Perceptions of High‐Involvement Work Practices, Person‐Organization Fit, and Burnout: A Time‐Lagged Study of Health Care Employees

• Author: Denis Chênevert,Steven Kilroy,Patrick C. Flood,Janine Bosak
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21803
• Date: 01 September 2017
• Published date: 01 September 2017

Human Resource Management, September–October 2017, Vol. 56, No. 5. Pp. 821–835

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21803

Correspondence to: Steven Kilroy, Queens University Belfast, Management School, Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road,

BT9 5EE, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Phone: +44 (0)28 9097 5611, E-mail: s.kilroy@qub.ac.uk.

PERCEPTIONS OF HIGH-

INVOLVEMENT WORK PRACTICES,

PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT, AND

BURNOUT: A TIME-LAGGED STUDY

OF HEALTH CARE EMPLOYEES

STEVEN KILROY, PATRICK C. FLOOD, JANINE BOSAK,

AND DENIS CHÊNEVERT

Previous research demonstrates that high-involvement work practices (HIWPs)

may be associated with burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization);

however, to date, the process through which HIWPs infl uence burnout is not

clear. This article examined the impact of HIWPs on long-term burnout (emotional

exhaustion and depersonalization) by considering the mediating role of person-

organization fi t (P-O fi t) in this relationship. The study used a time-lagged design

and was conducted in a Canadian general hospital among health care personnel.

Findings from structural equation modeling (N = 185) revealed that perceived

HIWPs were positively associated with P-O fi t. There was no direct effect of HIWPs

on burnout; rather, P-O fi t fully mediated the relationship between employee per-

ceptions of HIWPs and burnout. This study fi lls a void in the HR and burnout

literature by demonstrating the role that P-O fi t has in explaining how HIWPs alle-

viate emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. ©2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: burnout, employee participation, health care, job involvement,

strategic HR

Due to the plethora of challenges facing

health care employees brought about

by cost cutting, downsizing, and the

introduction of new public manage-

ment techniques, employee well-being

is increasingly attracting the attention of aca-

demics and practitioners alike (Townsend &

Wilkinson, 2010). One critical well-being out-

come particularly likely to result from these

challenges is burnout. Burnout describes a state

of mental weariness (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004)

and is portrayed as a syndrome of emotional

exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced per-

sonal accomplishment (Maslach & Leiter, 1997).

Although the operationalization of the burnout

construct has been debated, most authors advo-

cate a two-dimensional concept that includes

the emotional exhaustion and depersonaliza-

tion components (e.g., Büssing & Glaser, 2000).

It is argued that the specificity of the burnout

syndrome lies in the combination of (1) gen-

eral reactions linked to stress, captured by the