Background Escalating workplace stress has made employee well-being a global concern, necessitating the identification of factors and underlying mechanisms that impair psychological health. Against this backdrop, examining burnout as a potential workplace stressor and its implications for employee well-being is both timely and crucial. Purpose Building upon the Stress Appraisal Theory, this study endeavoured to assess the impact of burnout on employee well-being at work in terms of their work engagement and job satisfaction. The relationship between these variables has been elucidated through the lens of a moderated mediation framework of psychological capital (PsyCap) and psychological distress. Specifically, the contribution of psychological distress in mediating the relationship between burnout and employee workplace well-being was ascertained. Further, the function of PsyCap in alleviating the influence of burnout on the workplace well-being of employees was examined. Methods This study proposed a moderated mediation model exploring the underlying and intervening mechanisms of the association between burnout and employee workplace well-being, with reference to psychological distress and PsyCap. The model was tested among 439 human service professionals using a two-step approach to structural equation modelling. Results The findings revealed that burnout results in poor workplace well-being of employees in terms of work disengagement and job dissatisfaction through an indirect relationship via psychological distress. Further, it was found that PsyCap has moderated this indirect relationship such that employees with high PsyCap suffer less from the repercussions of burnout and subsequent psychological distress. Conclusion The study highlights the role of personal factors in a comprehensible model of burnout and well-being. Insights about such factors and their latent processes are indispensable for designing effective mental health interventions at work.
Gupta et al. (Thu,) studied this question.