Burnout, work-related daily negative affect and rumination: a mediation model combining an intensive and longitudinal design

The study aims to examine the relationship between daily negative affect and rumination in the context of work and to verify their mediating roles in the process of burnout. A classic longitudinal design with two measurement points for burnout was combined with 10 daily online assessments of negative affect and rumination among 235 civil servants. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model was implemented. Carryover, cross-lagged, and same-day relationships between work-related negative affect and rumination were analysed from a within-person perspective. The results did not confirm reproducible carryover and cross-lagged effects. The only significant positive associations were found for same-day relationships. At the between-person level, a mediation model of the random intercepts of negative affect and rumination between two burnout measurements was tested. Negative affect was positively related to rumination; however, only negative affect partially mediated the relationship between burnout levels over a four-month interval. The study clarifies the role of rumination in the process of job burnout. First, after removing stable interpersonal differences, reciprocal effects between daily negative affect and daily rumination could not be confirmed. Second, work-related affect may longitudinally play a greater role in burnout exacerbation than ruminating on work.