When and how Eldercare Burden

does affect Employee’s Job Burnout:

The Roles of Psychological Capital
and Employee’s Job Stress
Phd (Management)
By Abdul Ghaffar
ID: 12004051048

Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Muhammad Ume Azeem

Introduction & Background
• The world’s population is rapidly growing older due to higher life expectancy.

Region Population (aged 65+) (in millions) Percentage of regional total population

2015 2030 2050 2015 2030 2050

Africa. 40.6 70.3 150.5 3.5 4.4 6.7

Asia. 341.4 587.3 975.3 7.9 12.1 18.8

Europe 129.6 169.1 196.8 17.4 22.8 27.8

Latin America / Caribbean 47.0 82.5 139.2 7.6 11.8 18.6

Northern America 53.9 82.4 94.6 15.1 20.7 21.4

Oceania 4.6 7.0 9.5 12.5 16.2 19.5

Introduction & Background (Contd.)
• Defining “an older person” may vary from region to region. Some countries consider 65 and
above while others define it as someone who is 60 years of age or above (Tinker, 2002).
• Ageing mirrors human success but has also brought new challenges
• The support/care mainly comes from family due to the joint family system that is persisted in Asia
for long and mainly emphasizes the high level of reciprocity among generations (Itrat et al. 2007).
• The aged population has made its impact on Pakistan as well. Life expectancy has improved
despite all the problems e.g. political instability as well as economic difficulties (Sabzwari & Azhar
, 2011).
• The eldercare refers to “all the spiritual, supportive actions, assistance and acts of facilitating
wellbeing in favor of elderly person” (Yakubu & Usman, 2020).
• Caregivers are individuals who provide unpaid care for adults who are dependent (i.e. parent,
spouse, friend or sibling) having serious medical condition (Ramesh, Ireson, & Williams, 2017
Introduction & Background (Contd.)
• The term caregiving engages an extensive variety of meanings. It is almost impossible that a single
discipline could grasp (Liu & Kendig, 2000).
• Eastern societies usually operate under the system of patriarchy and caring for the aged parents is
a “structural requisite” of the system. Under the unquestionable family structure, this
responsibility is inevitable (Fry & Keith, 1982; Keith, 1992).
• In a traditional Asian family (Like Pakistani),the elderly forms a “central beacon”(Itrat et al., 2007).
• In Pakistani context, the needs of a greying population vary with time. A drastically changed
lifestyle after retirement mainly due to sudden loss or decrease of income, poor or no retirement
benefits, and insufficient physical work usually lead this greying population to physical as well as
mental ailments (Bossé et al., 1987).
• This abrupt transition (from a dictating head of the family to a passive decision making
participant) results in lower self-esteem and may be a source of psychological stress. (Itrat
et al., 2007).
• Apart from a social obligation, it is also considered as a religious duty to care for elderly
(especially parents) and become worthy of divine reward. (Qadir et al., 2013).
Introduction & Background (Contd.)
• Caregivers have to pay some cost as well for providing care as this is a highly
engaged task. – The Care Burden (Baji et al., 2019).
• George and Gwyther (1986) have defined caregiving burden as “the physical,
psychological or emotional, social and financial problems that can be experienced
by family members caring for impaired older adults”.
• The financial burden includes medical visits, treatments, travel, special foods or
medications etc.
• Social implications – Social Burden - restricted social life or withdrawal from social
activities, family conflicts, and even isolation.
• Emotional Burden - Most common type of burden - Depression, anxiety, and
despair are the most frequently reported psychological conditions by the
caregivers
• Physical burden-tiredness, exhaustion, fatigue or poor sleep(Thrush&Hyder, 2014
Introduction & Background (Contd.)
• Eldercare Caregiving also has a great impact on caregivers’ workplace.
• Individuals providing care while being employed have to juggle multiple responsibilities and often
face work-family conflict. (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).
• Research shows that in work-life interface, resources and demands act like inputs which affect
conflict. (Leslie, King, & Clair, 2019).
• A caregiver may perceive burnout as a negative consequence of higher burden (Bertrand et al., 2012).
• Burnout may be minimized or eliminated through enforcing positive human strengths and attempting
to “promote optimal functioning” (Brake et al., 2007).
• The hypothesis of this study will be based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory offered by
Hobfoll (1989). Commonly applied theory when investigating employee stress (Zacher et al., 2012)
• The major applications of COR theory are at workplace and organizational psychology. It investigates
how does stress influence employees and its effects spill over among family and work roles (Sakka
et al., 2016b; Zacher & Schulz, 2015).
Introduction & Background (Contd.)
• This study argued that “caregiving conditions refer to objective caregiving situation such as the
health status of the older adults or caregiving time which are believed to result in resource loss
and therefore prompt resource-seeking behaviors”.
• As the more resources are spent perceived care burden increases as well (
Hong and Harrington (2016).
• Perceived loss or threat of resources that are valuable to individuals may lead to stress and
resultantly impact work-related and individual outcomes.(Hobfoll, 1989, 2001),
• The theory states that resources and their shortage are the foundation on which not only
employees feel strain and stress but at the same time these resources also enable them to cope
with this strain and stress (Burch, Dugan, & Barnes-Farrell, 2018).
• Caregiving roles linked with a higher level of family stress may spillover to work (
Li, Shaffer, & Bagger, 2015b). The theory further states that stress takes place when resources are
under threat, lost, or when one invests resources and do not gain the forecasted return (Hobfoll
, 1989, 2001).
Problem Statement
• Most of the people caring the elders are also engaged in paid employment (Employers for Carers
, 2013).
• UK - 6 millions informal caregivers (including 3 millions employees) - providing care to their ill loved
ones (Keating et al., 2013).
• USA – 44 millions (including 60% employees) (Goldstein, 2013).
• Accumulated care demands over time lead to the burden (Gaugler et al., 2010). This is the negative
outcome mainly due to the “abrupt occurrence of care demands” (Gaugler et al., 2010).
• Family issues - an important source of stress Kutner et al. (2009)
• Eldercare – a long term promise (Triulzi, 1994).
• Continuous stress, not managed effectively results in burnout (Edwards, 2015)
• This research looks for the impact of the caregiver burden on workplace burnout. As indicated by
research, burnout is a negative reaction and considered to be damaging for organization as well as
employee and need to be avoided (Griffin et al., 2010).
Research Gap / Rationale of the Study
• Fu and charoensukmongkol (2021)
• Previous research has ignored the role of “individuals’ personal characteristics” when
investigating the PsyCap’s moderating role on burnout.
• Bohlmann and Zacher (2019)
• Conceptually integrate this area of research with some theoretical frameworks
• Stressor (eldercare burden) – strain (stress) – outcome (burnout) – support (resources)
framework - complement it with specific theory (e.g. conservation of reservation theory)
• Individual differences (e.g. gender and other psychological resources)
• Larger, multi-dimensional and multi-source sample
• Freedman et al. 2019
• Interventions which should be focusing on skills assistance for performing caregiving tasks to
avoid the risk of reduced wellbeing of elder caregivers
• Research on cregiving burden has mainly tended to focus on primary caregivers who are
spending a substantial amount of time for the caring purpose (e.g. nurses). There is also a
strong need for focusing on marginal caregivers
Research Gap / Rationale of the Study
• Halinski, Duxbury, and Stevenson (2019)
• Longitudinal study to “untangle” the complex “cause-effect relationship” between burden of care and
variations in employees’ behavior.
• Burch et al., 2018
• More research is required to investigate the impact of caregiving on employees’ workplace outcomes.
• Occupational health concerns (e.g. burnout)
• More comprehensive investigation of impact of EC burden on financial well-being
• personal characteristics (e.g. resilience) as a possible moderating mechanism
• Control Variable: Chronicity, proximity, gender
• Hobfoll et al., (2018)
• have pushed future researchers to apply resource theory to interventions and identified it as an area of
greatest nee
• Crain and Stevens 2018
• When individuals are trying to manage work and non-work related activities
• Identify family role outcomes (i.e. child, partner or eldercare outcomes)
• Work-related outcomes (e.g. burnout)
Research Questions
1. What is the impact of eldercare burden on job burnout?
2. Does job stress mediate the relationship between eldercare burden and job burnout?
3. Does psychological capital moderate the direct and indirect relationship between eldercare
burden and job burnout?
Research Objectives
• The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between eldercare burden and job
burnout.
• This objective is further divided into sub-objective by investigating relationship between four
dimensions of eldercare and job burnout.
• Many job stress factors have a significant impact on burnout Cui et al. (2018). The second objective of
the study is to look for mediating role of job stress among eldercare burden and job burnout
• This objective is also further explained into looking for mediating role of job stress between the
relation of four dimension of eldercare and job burnout.
• Individuals with higher levels of PsyCap may have reduced job stress and other job related negative
outcomes. May buffer the relationship between work-family conflicts and negative workplace behaviors
(Yardley, 2012).
• This leads us to our third core objective i.e. role of psychological capital as a moderator between
eldercare burden and job stress and job burnout.
• This objective have four sub-objectives i.e. moderation role of psychological capital with the four
dimensions of eldercare burden used for the study.
Significance / Contribution of the Study
• The current study significantly explores the relationship between eldercare burden and job
burnout among individuals with conflicting roles of informal caregiver and full time employees.
Impact of an individual’s personal psychological resources (i.e. PsyCap) that works as a coping
mechanism
• The research is basically looking to fill the information gap especially in the context of Pakistan as
very few studies have found on the topic under discussion.
• The reason for being such a limited studied phenomenon is its invisibility in the workplace (Caffo,
Greer, & Herlihy, 2016). Eldercare has been named as a “silent productivity killer” because it is
not openly discussed as compared to other issues (Bookman & Harrington, 2007; Calvano, 2013).
• Bohlmann and Zacher (2019) have called for future research to conceptually integrate this area of
research with some theoretical frameworks. They have forced for further research to be
conducted in stressor (eldercare burden) – strain (stress) – outcome (burnout) – support
(resources) framework and asked to complement it with specific theory (e.g. conservation of
reservation theory) to explicate the proposed association.
Significance / Contribution of the Study
• The literature on caregiving burden has mainly tended to focus on primary caregivers who are
spending a substantial amount of time for the caring purpose (e.g. nurses). There is also a strong
need for focusing on marginal caregivers as they are also at the risk of adverse outcomes due to
caregiving tasks (Freedman, