The crossover of burnout and work engagement among working couples

• Published in: Human relations (New York) Vol. 58; no. 5; pp. 661 - 689
• Main Authors: Bakker, Arnold B., Demerouti, Evangelia, Schaufeli, Wilmar B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.05.2005; Kluwer Academic; Plenum; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Burnout; Cohabitation; Cynicism; Dual career couples; Emotions; Empathy; Employees; Home environment; Hypotheses; Impact analysis; Investigations; Marital life; Occupations; Organizational behavior; Quality of life; Quality of work; Regression analysis; Social interaction; Sociology; Sociology of organizations and enterprises. Bureaucracy and administration; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Studies; Working life; United States > US; Job Demands-Resources model; crossover; work engagement; burnout; Multivariate Analysis; Couple; Work; Commitment; Stress
• ISSN: 0018-7267; 1741-282X
• DOI: 10.1177/0018726705055967

The present study tested the hypothesis that burnout and work engagement may crossover from husbands to wives and vice versa. Data were collected among 323 couples working in a variety of occupations. The Job Demands-Resources model was used to simultaneously examine possible correlates of burnout and engagement for each partner separately. The results of a series of hierarchical regression analyses provide evidence for the crossover of burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) and work engagement (vigor and dedication) among partners. The crossover relationships were significant and about equally strong for both partners, after controlling for some important characteristics of the work and home environment. These findings expand previous crossover research, particularly by showing that positive experiences at work may be transferred to the home domain. We argue that the crossover of positive feelings among partners should be placed more prominently on the research agenda.