Specific relationships between work characteristics and intrinsic work motivation, burnout and turnover intention: A multi-sample analysis

Abstract

This study of two different samples (245 bank employees and 362 teachers) tested a theoretically derived pattern of specific relationships between work stressors and outcome variables. The research model proposes four central domains of the work situation: work content, working conditions, social and labour relations, and conditions of employment. In addition, the research model proposes three important outcome variables: intrinsic work motivation, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention. More specifically, it was hypothesized that: (1) intrinsic work motivation is primarily predicted by task characteristics; (2) emotional exhaustion is primarily predicted by both workload and lack of social support; (3) turnover intention is primarily predicted by unmet career expectations; and (4) the proposed pattern of relationships holds over different groups. In order to test these hypotheses, a multi-sample analysis was performed using structural equation modelling. The results showed that the proposed pattern of relationships was largely supported by the data and that it was invariant across two samples. Furthermore, several additional relationships were found in each sample, one of which was common for both samples. Several explanations regarding these findings are discussed.