Explaining the Impact of Social Capital, Psychological Capital, and Organizational Climate, and Job Experience on Job Burnout (Case Study: Faculty Members of Tabriz University)

The organization forms are a major part of the life of the employed people. When the individuals’ workplace is full of tensions, their mental and social health are threatened and this may involve them in job burnout. Teachers’ jobs at a university include jobs that may lead to burnout, and university professors who experience burnout usually do not have enough motivation to attend the class. This may lower the quality of education in the university. Working hours of university professors are completely different from other government employees. That is, after completing office time, staffs are concerned about their daily lives, while university professors spend the day and night researching and attending in classes. This can lead to job burnout if professors involve in workplace problems. With increasing job burnout of faculty members, the scientific level of the university will reduce, in these circumstances, the university cannot achieve its core mission of scientific, social, cultural, economic and technical development. Accordingly, the present study tries to investigate the degree of job burnout among faculty members of Tabriz University and its related social factors and then to develop strategies for controlling and preventing it.

The type of research is quantitative via using the survey technique. The study population includes approximately 800 faculty members of Tabriz University in the year 1396 (2017). Out of them, 121 individuals have been selected for study by Cochran formula and stratified random sampling method. The data collection tool was a standardized questionnaires. In this research, job burnout theories including that of Lambert et.al, Maslach et.al, Moorhead and Griffin, San Juan, Freudenberg, Poreek, Ojedokun and Idemudia were used along with the research results of study. Also, the present study tested the hypotheses such as: ‘the organizational climate of the university affects job burnout of faculty members’, ‘social capital has direct and indirect impacts on job burnout’, ‘Psychological capital has direct and indirect effects on job burnout’, ‘job experience has direct and indirect impacts on job burnout, and ‘the structural model of the research is an appropriate model for explaining changes in burnout among faculty members’. Also, the reliability results of variables show that items designed to measure the variables are acceptable and have appropriate reliability levels. The research hypotheses has been tested by Structural Equation Modeling in version 8.8 of the LISREL software. For descriptive analysis, SPSS version 22 was used.

The results of descriptive analysis showed that the average job burnout among faculty members was 21.41%. Accordingly, it can be said that the rate of job burnout at Tabriz University is low. The results of the structural equation modeling of job burnout also indicate that social capital, psychological capital and organizational climate factors affect job burnout. In other words, if the social capital and psychological capital of the faculty members are at the appropriate level and the organizational climate rate is suitable, the degree of job burnout will decrease significantly. Among the variables in the research, job experience is the only variable that does not have a significant effect (direct and indirect) on job burnout.According to the results of the study, it is recommended that strategies such as creating interdisciplinary educational trends, establishing a committee for the promotion of social and psychological capital at the university, developing a social capital charter at the university, and monitoring and evaluating social capital and psychological status in the University of Tabriz will promote social and psychological capital and organizational climate in the university, its faculties and departments to cope with  job burnout.