as overly individualised, self-indulgent, or even narcissistic (Sparkes, 2000; Wall, 2016), its methodological strengths are particularly salient in contexts demanding self-reflexivity and cultural analysis. Chang (2008) emphasises that incorporating cultural analysis ensures autoethnography moves beyond mere personal narratives, grounding individual experience firmly within broader social phenomena, such as organisational cultures, workplace norms, and industry-specific challenges contributing to burnout. Johnson and Eaves (2013) contend traditional qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups are unable to fully gauge the complexities and nuances of lived experiences but that autoethnographies “give researchers the advantage of living in the study because the researcher becomes the researched” (p. 96). This study, by adopting a co-authored organisational autoethnography, seeks to address some of the concerns about the individualised nature of autoethnography.

Despite concerns about rigor and ethics raised by critics like Delamont (2007), who suggests autoethnography can lack discipline and present ethical challenges, the methodology’s inherent reflexivity and capacity for nuanced cultural insight make it well-suited to unpacking complex, deeply personal professional phenomena. In their study about extending organisational memory and corporate communications research via autoethnography, Waymer and Logan (2016) argue richness can be added to studies through autoethnographic investigations of workplace cultures that then “delve deeper into how they both as researcher and member of the culture experience, engage, interact with, and make sense of that culture” (p. 1471). Addressing concerns regarding academic rigor, Holt (2003) has advocated developing explicit evaluative criteria to strengthen autoethnographic scholarship. Such rigor and reflexivity are precisely what makes autoethnography a robust methodological choice to explore, illuminate, and contextualise burnout experiences within the public relations profession.

Reflexivity is significant when writing about a topic in which one has professional experience. Drake (2010) highlighted challenges students could face when completing professional doctorates in their areas of expertise, arguing authorial voice is constructed out of decisions regarding data together with considerations regarding researcher position. Berger’s (2015) study concerned with reflexivity in qualitative work also acknowledged her life experiences over time influenced and coloured insights and reflexivity, “finding nuances to which I was blind before…I was looking at what interviewees said with new eyes” (p. 8). Given the substantial timeframes between when the first author experienced burnout and when she reflected on the experience, and then from when she wrote her reflection and then analysed it as part of this research, she acknowledges the influence her life experience would bring to her interpretations of the data.

Data collection

The first author’s experience with burnout occurred during her second year working as a senior media and issues advisor in government public relations when she was in her mid-to-late 20s. She later wrote a reflection of roughly 1550 words as part of her research exploring possible causes of burnout in the Australian public relations context to make sense of her own experience.

After the first author changed her doctoral studies from a thesis-based approach to a publication based one, in 2023 her supervisors suggested she write an autoethnography and use her reflection as its basis. Although at the time she wrote the reflection she had no intentions of using it for data for an autoethnography, it eventually became the foundation of this analytical autoethnography. According to Anderson (2006), analytic autoethnography is a study whereby the researcher is: (1) a full member in the research group or setting, (2) visible as such a member in published texts, and (3) committed to improving theoretical understandings of broader social phenomena (2006, p. 375). This autoethnography aims to apply five requirements Anderson insists are key to an analytical autoethnography: (1) complete member researcher (CMR) status, (2) analytic reflexivity, (3) narrative visibility of the researcher’s self, (4) dialogue with informants beyond the self, and (5) commitment to theoretical analysis (p. 378).

Data analysis

The first author’s reflective narrative served as a rich, contextually grounded data source, which was coded and analysed by the first researcher, before her findings and recommendations were collaboratively reflected upon by all three researchers to deepen insight and enhance the credibility and rigour of the findings and recommendations.

