A dialectical perspective on burnout and engagement

•Conflicting views of the relationship between burnout and engagement exist.•A dialectical perspective may synthesize conflicting views.•Common theories of burnout are discussed in the context of a dialectical perspective.•Relational dialectics describes the interactions between burnout and engagement.•Dialectic research methodologies and future research directions are discussed.

With strong empirical evidence existing for conflicting models, the nature of burnout and engagement continues to be debated. Scholars have recognized the need to theoretically clarify the nature of the burnout–engagement relationship in order to advance empirical research related to both topics. The purpose of this paper is to reconcile existing perspectives through an alternative approach that provides an alternate view of burnout and engagement based on dialectical theory. Implications for common theories used to study burnout and engagement are discussed, followed by suggestions and models for future research utilizing dialectics.