Six areas of worklife: A model of the organizational context of burnout

Burnout research has considered a wide range of organizational correlates of burnout. It is argued that integrating these various organizational qualities into a comprehensive model of organizational environments will further research on burnout. The primary themes in burnout research fit readily into six areas of worklife; workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. These areas are sufficiently broad to encompass the rich variety of research approaches taken in the field while being sufficiently precise to permit clear distinctions among them. The review identifies a consistent body of research on the relationships of these six areas with burnout. The review concludes by considering issues for a research agenda on the organizational antecedents of burnout and noting the implications of a focus on mismatches for interventions.