Predicting burnout among non-profit organization (NPO) workers: the roles of psychological capital and emotional labour.

Abstract

Non-profit organisations (NPOs) play a significant role in the development of healthycommunities by providing essential services that help to maintain economic stability and mobility.They also help to improve communities in many ways. These organisations, on the other hand, will notbe able to survive and function effectively if their employees suffer from burnout that hinders theirperformance and affects the team's effectiveness which is essential for a non-profit organisation toachieve its goals. Therefore, this quantitative cross-sectional study aims to examine the link betweenpsychological capital (PsyCap) and burnout, as well as the link between emotional labour and burnoutamong Malaysian NPO workers. An online questionnaire survey was carried out to 164 respondentsfrom a non-profit organisation, including its employees from local and international branches. Thestudy is among the few Malaysian data to empirically investigate the effects of four dimensions ofPsyCap i.e., Self-Efficacy, Optimism, Hope, and Resilience as well as two dimensions of emotionallabour i.e., Surface Acting, and Deep Acting towards burnout. This study complements the burnoutliterature on NPO workers as a limited applicable study on the subject would be a solid base to initiateother researches around the world, especially in Malaysia. The findings of this study could give aninsight into the role of PsyCap within the Malaysian context, a further understanding of the prevalenceof Malaysia’s workers' burnout, and insight into the severe importance of emotional labour inimproving NPO workers.