Burnout,workplace support,job satisfaction and life satisfaction among social workers in Spain: A structural equation model

Abstract

This article analyses the effects of burnout in a sample of social workers from Malaga, Spain. The results obtained with the structural equations model confirm that burnout has a negative influence on workplace support, job satisfaction and life satisfaction and that workplace support has a positive influence on job satisfaction. Workplace support acts as mediator variable between burnout and job satisfaction and buffers the negative effects of burnout on job satisfaction and life satisfaction among social workers.

Keywords

burnout job satisfaction life satisfaction social workers workplace support

Burnout in social work

In recent decades, burnout has become a serious problem within different professions and this has given rise to an increasing interest in the subject. Burnout can occur in any context, but has been mainly studied in the caregiving professions. Several studies have shown that social workers form one of the main risk groups since they are exposed to a variety of workplace events that could negatively impact them.

A recent report on the difficulties faced by social workers suggested that their job requirements include increasing paperwork, unmanageable caseloads, problems with difficult clients, staff shortages and intermittent supervision (Center for Workforce Studies, NASW, 2006). In addition, confusing legislation and concomitant guidelines have increased the number of conflicting and incompatible demands on social workers (Bransford, 2005).

In Spain, burnout has been mainly studied in the health and education sectors (Latorre, 2006; Núñez et al., 2010; Ortega, 1998). Most of these studies use the definition of burnout provided by Maslach and Jackson (1986), and show that it has negative effects on the health of professionals and on the quality of client services. However, burnout among Spanish social workers has been little studied, since it was not until the 1980s that social work began to be developed as a profession and academic discipline in Spain. This coincided with democratic sociopolitical changes which strongly reinforced the development of the profession. In recent years, there has been growing awareness of the need to analyse burnout in professional practice (Cuesta Ruiz, 2007). Lázaro (2004) suggests that the following factors are among the causes of burnout among Spanish social workers: growing bureaucratization, lack of resources, role ambiguity and the intense contact with the clients.

Social work, as a caregiving profession, has as its main instrument the professionals themselves. Hence, the quality of service they provide is a key element in achieving their external aims, that is, improving the social well-being of the population. Burnout is a response to chronic stress at work and has a negative impact at the individual and organizational level (Lloyd et al., 2002). Multiple definitions have been offered regarding the process and relational aspects of burnout. Cherniss (1980) points out that this is a process in which the attitudes and behaviour of professionals change negatively in response to job stress. Price and Murphy (1984) define it as a process of adaptation to situations of job stress characterized by feelings of failure or professional disorientation, emotional exhaustion and volatile emotions, guilt feelings due to a lack of professional success, emotional distance and isolation. Similarly, Farber (1985) states that burnout arises from the perceived discrepancy between effort and reward at work which are influenced by organizational, individual, and social factors. Burke (1998) explains it as a process of adaptation to job stress, characterized by professional disorientation, exhaustion, guilt feelings due to a lack of professional success, numbness, or emotional distance and isolation. Although all these definitions have contributed to developing the concept, it remains conceptually unclear. By 1982, Maslach reported that at least 30 specific definitions were being used in the literature (Maslach, 1982). The present study uses the definition of burnout employed in the Maslach Burnout Inventory. This definition is the one most widely employed in the literature; Shaufeli and Enzmann (1998) reported that it has been used in 93 percent of journals and dissertations since the end of the 1990s.

Recent developments in theory and research emphasize that professional burnout is a developmental and multidimensional phenomenon. Burnout refers to a cluster of physical, emotional and interactional symptoms related to job stress and includes emotional exhaustion, a sense of lacking personal accomplishment and the depersonalization of clients (Maslach and Jackson, 1986). Burnout is regarded as a response to chronic job stress that manifests as a three-dimensional construct characterized by emotional exhaustion or the loss of emotional resources with which to face work; depersonalization or the development of negative attitudes, insensitivity and cynicism toward those receiving the service provided, the value of the work itself and the body to which one belongs; as well as low personal accomplishment understood as a tendency to evaluate one’s work negatively and low professional self-esteem (Maslach, 1982).

Emotional exhaustion is manifested by feelings of tension, anxiety and insomnia and has been considered the central characteristic of burnout (Maslach, 2003). Depersonalization has been denominated by the term cynicism to emphasize its association with negative attitudes such as frustration, disillusion and mistrust toward organizations, people and groups (Maslach et al., 2001). Low personal accomplishment refers to the perception of low efficacy, lack of accomplishment and productivity, and incompetence (Leiter and Maslach, 2001).

