Association of Psychological Features and Professional Burnout Syndrome Among Employees of Pharmaceutical Companies

Abstract

The results of a study of professional burnout among employees of a commercial organization are presented in the article. The study involved employees of a pharmaceutical company (N=101) with different experience, higher education, aged 22 to 60 years (SD=8.62), men 21.8%, women 78.2%. Socio-demographic variables (gender, age), characteristics of professional activity (length of service, position, predominant content of work tasks, compliance of responsibilities with education) are not associated with the severity of burnout in this sample. The traits of the “dark triad” “Machiavellianism” and “psychopathy” are significantly higher in the group of more burned-out employees; the indicators on the “narcissism” scale did not show significant differences. Indicators of “proactive overcoming”, “reflexive overcoming”, and “strategic planning” turned out to be significantly higher in less burned-out employees, and the intensity of psychological defenses did not differ. Proactive coping strategies are associated with burnout in all respondents, psychopathy is associated with burnout in respondents with moderate burnout severity, and personality defense mechanisms are associated with burnout in respondents with high burnout severity. The burnout of the pharmaceutical company employees who took part in this study turned out to be associated with the psychological characteristics of the respondents, and not the characteristics of the organization of their professional activities. In particular, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, proactive coping, and psychological defenses were associated with burnout, and the connections of these psychological characteristics differ among respondents with different burnout severity. The results of the study indicate the expediency of studying the psychological factors of burnout, taking into account the severity and phase of burnout.