The moderating effect of organizational commitment on burnout in information systems professionals

The study examines the moderating role of organizational commitment on the relationship between role stressors and burnout in information systems (IS) professionals. Two role stressors are examined in this study – role ambiguity and role conflict. In addition, two dimensions of organizational commitment – affective and continuance commitment – are examined for their moderating influence. The emotional exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory is used to measure burnout in 312 IS professionals. Both role stressors were found to correlate positively with burnout. In addition, affective commitment was found to moderate the relationship between role stressors and burnout. Therefore, in employees with high affective commitment, role stressors had a lesser effect on burnout. This study, therefore, supports the argument that commitment acts as a buffer against stress and its antecedents.