To analyse her reflection, the first author conducted a thematic textual analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022). This author coded the autoethnography according to Maslach and Leiter’s (2022) three dimensions of burnout, highlighting where she determined there was evidence of emotional exhaustion, cynicism and a sense of ineffectiveness. She also coded data that did not appear to completely align with any of the dimensions but still felt relevant to the autoethnography’s research question. The first author further coded the autoethnography according to the JD-R model (Bakker et al., 2023), determining what were job demands and what were a lack of job resources. As the literature outlines that high job demands fuel emotional exhaustion and a lack of job resources prompts cynicism, she then compared the coding according to Maslach and Leiter’s framework to the coding in line with the JD-R model before writing up her initial findings and recommendations.

In response to common criticisms of autoethnography, the first author chose to involve two academics in the critical reflection of her organisational autoethnography situated in a “previous/other life organisation” (Sambrook and Herrmann, 2018: p. 224). This collaborative approach felt ‘safer’, and was inspired by Sambrook and Herrmann’s (2018) following questions:

What experiments have been conducted with alternative autoethnographic ways of doing research to attempt to protect researchers and the researched, and what has been learned through the process? (p. 226).

In keeping with this reflexive and protective stance, the first author invited her co-authors to engage collaboratively in critically reflecting upon her narrative, findings, and recommendations emerging from her account of burnout.

Building on this protective and reflexive approach, the study does not constitute a collaborative or co-produced autoethnography in the more conventional sense of joint fieldwork (Johnson and Eaves, 2013; Lee and Gregory, 2008), nor shared processes of coding for data analysis (Bieler et al., 2021). Nonetheless, it embraces what L’Etang et al. (2012, p. 520) describe as “the breadth of opportunity open to ethnographers working in the field of PR”. Specifically, we adopt a collaborative approach to the analysis and sense-making of the first author’s experience of burnout in public relations, thereby enhancing the study’s legitimacy and trustworthiness. The three authors worked collaboratively to critically reflect on the narrative, findings, and emerging recommendations, identifying points of resonance and dissonance in the author’s account, and engaging in collective dialogue to surface shared meanings and contestations. This process involved regular video conference discussions and the use of shared online documents to iteratively develop and enrich the analysis.

Drawing on Anderson’s (2006) call for analytic reflexivity and dialogic engagement, our approach involved a multi-staged process where each collaborator brought distinct disciplinary lenses and personal experiences to bear on the narrative. By working collaboratively our aim was to create a layered interpretive framework that aligns with Herrmann, Barnhill, and Poole’s (2013) concept of a co-authored organisational autoethnography. This dialogic process enabled the first author to move beyond a solitary, introspective narrative to one that is socially situated and critically interrogated. As De Andrade (2014) suggests, such an approach enriches the methodological rigour of autoethnography by ensuring the ‘vital data’ of personal experience is situated within broader cultural and ethical contexts. Our collaborative analysis thus mirrors the process described by Herrmann et al. (2013), where co-authors navigate their own assumptions and positionalities to produce a more nuanced and polyvocal account. In this way, the methodology acknowledges meaning making is not only personal but also relational, shaped through ongoing negotiation between selves and others.

Findings

Findings applying the dimensions of burnout framework

Emotional exhaustion

Maslach and Leiter (2022) define emotional exhaustion as “feelings of energy depletion” (p. 5), describing this dimension as a “crushing exhaustion” (p. 3). The first author’s experiences of exhaustion are encapsulated in the following:

It often felt like I was on a mouse wheel and I couldn’t get off.

Shaking and dry-retching, I stayed up all night trying to get this speech written. I did not sleep a wink.

There was no more fuel in the tank.

He left me to continually man the on-call phone … and take responsibility for what should have been a five-person team … I worked very long hours, sometimes until midnight on the phone … and then I would wake up at 3am as I had to take calls about an emergency … the whole day would unfold again.

