Impacts of Optimism and Job Characteristics on Job Burnout among the Millennial Generation: Evidence from a Survey of Community Service Workers in Shaanxi, China

Currently, the Millennial Generation has become the backbone of the employee population in China. However, changes in society and culture, as well as the unique social values and personality traits of the Millennial Generation, have caused job burnout in the workplace. Since the problem of job burnout in the Millennial Generation has become increasingly prominent, there has been extensive attention from academia and industries. In this study, the hierarchical regression and dominance analysis on the survey data from a questionnaire for community service workers in Shaanxi Province of China in 2015 were conducted to explore the influence mechanism of optimism and job characteristics on job burnout in the Millennial Generation. Results show that optimism and job characteristics affect the degree of job burnout of individuals of the Millennial Generation. Trait optimism and leadership support have significant negative impacts on job burnout, while work overload has a significantly positive impact on job burnout among the individuals of the Millennial Generation; role ambiguity, co-worker support, and job autonomy have significant influence on emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment of job burnout among the individuals of the Millennial Generation. In addition, predictive capacity of job characteristics on job burnout varies among individuals of the Millennial Generation. The conclusions provide important references for improving the mental health management of individuals, the counseling of group psychological problems, and organizational performance.