Internal structure of an alternative measure of burnout: Study on the Slovenian adaptation of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI)

•Internal structure of OLBI was analysed using a sample of employees in Slovenia.•Compared with the original OLBI, Slovene translation revealed different structure.•Method effect in response to reverse items was discussed.•The structure of OLBI, assessing both burnout and work engagement, was discussed.

This study evaluates the factorial validity and reliability of the Slovenian adaptation of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) in a sample of 1436 Slovenian employees of various occupations. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to evaluate alternative structural models of OLBI, and reliability of variant scales was estimated. The results reveal a different structure of the Slovenian adaptation compared with the original one and a very notable difference in reliability between positively and negatively framed items. The results could be explained with a response bias or the specific nature of burnout and work engagement that OLBI promises to assess simultaneously. Therefore, we believe that the internal structure of the original inventory needs to be reconsidered.