We use the term burnout to refer to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment. Burnout refers primarily to states of occupational stress prevalent among human services professionals (Bargal, 1984). Social workers are considered to be at risk of burnout and several studies have focused specifically on burnout in this group (Abdallah, 2009; Abu-Bader, 2000; Cherniss, 1980; Coyle et al., 2005; Edelwich and Brodsky, 1980; Haj-Yahia et al., 2000; Jayaratne et al., 1983; Lloyd et al., 2002; Pines and Aronson, 1988; Tam and Mong, 2005). Many of these studies have found that burnout is associated with a lack of autonomy at work (LeCroy and Rank, 1987); excessive bureaucratization (Arches, 1991); role ambiguity (Himle et al., 1987); low professional self-esteem (LeCroy and Rank, 1987); the lack of social support (Kim and Lee, 2009); or the intensity of contact with users (Streepy, 1981).

Although numerous variables are associated with burnout, in this study we focus on analysing the association between burnout and the variables workplace support, work satisfaction and life satisfaction to assess whether burnout among social workers is negatively associated with these variables and whether workplace support buffers the negative effects of burnout.

Social support, job satisfaction and life satisfaction in social work

Social support

Social support is an interpersonal transaction of help from a support source to the help receiver that involves emotions, material assistance and information and that takes place in a specific family, work or caregiving context. In general, a multidimensional definition is adopted, and thus Laireiter and Baumann (1992) suggest it consists of five components: support networks, the quality of the relationships, the support provided and received, perceived support, and active participation in community life.

Social support has potential positive effects on stress and protects against burnout. In the work context, interpersonal relationships can become a source of stress, but when there is good interpersonal communication and perceived social support the negative effects of stress are buffered. On the other hand, if the relationships with users, peers, or colleagues in different positions are tense, conflictive and prolonged, feelings of burnout increase. Similarly, the lack of support from colleagues and supervisors, or from the management or administration of the organization, can favour the appearance of this syndrome (Gil-Monte and Peiró, 1997).

Thus, the social support offered by colleagues and supervisors can reduce feelings of burnout (Collings and Murray, 1996), and its absence can be regarded as a work stressor that has important repercussions on the syndrome. Coady et al. (1990) found that there was no significant relationship between scores on emotional exhaustion and a depersonalization subscale and the social workers’ perception of team support. On the other hand, social workers who perceived the team as being supportive had less risk of burnout and scored higher in the measure of personal accomplishment. Thus, although no correlation was found between social support regarding supervisors’ and social workers’ scores on emotional exhaustion or personal accomplishment subscales, significant differences were found on the depersonalization subscale, since social workers who perceived more support from their supervisors had less risk of burnout.

The effect of social support on burnout can vary: it can have a direct effect on perceived stress, and it can act as a mediating factor between perceived stress and burnout (Rodriguez, 1995). Koeske and Koeske (1989), in their classic study of social workers, also confirmed the facilitating function of the lack of social support on the effects of job stress on feelings of emotional exhaustion. In general, social support offered by colleagues and supervisors decreases the levels of burnout, whereas its absence can be considered a work stressor that has serious negative effects on job satisfaction.

All these studies coincide regarding the value of social support as a resource against burnout. However, the role of social support differs according to each study; social support is seen as an antecedent variable in some studies and as a mediating variable in others. Various models have been proposed: the direct effect model, which suggests that social support has a positive effect on well-being independently of stress; and the basic buffer effect model, which assumes that social support protects individuals from stress. Both models have been supported in empirical tests (Power, 1988). The buffer effect model suggests that social support has a stress-alleviation function and reduces the risk of disease (Billings and Moos, 1984; Gore, 1985).

Social support is a rather broad term, and in this work, given that we analyse social support in the working context, we will use the term workplace support.

Job satisfaction

In order to explain the great amount of attention that has been paid to job satisfaction in recent years, two aspects need to be considered: on the one hand, work satisfaction is an important outcome of the quality of organizational life; on the other, satisfaction is a significant predictor of important non-functional behaviours, such as absenteeism and changing jobs within and between organizations. Job satisfaction has been defined as the amount of overall positive affect that individuals have toward their jobs in relation to a series of aspects such as pay, promotion opportunities, the job itself, management style, working conditions and the work group (Arnold and Feldman, 1986). In addition, Tziner and Vardi (1984) defined it as an affective response or reaction to a great variety of aspects related to work.

