Investigating the Professional Tenure on Burnout Among Academicians: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Abstract

Aim: Burnout is a psychological condition resulting from prolonged exposure to workplace stress. This study investigates the relationship between burnout status and the years of professional experience among academic staff working at Pamukkale University. Material and Methods: This single-center retrospective study included and investigated academic staff working at Pamukkale University between 2016 and 2017. Participants were divided into 1–9 years (Group 1, n=119) and 10+ years of professional tenure (Group 2, n=89). The demographic and work-related characteristics of the academic staff, including age, gender, weekly course load, and daily standing and seated work requirements, were recorded. Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was utilized to evaluate burnout levels, and the Perceived Stress Scale was used to assess academic staff’s perceived stress levels. Results: The mean years of professional tenure in the academic staff were 3.73 in Group 1 and 18.74 in Group 2 (p=0.001). The mean age was 28.51 years in Group 1 and 43.55 years in Group 2 (p=0.001). When the groups’ burnout state was analyzed, the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization domains of the MBI did not differ between groups (p>0.05). However, the personal accomplishment domain was significantly higher in Group 1 (p=0.001). An increase in Perceived Stress Scale score (β=0.569, p=0.001) and male gender (β=0.179, p=0.020) had an increasing effect, whereas an increase in daily sitting work time (β=-0.193, p=0.001) had a decreasing impact on MBI total score. Conclusions: Reducing workloads can significantly increase the sense of personal accomplishment, especially over ten years of professional tenure. Academic staff with 1–9 years of tenure could benefit from supportive initiatives designed to avoid the complexities of academic promotion. Implementing mentoring programs may improve coping mechanisms, especially among male academic staff, who report being more vulnerable to burnout.

Keywords

• professional burnout
• universities
• workload
• gender

References

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