Burnout at the supermarket: Testing the relevance of personality and stressful situations Translated title: Burnout en el supermercado: evaluando la importancia de la personalidad y situaciones de estrés

Abstract

Abstract Professional burnout includes psychological implications that have been studied in relation to job positions in which personal contact is frequent. However, there might be differential vulnerability with respect to the likelihood of showing increased symptoms of the syndrome. The present study analyzes two risk paths: (a) the increased contact with clients that characterizes some job positions, and (b) the relationship between burnout and the combination of the personality traits considered by the Big Five model.To do so, two groups of supermarket workers were compared: cashiers and department managers. To test the relevance of the situation, here we analyze whether cashiers present higher burnout scores than department managers due to their greater level of stressful contact with clients. Furthermore, personality traits were measured and combined to estimate the efficient use of skills and knowledge to achieve certain social goals (P factor). The results show no significant differences in burnout between cashiers and department managers. Individual differences in P scores, however, showed substantial negative correlations with burnoutscores: greater burnout scoreswere associated with increased vulnerable personalities (low levels of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness). It is suggested that interventions tailoredto the workers' P levels may help to increase protective factors against burnout in inescapable stressful situations.