Emotional exhaustion blunts emotional energy and resources, often resulting in physical and cognitive fatigue (Bang and Reio, 2017) and the first author’s reflection contains numerous interconnected situational factors that cumulatively intensified her emotional exhaustion. The constant pressure of meeting the job demands stemming from the 24-h news cycle created exhaustion due to minimal downtime, the blurring of boundaries between work and non-work, and heavily disrupted sleep. Driven largely by technology and the rise of 24/7 television news channels and online media, the 24-h news cycle is the continuous, round-the-clock reporting of news, resulting in a hasty news environment (Rosenberg and Feldman, 2008). A lack of managerial support and staff resources fuelled the persistent expectation that she single-handedly manage an already demanding workload, heightening her vulnerability to emotional exhaustion. Being assigned a broad range of tasks, including additional responsibilities from other departments and stakeholders that fell outside her official role, and micromanagement significantly increased the time and stress involved in completing work, making the role feel completely overwhelming.

Cynicism

Maslach and Leiter (2022) define cynicism as “increased mental distance from one’s job, of feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job” (p. 5). The first author’s vignette flags cynicism as a burnout symptom, best summed up by the snippet: “I was in serious doubt about public relations and its purpose. So much so I pledged never to work in public relations again”. Cynicism has been deemed a protective coping mechanism against emotional exhaustion (Bang and Reio, 2017). Her feelings of cynicism were also evident in how management is portrayed in the vignette: “he fancied himself as the strategic director who delegated everything to me, the workhorse”. Additionally, interpersonal conflict such as “he would speak over the top of me and cut me off” further amplified her resentment and a cold, detached attitude towards management and the broader workplace environment. Promising herself that she would never work in public relations again served not only as protection against emotional exhaustion (Bang and Reio, 2017) but also reflected the profound confusion she felt experiencing cynicism, especially after previously viewing her career positively.

Feelings of Ineffectiveness

Maslach and Leiter define this dimension as “reduced professional efficacy” (p. 5) involving feelings of reduced personal job competence and a growing sense of inadequacy. The first author’s experiences of ineffectiveness are perhaps most strongly illustrated in the snippet: “After being so dedicated to my role and career … I was a failure despite giving my all to my job”. Her feelings of reduced job competence were the result of a lack of job resources, including a lack of autonomy and control over the tasks and public relations outcomes stemming from her counsel being ignored. This was evident in the following quote:

When I politely advised him on how I thought a basic media enquiry should be handled, and the consequences if it were to be handled differently, he proceeded with his call and then when it turned into an inevitable disaster he turned around and blamed me for it in front of his superior.

Diminished professional efficacy was also felt through the job demand of her and another female colleague being assigned “proactive” and “soft news” opportunities compared to the “issues” and “reactive” responses assigned to male recruits, stemming from the lacking job resource of being treated differently by management. This gendered delegation reflected prevailing perceptions that devalue public relations work as “soft” work (Waddington et al., 2025, p. 8); with such tasks assigned to the first author and her female colleague rather than shared among the team. These patterns were influenced by the structural divide between the professional and technician (Fitch and Third, 2010), and by gendered expectations that women perform the collaborative and nurturing labour typical of feminised public relations work (Yeomans, 2019), under broader socially gendered distinctions of what is masculine and feminine:

The way management treated me was different to the males, and it felt like he still asked me to do everything he essentially did not want to do despite there now being a team.

Findings applying the JD-R model

Applying the JD-R model (Bakker et al., 2023) to the first author’s vignette, it is apparent a combination of high job demands and insufficient job resources contributed to her emotional exhaustion, cynicism and feelings of ineffectiveness. The following snippet illustrates interplay between stressful job demands such as a high workload and limited resourcing such as a lack of managerial support:

…he delegated everything to me, even the writing of his emails sometimes, but then would proceed to micromanage, resulting in tasks taking so much more time than I felt they should have.

Job demands are defined as the physical, psychological, social or organisational aspects of the job that require sustained physical, cognitive and/or emotional effort (and are therefore linked with physiological and/or psychological costs) (Bakker et al., 2023). Job demands including a huge workload and long hours resulting from servicing the 24-h news cycle, performing tasks outside of her role, and being micromanaged contributed to her emotional exhaustion.

