Abstract

HENKENS, Kène  and  LEENDERS, Monique. Burnout and early retirement intentions among older employees. Rev. psicol. trab. organ. [online]. 2008, vol.24, n.3, pp.325-346. ISSN 2174-0534.

The central subject of this article is retirement and burnout among older workers. We explored whether there is a relationship between burnout dimensions exhaustion and despersonalization and retirement intentions. We also studied the relationship between retirement intentions and job characteristics, social support and self-efficacy as well as the dimensions of burnout. The data were taken from a survey administered to Dutch older workers and their spouses (N= 2,892). The results show that heavy workload, a physically taxing work, and lack of challenge explain exhaustion. Despersonalization is explained by lack of challenge, heavy workload, lack of peer support, and self-efficacy. Exhaustion, despersonalization and marital interactions explain most retirement intentions. Although burnout and retirement are related, they appear to involve different processes. While burnout can generally be explained by work environment, non-work related factors enhance our understanding of retirement intentions.

Keywords : burnout; Early retirement; Retirement intentions; Older employees.

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