The Paradox of Continuance Commitment between Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Signs of Burnout

This study examines the paradox of continuance commitment among Moroccan middle managers (N = 220), who operate under intense hierarchical pressure and demanding performance objectives. It explores how different forms of organizational commitment relate to organizational citizenship behaviors and early signs of burnout, while examining the mediating role of perceived social justice and empowering leadership. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire including validated measures of commitment, burnout, and citizenship behaviors, and analyzed using SPSS. Results show that continuance commitment is predominant, whereas affective and normative commitment remain weak. This pattern reflects constrained attachment associated with labor market conditions and is correlated with latent symptoms of burnout. Findings also demonstrate that perceived social justice and empowering leadership significantly mediate the relationship, enabling constrained commitment to evolve into more voluntary involvement and enhancing citizenship behaviors. The study highlights that high levels of continuance commitment should not be mistaken for genuine engagement. From a managerial perspective, organizations should strengthen fairness and adopt empowering leadership practices to reduce the risks of stress, disengagement, and resignation among operational managers. This research contributes to the literature by linking continuance commitment, burnout, and organizational citizenship behaviors in a non-Western context, highlighting the critical role of social justice and leadership as mediators.