When conducting research on burnout, it may be difficult to decide whether one should report results separately for each burnout dimension or whether one should combine the dimensions. Although the multidimensionality of the burnout concept is widely acknowledged, for research purposes it is sometimes convenient to regard burnout as a unidimensional construct. This article deals with the question of whether and when it may be appropriate to treat burnout as a unidimensional variable, and presents a decision rule to distinguish between people high and low in burnout. To develop a guideline for obtaining a dichotomous measure of burnout, the scores on the Utrecht Burnout Scale (UBOS) of 44 well functioning individuals were compared with the scores of 29 individuals diagnosed as suffering from burnout. Based on these data, the authors recommend the “exhaustion + 1” criterion for research in non-clinical populations. Following this criterion, individuals can be considered as burnt out when they report, compared to a norm group, high emotional exhaustion, in combination with high depersonalisation or low personal accomplishment. The criterion may be used to estimate the percentage in a sample of individuals in a state of burnout.

The present study focused on the distinction between two equity considerations in "people" jobs: the relationship with the recipients with whom one works and the exchange relationship with the organization for which one works. The sample consisted of nurses who were employed in one particular nursing home for mentally retarded patients. The results show that perceived inequity in both types of relationships is linked to emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment. As expected, individual differences in communal orientation differentiate when nurses feel inequitably treated in their relationships with their patients. Moreover, the results suggest that low communally oriented nurses restore equity in their relationships with patients by withdrawing emotionally (depersonalization). In contrast, nurses who felt inequitably treated in the employee-employer relationship reported a higher intent to quit. No direct link between burnout symptoms and the intention to quit was observed.

This study aimed to predict stay/leave behavior among volleyball referees. The predictor variables reflect commitment aspects from the literature: attraction, perceived lack of alternatives, personal investments, and feelings of obligation to remain. Intent to quit was assumed to mediate the link between these predictor variables and actual turnover. Participants were 420 volunteer volleyball referees officiating at the international, national, or local level. Predictor variables explained 50% of variance of intent to quit, which was the only significant predictor of actual turnover several months later. The percentage of correctly classified subjects was 86.2%. Intent to quit mediated the link between enjoyment and involvement alternatives and stay/leave behavior. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that intent to quit is conceptually and empirically separable from the predictor variables, albiet that strong overlap was observed between enjoyment and involvement alternatives. It is concluded that the most promising way to reduce actual turnover among volleyball referees is to enhance positive affective responses to officiating, particularly by ensuring procedural fairness in the promotion system and paying more attention to referee training and supervision.

This study shows that (1) the perception of inequity is related to intentions to withdraw, i,e, the intent to report sick and the intent to leave, and to actual absence behaviour; (2) deprived employees were less likely to leave the organization when they felt involved in their jobs; (3) deprived employees who perceived an intolerant group absence norm were less apt to report sick.

This study of 65 highly skilled young male soccer players (mean age = 16.6 years) employed a 7-month longitudinal design to examine the causal relationship between performance level and interpersonal stress within the team. Particular attention was paid to the moderating effect of parental support. No evidence was found that interpersonal stress within the team was an important determinant of performance level. Rather, a low performance level leads to negative feelings about the social climate within the team. But this is only true under specific circumstances (i.e., when there is a perceived lack of parental support). The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.