Burnout and engagement: Identical twins or just close relatives?

- Engagement cannot conclusively be distinguished from burnout using factor-analysis.
- Engagement and burnout show similar patterns of associations with a number of job characteristics.
- Burnout and engagement are overlapping concepts.

Past research has frequently cast doubts on the theoretical and empirical distinction between the concepts of work engagement and burnout. Drawing on cross-sectional survey data from 1535 Dutch police officers, the current study examined (a) the associations among the two core dimensions of burnout (i.e. exhaustion and cynicism) and work engagement (vigor and dedication); and (b) the concurrent and discriminant validity of these dimensions by relating these four dimensions to various important job demands and job resources. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the distinction between burnout and engagement is elusive. Moreover, although the indicators of burnout and those of engagement differed in terms of their job-related correlates, these patterns of associations only partly supported previous theorizing on the antecedents of burnout and engagement. We conclude that burnout and engagement are to a large degree overlapping concepts and that their conceptual and empirical differences should not be overestimated.