Job resources, meanwhile, are defined as the physical, psychological, social, or organisational aspects of the job that have motivating potential, are functional in achieving work goals, that regulate the impact of job demands, and that stimulate learning and personal growth (Bakker et al., 2023). The job demands in her role were compounded by a lack of job resources including a lack of managerial support, limited staff resources, and a lack of autonomy and control due to counsel being ignored that contributed to her experiencing all three dimensions of burnout.

There are similarities between the job demands and lack of job resources that contributed to the first author’s burnout experience and those found to contribute to burnout, according to the JD-R model, in the public relations, teaching and nursing literature such as deadlines, time pressure, role conflict and limited autonomy. Meeting deadlines was a primary job demand linked to burnout for Hong Kong’s communication industry (Chan et al., 2015), with time pressure found to be the biggest contributor to emotional exhaustion in teaching (Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2020). Similar to the blurring of the first author’s work and non-work time because of being on-call 24-7, Chan et al.'s (2015) study also found continuous use of technology contributed to a lack of boundaries between work and non-work time among Hong Kong communicators. Broetje et al. (2020) argued interference between work and personal life was a critical job demand fuelling burnout in nursing. Like the role conflict the first author experienced due to being delegated tasks outside of her role, and the lack of autonomy that resulted from her counsel being ignored, Dall’Ora et al. (2020) found role conflict and limited autonomy to be influential factors in burnout in nursing.

Confusion and frustration

During and after the first author’s burnout experience, it became evident her symptoms extended beyond exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness. She also experienced significant confusion, which was intertwined with feelings of frustration, because she could not clearly identify or articulate what she was going through, as encapsulated in the following snippets:

Throughout my career I had always felt bullet-proof, and had thrived on deadlines and, in public relations, tackling issues and crises. I felt like I did not know exactly what was happening to me; I couldn’t pinpoint it. But I knew that the more I did, the more work was heaped upon me and that the cracks were emerging.

It felt so strange to “give away” this job with no immediate plan for my career. After being so dedicated to my role and career, towards the end of that job I felt very confused and broken.

I could not fully comprehend why I had been so resilient in my previous roles but eventually not with this one.

Confusion is defined as the affective experience arising when individuals encounter conflicting information between their existing knowledge and new experiences, resulting in difficulty comprehending or adapting to these discrepancies (Baker et al., 2025). Frustration occurs when an individual is prevented from reaching a specific goal (Baker et al., 2025). Baker et al. (2025) reconceptualise these intertwined experiences as “confrustion,” noting confusion and frustration share similar causes and effects on learning and achievement. Confusion is characterised by uncertainty about its causes, while frustration involves the inability to overcome obstacles or achieve intended goals.

Discussion

Considering the profound confusion the first author experienced, we argue Maslach and Leiter’s (2022) three-dimensional framework for burnout does not fully capture all significant symptoms of her burnout experience. Specifically, we propose confusion and frustration—collectively referred to as “confrustion” (Baker et al., 2025) — should be considered a distinct fourth dimension within the burnout framework. Maslach and Leiter (2022) describe burnout’s gradual progression:

Burnout is an apt term, suggesting a once-hot fire that has been reduced to ashes: those ashes are the feelings of exhaustion and a lack of engagement left after an initial, internal flame of dedication and passion is extinguished (p. 4).

Confusion and frustration significantly contribute to the transition from high motivation to burnout. “Confrustion” (Baker et al., 2025) captures the uncertainty employees experience when they struggle to identify or understand their situation and the frustration arising from their inability to overcome these challenges. When employees cannot clearly grasp what is happening, neither they nor their organisations can effectively respond to or resolve burnout. Confrustion closely interacts with emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness, the existing dimensions identified by Maslach and Leiter (2022). As Chan et al. (2015) found, striving for perfection was among the primary job demands faced by public relations practitioners. A high-achieving individual experiencing burnout symptoms may increasingly feel confused and frustrated about their declining motivation and performance. Although they might recognise specific workplace factors contributing to burnout, comprehending the deeper reasons—such as why they cannot effectively manage these pressures—can be especially challenging due to high personal expectations and self-imposed pressures to continually perform at peak levels.

