Construct validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey

The construct validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) has been a major point of focus for many studies. The validity of the MBI-General Survey (MBI-GS), a newly developed instrument intended for use outside the human services has not been sufficiently investigated. The aim of this present study is to investigate the validity of the MBI-GS. The Japanese language version of the MBI-GS was prepared for this research and it was administered to a sample of intermediate managers (n = 696) working for a manufacturing company in Japan. The total of 691 effective data were obtained. The exploratory factor analysis replicated the same three-factor structure (Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Professional Efficacy) as the original whereas inter-factor correlation between Exhaustion and Cynicism was moderate. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for all three subscales were above 0.80. The confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model whereas Exhaustion and Cynicism were moderately related. To investigate the construct validity, three subscales of the MBI-GS were then related to selected work characteristics. Based on conservation of resources theory, differential patterns of effects were predicted among the correlates and the burnout subscales. A path analysis revealed that the expectations were largely supported, suggesting that the meaning of the three subscales is quite different with a path from Exhaustion to Cynicism. The study found support for the construct validity of the MBI-GS. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.