Extending the Empathic Communication Model of Burnout: Incorporating Individual Differences to Learn More about Workplace Emotion, Communicative Responsiveness, and Burnout

Abstract

This field study contributes to the literature on emotional communication in the human-services industry. Specifically, this study extends the empathic communication model of burnout by incorporating individual differences to predict workplace emotion and communicative responsiveness. This extension has important implications for both research and knowledge on responsiveness, burnout, and workplace practices. A questionnaire filled out by 159 caregivers from a moderately sized human-services agency explored the role of self-monitoring and emotional intelligence in enhancing caregiver performance. Results indicate that those caregivers who can control their expressive behavior and manage their moods to maintain a sense of optimism are in a better position to respond emotionally and communicatively to distressed clients and resist job burnout.

Keywords:

• Burnout
• Caregiver Communication
• Compassion
• Emotional Intelligence
• Self-Monitoring

Notes

Note. Contagion = contagion of negative affect; response = communicative responsiveness; AMSP = ability to modify self-presentation; mood manage = mood management/optimism; accomplish = personal accomplishment; depersonalize = depersonalization; exhaustion = emotional exhaustion.

*p < .05. **p < .01 (two-tailed).

I use the term “contagion of negative affect” in place of “emotional contagion” because the items focus on the contagion of negatively valenced emotions. However, it would be meaningful for future research to consider caregiver response to neutral and positively valenced emotions.

Beyond the conceptual reasons for including only the mood management/optimism dimension, as well as the ability to modify self-presentation dimension, of self-monitoring, the selection of these dimensions was based on a pragmatic reason. The data in this study were collected in addition to data collected on behalf of the organization and presented to the organization in a confidential report. Therefore, the actual number of items included on the questionnaire had to remain limited.

The low response rate was due to a number of factors. The size and dispersion of caregivers in this organization made questionnaire distribution more difficult. Also, due to the sensitive nature of some locations and to protect client identity, the organization handled questionnaire distribution. Therefore, distribution was beyond my control, and there was some evidence that a handful of employees received the questionnaires after the initial deadline. The initial deadline was extended to accommodate these employees, but distribution may have had an effect on response rates. Employees were given ample time and even allowed to fill out the questionnaire during working hours. In the future, it might be worth to offer some sort of compensation for questionnaire completion.

A series of multiple regressions were run to ensure that there was no dependence in the data due to the service area in which the employees worked. The results of these multiple regression equations, which can be provided upon request from me, indicated that there was no dependence in the data based on type of service.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jason L. Snyder

Jason L. Snyder (Ph.D., University of Connecticut, 2007) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Information Systems at Central Connecticut State University.