The first author’s own difficulty in pinpointing the reasons behind her burnout aligns with this notion of confrustion. She was confused about her drastic shift from being highly motivated and fulfilled to feeling exhausted, cynical, and ineffective. Frustration compounded this confusion as she struggled to understand and overcome what had happened. Surma and Daymon’s (2014) research found public relations professionals thrive on challenges, competitiveness, and achieving excellence. Given the typically high-achieving nature of public relations professionals, transitioning from a motivated achiever to experiencing burnout represented a significant and troubling personal setback, extinguishing the drive to succeed through the cumulative effects of multiple workplace stressors.

Although government public relations roles inherently carry different expectations and face greater media scrutiny compared to private sector roles (Liu and Levenshus, 2010), the first author does not believe these aspects alone caused her burnout. Previously, she successfully navigated a similar government role without experiencing burnout.

We acknowledge the limitations of drawing conclusions from a single government public relations role in Australia and caution against applying our findings more generally. Public relations is profoundly variable in its scope, sophistication and specialisms, and the workplace settings in which it is practiced vary greatly. Depending on the job demands and resources available to the practitioner in their broader social, economic and political contexts, findings could differ across different workplace settings, sectors and countries. More research needs to be undertaken among larger numbers of practitioners to provide greater assurance in our findings’ generalisability.

Recommendations and conclusion

This paper has used Maslach and Leiter’s (2022) framework of burnout dimensions and the JD-R model (Bakker et al., 2023) to analyse a complex array of situational factors that significantly contributed to the first author’s personal experience of burnout in public relations. These factors, characterised by excessive job demands and inadequate job resources, were notably more intense compared to previous high-pressure roles. Specific stressors included the expectation of constant availability to service the 24-h news cycle, insufficient staffing, inadequate managerial support, limited autonomy affecting public relations outcomes, and an overwhelming workload exacerbated by a lack of role clarity and tasks outside the first author’s formal responsibilities. To mitigate such issues, organisations should implement strategic measures including shifting away from an “always-on” culture and ensuring role clarity, adequate staffing levels, and fostering supportive management. Burnout significantly impacts employee health, and organisations bear a clear duty of care.

While public relations professionals may occasionally need to handle responsibilities outside standard working hours due to the demands of the 24-h news cycle, they must retain the fundamental right to disconnect to preserve their health and well-being. Organisations facing frequent crises should ensure adequate staffing to effectively distribute heightened workloads through structured rostering that promotes rest and work-life balance. Under the Australian government’s “right to disconnect” laws, employees have the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact from an employer or third party, including clients, outside of their working hours, “unless doing so is unreasonable” (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2025). This legislation represents positive steps toward safeguarding workers from constant availability expectations, highlighting the necessity of moderating the “always-on” culture. However, rather than solely relying on legal enforcement, a more effective approach involves cultivating an organisational culture of care, exemplified by appropriate resourcing and mindful rostering practices. Organisations also need to persist with ensuring they do not support gendered structures and exert cultural expectations that disadvantage their female public relations practitioners through, for example, devaluing their work and heightening emotional labour demands conducive to burnout.

By aiming to fill a gap in the public relations literature about autoethnography and burnout in the organisational context, this paper ultimately advocates for improvements to public relations education (Waymer and Logan, 2016) and workplace practices in a bid to safeguard emerging professionals from burnout.

Moreover, this paper introduces “confrustion” as a proposed additional dimension of burnout, reflecting the disorientation and uncertainty often experienced alongside exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of ineffectiveness. Recognising this dimension enriches our understanding of burnout and highlights the need for clearer role definitions and enhanced organisational communication. Ultimately, genuine organisational commitment to employee well-being through clear communication, sufficient resourcing, and supportive practices can effectively shield practitioners from burnout, potentially reducing the need for external regulatory intervention.

