Social capital, psychological resilience and job burnout in hazardous work environments

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to improve our understanding of the role of social capital in increasing psychological resilience and reducing job burnout. We collected data through a survey distributed among 234 employees in the National Iranian Gas Company as one of the top-10 international companies producing and refining natural gas derivatives. Seven hypotheses and a conceptual model were validated using structural equation modelling. We found social capital is crucial to reducing job burnout among employees who are exposed to hazardous work environments. We also found psychological resilience plays a facilitating role in promoting the negative correlation between social capital and job burnout. The findings assist to conceptualise relationships between managers and employees in hazardous work environments. This research provides empirical evidence that adopting the social capital perspective can assist organisations to improve the role of psychological resilience among employees, leading to reducing job burnout in the long-term.

KEYWORDS:

• Social capital
• psychological resilience
• job burnout
• hazardous work environments

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Khaksar

Dr. Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Khaksar is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Management, Sport and Tourism, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University. He is also a Senior Researcher in Research Centre for Computers, Communication and Social Innovation (RECCSI) at La Trobe University. He has completed his Bachelor’s degree in Management and his Master’s degree in Information Technology Management. His research interests fall broadly under the headings of service innovation, social vulnerability, resilience, social capital and technology acceptance. He has published several referred journal and conference papers in different areas of management and technology.

Tahereh Maghsoudi

Tahereh Maghsoudi is currently a PhD Candidate in the Business and Economics Department, Univerity of Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain. She has finished her Master’s degree in Management. Her research interests fall broadly under the headings of social capital, organizational behaviour and job burnout.

Suzanne Young

Professor Suzanne Young is the Associate Head of the La Trobe Business School - Partnerships, responsible for the School's external teaching partnerships located domestically and internationally. Suzanne’s areas of expertise include corporate governance, corporate responsibility, leadership and management and employee relations. Suzanne was influential in La Trobe becoming a signatory to the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education and have developed relationships with industry and leading research consultancies in the area of Corporate Responsibility and Global Citizenship, Leadership and Organisational Change.