Job satisfaction has been widely discussed in the professional literature. Much of this literature has examined the relationship between job satisfaction and a large number of personal and work variables. Abu-Bader (1998) has categorized them into four groups. The first refers to personal characteristics such as gender, age, education and ethnicity. The second group relates to work conditions such as role conflict, number of clients, workload and autonomy. The third group refers to work incentives such as promotion opportunities, a good salary or economic bonuses. The fourth group relates to interpersonal relationships at work, such as quality of supervision and working with colleagues.

Regarding the fourth group, there are increasing numbers of studies validating the importance of social support in the work context. Thus, the quality of supervisor support increases job satisfaction (Barth et al., 2008; Landsman, 2001). In addition, many studies have associated job satisfaction and burnout in social work. Most of these studies show that high job satisfaction is negatively associated with burnout (Abu-Bader, 2000; Haj-Yahia et al., 2000; Himle et al., 1986; Jayaratne and Chess, 1984; Um and Harrison, 1998). Regarding this association, it is difficult to establish the direction of the effects between burnout and job satisfaction. The present study provides a model which analyses the association between these variables.

Life satisfaction

Being satisfied with specific aspects of life, such as relationships, health and work contribute to overall life satisfaction. However, few studies have analysed the relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction among workers (Rice et al., 1992). Life satisfaction is defined as an overall assessment that a person makes of their life, comparing what they have obtained (their achievements) with what they hoped to obtain (their expectations). This means that they examine the tangible aspects of their life, weigh up the good and the bad, compare this to a standard or criterion chosen by them, and form a judgement regarding satisfaction with their life. Thus, judgements regarding satisfaction depend on comparing life circumstances against a standard considered appropriate (Diener et al., 1985). Life satisfaction has been used as a global indicator of quality of life, in all its dimensions. In this work, we focus on analysing social workers’ perceived levels of life satisfaction and its relationship to burnout.

In summary, the literature shows that there is an important relationship between the explanatory variables, but few studies have analysed the direct and indirect associations between them. Burnout is a problem among social workers which impacts resources both in the work context and work satisfaction, and thus we believe that it may also negatively affect the individual’s quality of life. However, as shown in the literature, workplace support can also help to alleviate the negative effects of burnout and thus interventions can be designed to encourage this kind of support. Social support, as a resource related to burnout, has been investigated using models such as the job demand-control (JDC) theory of job stress (Karasek and Theorell, 1990), the job demand-control-support (JDCS) model (Johnson and Hall, 1988) and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model of burnout (Demerouti et al., 2001). Most studies show that burnout is mainly predicted by job demands (e.g. work overload) and by a lack of job resources (e.g. social support) and that burnout mediates the relationship between job demands and various negative outcomes (Maslach et al., 1996). A lack of job resources is also associated with disengagement (Demerouti et al., 2001). The present study focuses on the potential mediating role of certain job resources, such as workplace social support. It also includes an analysis of how burnout affects life satisfaction outside the workplace. Although some evidence suggests that burnout has a negative effect on people’s home life (Burke and Greenglass, 2001), there are few studies on the consequences of burnout on social workers’ quality of life.

Bearing in mind this background, the main purpose of this study was to analyse the relationship between burnout, workplace support, job satisfaction and life satisfaction among a sample of social workers from Malaga, Spain, and whether workplace support buffers the negative effects of burnout. In particular, we investigated whether: 1) burnout was negatively related to workplace support, job satisfaction and life satisfaction; and 2) workplace support functions as a mediator variable that buffers the effects of burnout on work satisfaction and life satisfaction. To test these hypotheses, a hypothetical model was developed. The proposed model allows us to test the direct and indirect associations between the variables under study.