Finally, by adopting an alternative autoethnographic approach grounded in collaborative critical reflection, we found that concerns about the individualised nature of autoethnography can be addressed in ways that both protect and legitimise the first author’s experience of burnout, while also embracing others’ perspectives to guide deeper insight into organisational dynamics at play.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge and thank Dr Marianne D Sison for reading and proofing an early version of this article and providing helpful suggestions.

ORCID iDs

Jade Valentina Bilowol

Jenny A Robinson

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author biographies

Jade Valentina Bilowol, MBus(PublicRelations), is a PhD student with the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and a full-time public relations professional. Her PhD research is focused on exploring public relations practitioners' perceptions of contributors to burnout in the Australian public relations context. She has published journal articles with Public Relations Review titled 'Multinational corporations' role in developing Vietnam's public relations industry through corporate social responsibility' (2015) and 'Vietnamese public relations practitioners: Perceptions of an emerging field' (2014), both co-authored with MA Doan. She has also written a book chapter titled ''Always Being On': Exploring the Experience of Burnout Among Female Professionals in the Australian Public Relations Industry' (2024) in Women's Work in Public Relations, co-authored with JA Robinson, D Wise and M Sison. Jade was a full-time lecturer with the Professional Communication program at RMIT University Vietnam's Saigon South Campus from 2010-2015. Since 2015, Jade has worked as an account manager for a public relations agency that specialises in tourism and works mainly with high-end hotel clients. She began her career as a journalist in the late 90s. After completing a Master of Business majoring in Public Relations with the Queensland University of Technology in 2007, she worked in government public relations as a senior public relations advisor. Her industry knowledge and experience have inspired her academic research.

Deborah Jane Wise, PhD, is a teacher, researcher, and consultant in the field of strategic communication and public relations. Her research interests revolve around how organisations and entities use language and other modes of communication to shape people's emotions, thoughts, and actions. Much of her work utilises a strategic positioning theoretical framework to explore the rights and duties associated with such entities when communicating in contested environments, with power dynamics being a central concern. Over the past 12 years her work has encompassed a range of topics such as health communication, climate change-related political campaigns, public relations practice and ethics, environmental sustainability, and public diplomacy. Before embarking on an academic career, Deborah worked as a senior public relations practitioner, gaining extensive experience delivering campaigns both nationally and internationally. Her practical knowledge of the industry has been invaluable to her academic research. Deborah's recent publications include 'Positioning theory and strategic communication' in the Routledge International Handbook of Positioning Theory (2024). co-authored with M James, and 'Public relations ethics in the 21st century: State of the field, future opportunities' in the Journal of Communication Management (2022), co-authored with M Jackson, E Chozary and M Sison.

Jenny A Robinson, PhD MCPRA GIAP2, is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. She has taught public relations and strategic communication for over 20 years in Australia and the USA following 10 years in science education. Her research is in stakeholder/audience engagement, strategic messaging, and science/risk communication with a focus on youth, seniors and technological affordances. Her current research focuses on social listening, public participation and concepts of shared responsibility for addressing complex social issues, especially around digital transformation, public health and tech literacy. She has co-authored over 25 publications in the Journal of Public Relations Research, Biological Conservation, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and BMC Public Health among others; and over 30 industry reports. Jenny has a PhD in Mass Communication and MA (U Alabama), BA(Hons) and Grad Dip Science Comm (ANU) and a Certificate in Community Engagement (IAP2/Engagement Institute).

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Dismantling burnout: Insights from a public relations practitioner’s autoethnography

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Literature review

Dimensions of burnout framework

The job demands and resources model (JD-R model)

Gendered dimensions of burnout

Methodology

Data collection

Data analysis

Findings

Findings applying the dimensions of burnout framework

Emotional exhaustion

Cynicism

Feelings of Ineffectiveness

Findings applying the JD-R model

Confusion and frustration

Discussion

Recommendations and conclusion

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

ORCID iDs

Funding

Declaration of conflicting interests

Author biographies

References