Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)

Abstract

The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is the most widely utilized and empirically validated psychological assessment tool for measuring occupational burnout in individuals. Developed by psychologist Christina Maslach and her colleagues in the early 1980s, the MBI is a 22-item self-report questionnaire designed to quantify the experience of chronic workplace stress. It assesses burnout across three distinct, yet interrelated, dimensions: Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Reduced Personal Accomplishment. The MBI is critical for research and clinical practice, particularly within human services professions, for evaluating the effects of burnout on job performance, health, and overall well-being.

Keywords

Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI, Burnout, Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, Personal Accomplishment, Occupational Stress, Psychological Assessment, Psychometrics.

Authors

Christina Maslach, Susan E. Jackson, Michael P. Leiter

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Maslach Burnout Inventory is to provide a standardized, reliable, and valid measure of the experience of burnout, specifically focusing on the syndrome as it manifests in professionals who work with other people (e.g., clients, patients, students). The scale was originally designed for use in human services fields, although subsequent versions, such as the MBI-General Survey (MBI-GS), expanded its applicability to other occupational groups.

The MBI allows researchers and clinicians to quantify the severity of burnout symptoms, facilitating early identification and intervention strategies. By dividing the burnout construct into three components, the instrument provides a nuanced understanding of which specific aspects of the syndrome are most pronounced in an individual or population.

Construct

The MBI is based on the conceptualization that occupational burnout is a three-dimensional syndrome. These dimensions represent different facets of the individual’s response to chronic job stressors, particularly those involving interpersonal demands.

The three core dimensions assessed are:

• Emotional Exhaustion (EE): This is the central component of burnout, characterized by feelings of being emotionally overextended and depleted of one’s emotional and physical resources by one’s work.
• Depersonalization (DP): This dimension involves negative, callous, or excessively detached responses to various aspects of the job, particularly toward the recipients of one’s service or care. It represents an impersonal reaction to one’s clients or patients.
• Reduced Personal Accomplishment (PA): This component refers to feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity at work. Individuals feel a decline in confidence in their ability to perform effectively.

Validity

The MBI possesses strong evidence for construct validity, which has been established through decades of research across numerous countries and professions. The scale’s three-factor structure consistently aligns with Maslach’s theoretical model of burnout, demonstrating that the items reliably group into the three proposed dimensions (EE, DP, PA).

Furthermore, criterion validity has been supported by studies showing that MBI scores correlate predictably with relevant outcomes. High scores on Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization, and low scores on Personal Accomplishment, are associated with negative factors such as poor job performance, increased absenteeism, higher rates of turnover (Leiter & Maslach, 2009), and negative health outcomes, confirming its utility as a measure of psychological distress in the workplace (Alarcon, 2011).

Reliability

The Maslach Burnout Inventory exhibits high internal consistency, confirming its reliability across the three subscales. The original manual (Maslach & Jackson, 1986) reported robust Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, indicating that the items within each dimension measure the same underlying construct.

The Cronbach alpha reliability ratings reported are:

• Emotional Exhaustion: .90
• Depersonalization: .76
• Personal Accomplishment: .76

These values demonstrate that the Emotional Exhaustion subscale is exceptionally reliable, while the Depersonalization and Personal Accomplishment subscales maintain satisfactory levels of internal consistency for psychological research.

Factor Analysis

Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses conducted since the MBI’s introduction consistently support the hypothesized three-factor model. The factor structure ensures that Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment are empirically distinct factors, reinforcing the construct validity of the instrument.

The items loading onto each factor are clearly defined, with the Emotional Exhaustion dimension containing the largest number of items (9 items), followed by Personal Accomplishment (8 items), and Depersonalization (5 items). This structure has been validated across diverse cultures and occupational groups (Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2002), confirming its robust psychometric properties.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological assessment tool

Format: 22-item questionnaire utilizing a 7-point frequency rating scale.

Language Available: English (original), with numerous validated translations available globally.

Population Group: Professionals and employees in high-stress occupational settings, particularly those involving direct contact with clients or patients (Human Services Survey, MBI-HSS) or general work environments (General Survey, MBI-GS).

Age Group: Adult (typically working population).

Population Details: Originally validated on healthcare professionals, teachers, social workers, and other human service providers. Subsequent adaptations allow for use across general organizational settings.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate the frequency with which they experience each feeling or statement using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 (Never) to 6 (Every day).

Keywords

Emotional exhaustion, Job stress, Occupational psychology, Self-report measure, Psychometric scale, MBI-HSS, Job satisfaction, Well-being, Christina Maslach, Internal consistency.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content. (Historically associated with UC Berkeley and Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Maslach Burnout Inventory is a proprietary instrument and is typically administered under license by the publisher, Mind Garden, Inc. Fees apply for its use in research and clinical settings. The original conceptualization and first publication occurred in the early 1980s (Maslach & Jackson, 1981), with the standardized manual published in 1986 (Maslach & Jackson, 1986).

The original PDF describing the measurement of experienced burnout can be downloaded here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.4030020205/pdf. Additional instruments and related dissertations are available at: http://cmgb.fr/IMG/pdf/le_mbi_echelle_evaluation_burn_out.pdf and http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1229&context=dissertations.

Reference’s

• Alarcon, Gene M. (2011). A meta-analysis of burnout with job demands, resources, and attitudes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(2); 549–562.
• Bakker, A.B., Demerouti, E., & Schaufeli, W.B. (2002). Validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory – general survey: An internet study. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 15; 245-260.
• Leiter, M.P., & Maslach, C. (2009). Nurse turnover: The mediating role of burnout. Journal of Nursing Management, 17, 331-339.
• Maslach, C. (1982). Burnout, the cost of caring. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
• Maslach, C., & Florian, V. (1988). Burnout, job setting and self-evaluation among rehabilitation counselors. Rehabilitation Psychology, 33(2).
• Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, Vol. 2, 99-113.
• Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. (1986). Maslach Burnout Inventory: Manual. Palo Alto, CA.: Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Maslach, C., Jackson, S., & Leiter, M.P. (1996). The Maslach Burnout Inventory (3rd ed.). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Maslach, C., Leiter, M.P., & Schaufeli, W.B. (2009). Measuring burnout. The Oxford handbook of organizational well-being, 86-108. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press.
• Schaufeli, W.B., Leiter, M.P., & Maslach, C. (2008). Burnout: 35 years of research and practice. Career Development International, 14(3).

Items of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)

Sample Items:

1. I feel emotionally drained from my work.
2. I feel used up at the end of the workday.
3. I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning and have to face another day on the job.
4. I can easily understand how my recipients feel about things.
5. I feel I treat some recipients as if they were impersonal objects.
6. Working with people all day is really a strain for me.
7. I deal very effectively with the problems of my recipients.

Response Scale:

• 0 Never
• 1 A few times a year
• 2 Once a month
• 3 A few times per month
• 4 Once a week
• 5 A few times per week
• 6 Every day

Subscale Item Groupings (Total 22 items):

• Emotional Exhaustion (items 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 13, 14, 16 and 18)
• Depersonalization (items 5, 10, 11, 15 and 22)
• Personal Accomplishment (items 4, 7, 9, 12, 17, 18, 19 and 21)