The link between burnout and job performance: a meta-analysis
verifiedrich profile · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · 2023
Corbeanu, Andreea; Iliescu, Dragoș; Ion, Andrei; Spînu, Roxana
How this was studied
A meta-analytic synthesis — it pools many primary studies rather than running a single design, so there is no single-study diagram.
What this article reports
The findings we extracted from this work, normalized into Principia’s relationship form (X → Y). Each feeds the synthesized models below.
burnout → task performance
emotional exhaustion → task performance
Models this article informs
The meta-analytic priors this article contributes evidence to — its place in the broader synthesis.
burnout predicts overall job performance
burnout predicts task performance
emotional exhaustion predicts task performance
In the authors’ words
The article’s own abstract.
This study addresses the link between burnout and job performance. Following a systematic literature review, 45 studies were selected based on the inclusion criteria: (1) set in an organizational environment, (2) including a measure of burnout, (3) including an objective or subjective measure of performance and (4) offering information concerning the link between burnout and job performance. A random-effects model yielded meta-analytic correlations of −.17 for exhaustion (k = 18019 aggregated participants), −.16 for depersonalization (k = 8561 aggregated participants) and −.23 for inefficacy (k = 7281 aggregated participants) and job performance. Four potential moderators were examined: the type of (1) performance measured, (2) performance report, (3) burnout measure, and (4) participant occupation. Our analyses indicate that the burnout measure exerted a moderating effect, but only with respect to exhaustion (r = −.19 for MBI; −.10 for OLBI), but not for depersonalization. Participant occupation was a significant moderator for exhaustion (r =-.21 for corporate roles; −.22 for customer-facing roles), depersonalization (r = −.28 for corporate roles; −.31 for customer-facing roles), and inefficacy (r = −.41 for corporate roles; −.23 for customer-facing roles). The type of performance measure and the type of performance report did not exert any significant moderating effects.
What the literature says about it
Attributed, open-access quotes from other works that cite this article, plus the citation-graph verdict tally. Corroborations and disputes, in one place — the honest-broker view.
supports “The discovery of a negative relationship between burnout and performance in this study strengthens the findings of Corbeanu et al. (2023), who show that high levels of burnout — especially emotional exhaustion — reduce work efficiency and increase administrative errors.”
supports “To put it simply, it is likely that all dimensions of burnout have negative implications for performance (Corbeanu et al., 2023; Renaud & Lacroix, 2023), yet the relationship may vary depending on which dimensions are examined and how performance is defined (Bakker et al., 2004; Swider & Zimmerman,…”
supports “These studies have consistently demonstrated that burnout has a detrimental effect on worker performance [35].”
supports “We found a negative developmental relation between burnout and performance (for similar findings, see Corbeanu et al., 2023; Renaud & Lacroix, 2023; Wright & Cropanzano, 1998): lower burnout corresponds to better performance, whereas even average burnout aligns with lower performance.”
supports “These studies have consistently demonstrated that burnout has a detrimental effect on worker performance [35].”
supports “We found a negative developmental relation between burnout and performance (for similar findings, see Corbeanu et al., 2023; Renaud & Lacroix, 2023; Wright & Cropanzano, 1998): lower burnout corresponds to better performance, whereas even average burnout aligns with lower performance.”
supports “While previous research has often focused on the negative association between burnout and performance (Corbeanu et al., 2023; Renaud & Lacroix, 2023), findings remain mixed due to theoretical and methodological limitations such as cross-sectional designs (Corbeanu et al., 2023), uncertainty…”
supports “The discovery of a negative relationship between burnout and performance in this study strengthens the findings of Corbeanu et al. (2023), who show that high levels of burnout — especially emotional exhaustion — reduce work efficiency and increase administrative errors.”
supports “In other words, both lack of energy (exhaustion) and lack of motivation (cynicism) can associate with impairment in performance (Corbeanu et al., 2023; Mäkikangas et al., 2021).”
supports “To put it simply, it is likely that all dimensions of burnout have negative implications for performance (Corbeanu et al., 2023; Renaud & Lacroix, 2023), yet the relationship may vary depending on which dimensions are examined and how performance is defined (Bakker et al., 2004; Swider & Zimmerman,…”
Ancillary research
Neighbouring works in the citation graph around this article.
Assembled from Principia’s registry — bibliographic record, extracted effect sizes, the models they inform, and open-access citing literature.