Objective To investigate the situation and influencing factors of job burnout among manufacturing employees in Guangdong Province and analyze the relationship between occupational stress, psychological capital, and job burnout.
Methods In September 2020, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1 437 employees in four manufacturing enterprises in Guangdong Province using a convenient sampling method. The questionnaires of the Core Occupational Stress Scale, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey were used to investigate their occupational stress, psychological capital, and job burnout. The multiple linear regression analysis method was used to analyze the influencing factors of job burnout and the mediating role of psychological capital in occupational stress and job burnout.
Results The rate of job burnout among these manufacturing employees in Guangdong Province was 60.4% (868/1 437). There was a positive correlation between job burnout and occupational stress (r = 0.568, P < 0.001) and a negative correlation with psychological capital (r = -0.339, P < 0.001); occupational stress was negatively correlated with psychological capital (r = -0.250, P < 0.001). Psychological capital played a partial mediating role between occupational stress and job burnout. The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that the average score of job burnout increased by 0.083 points for each point increase in occupational stress; the average score of job burnout decreased by 0.267 points for each point increase in psychological capital (P < 0.001).
Conclusions The manufacturing employees in Guangdong Province had a high prevalence of job burnout. Occupational stress could directly affect job burnout and indirectly affect job burnout through psychological capital. Effective interventions should be implemented to reduce the level of occupational stress or improving the psychological capital of manufacturing workers to reduce the risk of job burnout.