Positive Employee Behaviors and Occupational Burnout in Healthcare Workers: Moderating Roles of Work Engagement

Positive employee behaviors (comprising organizational citizenship behavior & workplace commitment) may overstretch and lead to occupational burnout, which may compromise the functionality of health workers and their ability to provide quality service to their patients. Less research attention has focused the moderating roles of work engagement on the connections of organizational citizenship behavior and workplace commitment to occupational burnout, especially in Nigeria where manpower deficit created by the migration of healthcare workers is on the increase. This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which organizational citizenship behavior and workplace commitment are connected with occupational burnout, and how work engagement moderates such relationships in 191 healthcare workers (55 males; 136 females), sampled from 3 public hospitals in Ondo State, Nigeria. The ages of the participants averaged 34.56 years (SD = 8.52). Results of the hierarchical multiple regression indicated that organizational citizenship behavior was significantly related with increased level of occupational burnout. Work engagement was significantly related with reduced level of occupational burnout in healthcare workers. Workplace commitment was significantly connected with increased level of occupational burnout. Results of moderation test revealed that when interacted with work engagement, organizational citizenship behavior and workplace commitment were related with reduced level of occupational burnout. To sustain the efficiency and well-being of healthcare workers (especially those who engage in extra-role behaviors & are psychologically attached to the organization's goals), management of public hospitals should enhance the work engagement level of employees in order to effectively manage their level of occupational burnout.