8291973 Burnout and work engagement in academia: the role of demanding and supportive working conditions

<h3>Introduction</h3> Growing systemic pressures in academia raise concerns for researchers’ mental health, including occupational burnout. Using Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, we investigated how specific aspects of the working conditions (demanding and supportive) relate to burnout and work engagement among academic researchers. We hypothesized that more demanding conditions would be associated with (1) increased burnout and (2) decreased engagement, while more supportive conditions would be associated with (3) decreased burnout and (4) increased engagement. <h3>Material and Methods</h3> We analyzed cross-sectional data from 3,101 researchers who completed the EU Sustainable Working Conditions in Academia Survey (EU-COST Action CA19117). Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with four latent variables: demanding working conditions, supportive working conditions, work engagement, and burnout. Models were adjusted for age and sex and tested separately for junior (PhD students and postdocs) and senior researchers. <h3>Results</h3> Overall burnout prevalence was 31.8%, with 28.4% among junior researchers and 26.7% among seniors. Work engagement was measured using a 3-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and number of publications. Demanding working conditions included overwork, illegitimate tasks, job insecurity, interpersonal conflict, contract duration, and work-family conflict. Work-family conflict, illegitimate tasks, and job insecurity were the strongest contributors to demands. For seniors, longer contract duration was negatively associated with demands. Supportive working conditions included job control, task predictability, role clarity, supervisor’s support, and sense of community. Job control, task predictability, and role clarity were the strongest contributors to supportive conditions. The association between supportive working conditions and work engagement was stronger in junior than senior researchers. All four hypotheses were supported with acceptable model fit. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Our findings demonstrate how specific demanding and supportive working conditions relate to burnout and engagement in academia. These results highlight the importance of addressing these workplace factors to safeguard researchers’ mental health.