IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i18p9819-d638029.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study

Author

Listed:
  • Andra Cătălina Roșca

    (Department of Sociology, Faculty of Political Sciences, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, 012104 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Alexandru Mateizer

    (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Cristina-Ioana Dan

    (Centre for Psychosociology, Ministry of Internal Affairs, 023975 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Evangelia Demerouti

    (Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Atlas Building, Room 7.405, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Emotional exhaustion and other symptoms of burnout are often found among emergency services professions, such as firefighting. Given the social importance of this activity and the high responsibility it requires, prevention and alleviation of burnout symptoms become primary concerns in ensuring the well-being of firefighters. Although work meaning is one of the factors associated with a lower risk of developing burnout, its protective role has not been studied in firefighters. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the buffering role of work meaning in the health-impairment process of the Job Demands-Resources model, targeting the relationship between job demands and related emotional exhaustion. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from a sample consisting of Romanian firefighters ( n = 1096). Structural equation modeling indicated a positive link between job demands and exhaustion. In addition, deriving personal meaning from work was associated with lower levels of exhaustion in firefighters. A small but significant interaction effect between work meaning and job demands showed that higher levels of work meaning attenuated the positive relationship between job demands and exhaustion. In conclusion, our findings suggest that work meaning has a buffering effect on the impact of various job demands on job-related exhaustion. Nevertheless, the small effect sizes warrant further research on this topic.

Suggested Citation

  • Andra Cătălina Roșca & Alexandru Mateizer & Cristina-Ioana Dan & Evangelia Demerouti, 2021. "Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-13, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9819-:d:638029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9819/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9819/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jessica Van Wingerden & Joost Van der Stoep, 2018. "The motivational potential of meaningful work: Relationships with strengths use, work engagement, and performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-11, June.
    2. Russell Davidson & James MacKinnon, 2000. "Bootstrap tests: how many bootstraps?," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 55-68.
    3. Jieun E Kim & Stephen R Dager & Hyeonseok S Jeong & Jiyoung Ma & Shinwon Park & Jungyoon Kim & Yera Choi & Suji L Lee & Ilhyang Kang & Eunji Ha & Han Byul Cho & Sunho Lee & Eui-Jung Kim & Sujung Yoon , 2018. "Firefighters, posttraumatic stress disorder, and barriers to treatment: Results from a nationwide total population survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Mi-Ji Kim & Yeoju Jeong & Yeun-Soon Choi & Ae-Rim Seo & Yeongmi Ha & Minjeong Seo & Ki-Soo Park, 2019. "The Association of the Exposure to Work-Related Traumatic Events and Work Limitations among Firefighters: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-11, March.
    5. Konstantinos Papazoglou & Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle, 2018. "Fighting Police Trauma: Practical Approaches to Addressing Psychological Needs of Officers," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(3), pages 21582440187, August.
    6. Adrian Chadi & Sabrina Jeworrek & Vanessa Mertins, 2017. "When the Meaning of Work Has Disappeared: Experimental Evidence on Employees’ Performance and Emotions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1696-1707, June.
    7. Marta Makara-Studzińska & Krystyna Golonka & Bernadetta Izydorczyk, 2019. "Self-Efficacy as a Moderator between Stress and Professional Burnout in Firefighters," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Irene M. W. Niks & Guido A. Veldhuis & Marianne H. J. van Zwieten & Teun Sluijs & Noortje M. Wiezer & Heleen M. Wortelboer, 2022. "Individual Workplace Well-Being Captured into a Literature- and Stakeholders-Based Causal Loop Diagram," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-20, July.
    2. Jovi Sulistiawan & Massoud Moslehpour & Pei-Kuan Lin, 2022. "Linking Passion for Work and Emotional Exhaustion in Indonesian Firefighters: The Role of Work–Family Conflict," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Alexandru Mateizer & Eugen Avram, 2022. "Mobile Dating Applications and the Sexual Self: A Cluster Analysis of Users’ Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-14, January.
    4. María Ángeles López-Cabarcos & Analía López-Carballeira & Carlos Ferro-Soto, 2023. "How to Prevent Hostile Behaviors and Emotional Exhaustion among Law Enforcement Professionals: The Negative Spiral of Role Conflict," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M.L. Nores & M.P. Díaz, 2016. "Bootstrap hypothesis testing in generalized additive models for comparing curves of treatments in longitudinal studies," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 810-826, April.
    2. Małgorzata W Kożusznik & José M Peiró & Aida Soriano, 2019. "Daily eudaimonic well-being as a predictor of daily performance: A dynamic lens," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, April.
    3. Johannesson Magnus & Östling Robert & Ranehill Eva, 2010. "The Effect of Competition on Physical Activity: A Randomized Trial," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-31, September.
    4. Wen Shi & Xi Chen & Jennifer Shang, 2019. "An Efficient Morris Method-Based Framework for Simulation Factor Screening," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 745-770, October.
    5. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:30:y:2010:i:1:p:55-66 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Dong Ding & Axel Gandy & Georg Hahn, 2020. "A simple method for implementing Monte Carlo tests," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 1373-1392, September.
    7. Christopher Belanger & Samia Chreim & Silvia Bonaccio, 2024. "The Experience and Implications of Meaningless Work in the Public Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 563-578, December.
    8. Davidson, Russell, 2009. "Reliable inference for the Gini index," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 150(1), pages 30-40, May.
    9. Sarlin, Peter & von Schweinitz, Gregor, 2021. "Optimizing Policymakers’ Loss Functions In Crisis Prediction: Before, Within Or After?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(1), pages 100-123, January.
    10. Strikholm, Birgit & Teräsvirta, Timo, 2005. "Determining the Number of Regimes in a Threshold Autoregressive Model Using Smooth Transition Autoregressions," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 578, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 11 Feb 2005.
    11. Emmanuel Flachaire, 2000. "Les méthodes du bootstrap dans les modèles de régression," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 142(1), pages 183-194.
    12. Francis, Bill B. & Mougoué, Mbodja & Panchenko, Valentyn, 2010. "Is there a symmetric nonlinear causal relationship between large and small firms?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 23-38, January.
    13. Marta Makara-Studzińska & Krystyna Golonka & Bernadetta Izydorczyk, 2019. "Self-Efficacy as a Moderator between Stress and Professional Burnout in Firefighters," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-16, January.
    14. Priscila Espinosa & Jose M. Pavía, 2023. "Automation in Regional Economic Synthetic Index Construction with Uncertainty Measurement," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-19, April.
    15. Dufour, Jean-Marie & Khalaf, Lynda, 2002. "Simulation based finite and large sample tests in multivariate regressions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 303-322, December.
    16. Dang, Rey & Houanti, L'Hocine & Sahut, Jean-Michel & Simioni, Michel, 2021. "Do women on corporate boards influence corporate social performance? A control function approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    17. Chiu, Sung Nok & Wang, Ling, 2009. "Homogeneity tests for several Poisson populations," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(12), pages 4266-4278, October.
    18. Fleissig, Adrian R. & Whitney, Gerald A., 2007. "Testing additive separability," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 215-220, August.
    19. Makram El-Shagi & Axel Lindner & Gregor von Schweinitz, 2016. "Real Effective Exchange Rate Misalignment in the Euro Area: A Counterfactual Analysis," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 37-66, February.
    20. Judith Clarke & Nilanjana Roy & Marsha Courchane, 2009. "On the robustness of racial discrimination findings in mortgage lending studies," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(18), pages 2279-2297.
    21. Görtz, Christoph & Yeromonahos, Mallory, 2022. "Asymmetries in risk premia, macroeconomic uncertainty and business cycles," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9819-:d:638029. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.