Social Relationships at Work: Moderator or Mediator of the Association Between Role Variables and Burnout?

Abstract

Many studies have found direct relations between burnout, role conflict, role ambiguity and work relationships, but few have verified the possibility of moderation and mediation effects between these variables. This cross-sectional study investigates these two possibilities in an attempt to clarify the function of work relationships in the association between role variables and burnout. This study was conducted on a sample of 263 French-speaking Canadian workers from nine different organizations. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to investigate the purported interaction between social relationships and role variables. Mediation effects were also verified through multiple regressions involving a bootstrapping procedure to estimate the indirect effects of role variables on burnout. The results provided no evidence in favor of moderation. Conversely, the results revealed rather that social relationships did mediate the relationship between role variables and burnout.