The exogenous variable burnout has a direct association with workplace support, which is neither a static nor independent resource as it is influenced by work stress. Workplace support has a dual function: it is a relatively static moderating variable that has a personal, social and environmental function that leads to increased or decreased vulnerability to the effects of stress. It is also a relatively dynamic mediating variable that may be modified by burnout, thus making individuals more vulnerable (Gomez-Jacinto and Hombrados-Mendieta, 2001). Burnout has a negative association with this social resource. Exposure to work stressors and the perception of being burned out have a negative impact on the buffering effect of workplace support. However, as frequently confirmed, workplace support effectively reduces psychological stress and it is expected to buffer the effects of burnout on work satisfaction and life satisfaction. Thus, we hypothesized that burnout would have a negative association with workplace support and both a strong direct negative association with work satisfaction and an indirect one that would indicate the mediating role of workplace support. To analyse how workplace support mediates burnout and work satisfaction, all the direct and indirect associations between them have to be considered individually (Alwin and Hauser, 1975). In a totally mediated association the coefficient associated with the direct path should be close to zero, whereas in a partially mediated association both the indirect and direct paths should be different from zero. Their magnitude indicates to what extent there is mediation. The present study postulates that both the direct and indirect associations are strong and significantly different from zero. In addition, workplace support directly increases work satisfaction and indirectly increases life satisfaction via work satisfaction.

Method

Sample and procedure

The sample population consisted of social workers currently working in Malaga, Spain. According to the census prepared by the Association of Social Workers of Malaga, there were 362 registered social workers at the time of the study. Of these, 240 were actively working at the time of the study. Using simple random sampling procedures 120 workers were selected, thus providing a highly representative sample. A questionnaire was applied by including a note in the monthly email bulletin distributed to all members by the Malaga Association of Social Workers, requesting their collaboration in the study. Each social worker was mailed a survey instrument, an introductory letter, an information sheet and a return postage-paid envelope. Of the 120 social workers selected, 107 (84 percent women, 16 percent men) responded to the questionnaire. The ages of the interviewees ranged between 22 years and 62 years, with a mean of 38 years. Mean work experience was 10.12 years. Table 1 shows the work characteristics of the social workers.

Table 1.

Work characteristics of the social workers

Work characteristics	%
Work sector
Public administration	71.0
Tertiary sector	18.0
Companies	11.0
Work context
Social services	73.0
Health services	14.0
Housing	7.5
Companies	5.5
Population sector
General population	45.0
Elderly people	11.0
Families	10.0
Immigration	9.5
Disabled people	8.5
Drug dependency	8.4
Women	7.6
Working hours
Work full-time	95.5
Work part-time	5.5
Degree of autonomy
Complete or near complete autonomy	87.0
Limited or no autonomy	13.0

Measures

Demographic characteristics

The social workers who participated in this study were asked to indicate their gender, age, work profile, working hours, years of work experience, working context, population sector served and degree of autonomy at work.

Burnout

The MBI-General Survey (MBI-GS) version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory scale was used (Maslach and Jackson, 1986). The MBI-GS is composed of 16 items that measure emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment on a seven-point scale that ranges from 1 (‘completely disagree’) to 7 (‘completely agree’). A global indicator of burnout was obtained for the purposes of the study. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.91.

Job satisfaction

The Overall Job Satisfaction Scale developed by Warr et al. (1979) was used to measure overall job satisfaction. It consists of 15 items measured on a seven-point scale that ranges from 1 (‘completely unsatisfied’) to 7 (‘completely satisfied’). Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.94.

Social support

A measure was specifically constructed for the study, consisting of 21 items which evaluate actual workplace support: colleagues (e.g. my colleagues offer me emotional support when I need it), institutional support (e.g. I receive the support needed from my institution to do my work well), immediate superiors (e.g. when I have problems at work, I can seek support from my immediate superiors), normative support (e.g. I feel supported by the institutions which I interact with in the course of my work) and users (e.g. I find sufficient support from the users to continue with my professional activities). The interviewees responded on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (‘completely disagree’) to 7 (‘completely agree’). A global index of social support was obtained. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.97.

Life satisfaction

The Satisfaction With Life Scale developed by Diener et al. (1985) was used. This measures life satisfaction and consists of five items scored on a scale ranging between 1 and 7, where 1 indicates low satisfaction and 7 high satisfaction. It measures issues relating to the fulfilment of life objectives, the perception of their life conditions or the attainment of things important to the subject. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.97.

Results

To verify the aims of the study, a structural equation model analysis was conducted using the total scores of burnout, workplace support, job satisfaction and life satisfaction. To validate this relationship model, the PRELIS 2 and LISREL 8.30 software packages (Jöreskog and Sörbom, 1993) and the Maximum Likelihood Estimation method were used. Table 2 presents the correlation matrix of the variables analysed.

Table 2.

Correlation matrix

	Burnout	Workplace support	Job satisfaction	Life satisfaction
Burnout	1.00
Workplace support	−.42	1.00
Job satisfaction	−.55	.66	1.00
Life satisfaction	−.15	.18	.27	1.00

Table 3 presents a summary of this analysis. The global GFI and CFI indicate good fit, since their values are higher than 0.90. The RMR is also a good indicator, as values less than 0.10 are found under the critical point.

Another indicator of good model fit is provided by R² (see Table 3); the percentage of explained variance of the workplace social support is 18 percent, job satisfaction 53 percent, and only 7 percent in the case of life satisfaction.

Table 3.

Summary of the structural equation model

	R ²	Burnout g coefficient		Workplace support b coefficient		Job satisfaction b coefficient
	R ²	Direct effect	Indirect effect	Direct effect	Indirect effect	Direct effect
Workplace support	.18	−.42 (.09) −4.64
Job satisfaction	.53	−.33 (.08) −4.34	−.22 (.06) −3.84	.52 (.08) 6.83
Life satisfaction	.07		−.15 (.04) −2.54		.14 (.03) 2.56	.27 (.06) 2.76
Goodness-of-fit indexes:
Root Mean Square Residual (RMR) = 0.024
Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) = 0.97
Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.98

Notes: Direct and indirect effects. Standardized g and b coefficients are shown in bold. The standard error of each coefficient is shown in brackets followed by the t-value. Values of t higher than 1.96 have a probability less than .05.

The coefficients presented in Table 3 suggest that an increase in burnout directly and significantly decreases workplace support (γ = -.42) and job satisfaction (γ = -.33). It also has an indirect and very strong effect, mediated by workplace support, on job satisfaction (γ = -.22). As hypothesized, the direct and indirect effects of burnout on work satisfaction are significantly different from zero. This indicates that workplace support has a dual role: it increases satisfaction and attenuates the effects of burnout. Burnout indirectly and negatively influences life satisfaction (γ = -.15) via workplace support and job satisfaction.

Workplace support has a direct positive effect on job satisfaction (β = .52), and an indirect effect, via job satisfaction, on life satisfaction (β = .14). Finally, increased job satisfaction also increases life satisfaction among social workers (β = .27).

In conclusion, and as shown in Figure 1, workplace support acts as a mediator variable. On the one hand, it is affected by burnout, since as burnout increases, workplace support decreases, but on the other, it buffers the effects of burnout on work satisfaction and life satisfaction. Workplace support, as a variable mediating burnout and job satisfaction, has a direct positive effect on job satisfaction, and also has an indirect effect on life satisfaction, but only via job satisfaction. The deterioration of workplace support caused by job stress can impair workplace support resources and has a negative impact on work satisfaction and life satisfaction. At the same time, increased workplace support resources can have a positive effect on job satisfaction and life satisfaction. The results show that, in the work context, when social workers receive support from their colleagues, the institution, their bosses or their clients, working conditions change such that social support increases and burnout decreases.

Figure 1.

Path diagram of the results of the structural equation model

Discussion

The model presented analyses the proposed relationships between the variables and verifies that work dissatisfaction is a result of burnout. This has been validated in longitudinal studies (Wolpin et al., 1991) and cross-sectional studies (Richardsen et al., 1992).

The results demonstrate the negative influence of burnout on workplace support, job satisfaction and life satisfaction and the positive influence of workplace support on job satisfaction. As workplace support increases, work satisfaction and life satisfaction increase, and the negative effects of burnout decrease. Work dissatisfaction is a result of burnout and affects life satisfaction.

Workplace support partially acts as a mediator variable, although it is affected by burnout, but at the same time decreases the effects of burnout on work satisfaction and life satisfaction. It is important to point out that workplace support has a direct positive relationship with job satisfaction and an indirect relationship with life satisfaction, but only via job satisfaction. Thus, increases or decreases in workplace support resources can have a positive or negative effect on job satisfaction and life satisfaction. This shows how work dissatisfaction lowers overall life satisfaction. This is an important point raised by the study, as it shows how workplace support only indirectly affects the quality of life via workplace dissatisfaction. This shows that the consequences of burnout on workplace dissatisfaction extend beyond the workplace; when social support in the workplace is reduced, the quality of life decreases outside the workplace. Although there are some contributions to this subject (e.g. Rice et al., 1992), most studies only focus on the workplace when studying the consequences of burnout.

These results agree with other studies that show that burnout among social workers is related to a lack of social support (Dollard et al., 2000; Kim and Stoner, 2008). On the other hand, social support protects against burnout (Maslach et al., 1996). The social support offered by colleagues and supervisors decreases feelings of burnout (Coady et al., 1990; Collings and Murray, 1996) and its absence can be regarded as a work stressor that has serious negative effects on job satisfaction. Um and Harrison (1998) also found that social support acts as a moderating factor between burnout and job dissatisfaction, while Himle et al. (1986) highlighted the role of emotional social support as moderating the impact of job stress. It is important to note that the relationship between burnout and social support is complex. Burnout significantly reduces the support in the workplace, but when support is sufficiently strong, it buffers the effects of burnout on social workers’ job satisfaction and quality of life. For example, Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985) states that well-being is enhanced in work contexts in which psychological autonomy, competence and relatedness are supported and that social support fulfils the need to belong. Support from colleagues and superiors also increases success in achieving targets. As Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) showed, workplace resources are related to well-being and engagement, either through satisfaction of basic needs or by achieving job targets. The results of this study show that workplace support is an important job resource. People who experience burnout can have a negative impact on interactions with colleagues, superiors or users, which reduces the support in the workplace. Despite this, the presence of such support reduces the effect of burnout. When good interpersonal communication between users, colleagues and superiors is promoted, there is a reduction in the effects of burnout on workplace and life satisfaction. Another point of note in the study is the importance of using multi-level social support measures, including support from colleagues and immediate superiors, institutional support, normative support and support from users. Thus, we agree with Maslach et al. (2001) when they state that social support is a social resource that works on several levels, and thus is more effective than other individual strategies.

We believe that the model presented is empirically supported by the results of this study. The results obtained would fit within social support buffering models, in which social support buffers the negative effects of stress. Social workers who receive more social support suffer fewer effects of burnout and have increased personal and workplace satisfaction.

Taking the above into account, it can be concluded that workplace support is a valuable resource for dealing with burnout. These results suggest that it would be useful to implement strategies to promote social support in the work context. Strengthening networks between colleagues and supervisors at work would be an effective measure as well as the possible creation of support and self-help groups, which several studies have shown to be an effective intervention strategy.

Conclusion

The results of this study show the importance of investigating the relationships between the variables that explain job satisfaction among social workers. Given that relationships were found between the variables analysed, there is a clear need for further studies using a holistic approach in order to investigate the real influence of all the elements found in the work context on social workers. The study of burnout, the influence of workplace support, and the determinants of work satisfaction and life satisfaction in the area of social work will contribute to the development and improvement of this profession. It is important to investigate whether there are protective factors, such as workplace support, which reduce burnout in the work context. An effective intervention strategy would promote the factors identified as beneficial, and thus it is important to strengthen the sources of workplace support to attain higher levels of work satisfaction and life satisfaction.

Limitations and recommendations

Before generalizing these results, some limitations have to be taken into account. The data were collected using self-report surveys. In self-report surveys, the researcher makes the assumption that the participants’ responses accurately reflect their feelings (Heppner et al., 1992). In addition, these results may not adequately reflect job behaviour among social workers in other countries and thus it would be of interest to replicate these results in other countries.

It should also be noted that the present study used a cross-sectional design, which means we should be cautious when making causal inferences on the basis of the data available. Moreover, as Holmbeck (1997) remarks, the relationships between the independent variable, mediator and outcome may not necessarily be causal; the same applies to the indirect effects. In fact, some of the relationships between the variables considered in this research could have bidirectional influences. A longitudinal study would be required to shed more light on these associations and to increase confidence regarding the causal direction of the influences. It would be useful if future studies took into account the temporal variable and collected information at different times during the study. However, the present study provides useful data to help understand the relationship between variables. Thus, the results show the relevance of workplace support in a stressful work setting, because greater social support buffers the negative effect of burnout and is positively related to greater work and life satisfaction. However, future studies should further investigate the role of workplace support and specifically analyse the conditions under which social support buffers the negative effects of burnout, as well as investigate which characteristics of social workers – such as their work experience, sex or age – have the strongest relationship with the buffering effects of workplace support.

Footnotes

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author biographies

Isabel Hombrados-Mendieta gained her PhD from the Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, Spain. She is currently Professor and Head of Department in the Department of Social Psychology, Social Anthropology, Social Work and Social Services at the University of Málaga and Director of Master in Community and Social Intervention.

Francisco Cosano-Rivas is Professor, Department of Social Psychology, Social Anthropology, Social Work and Social Services, University of Málaga and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies and Work.

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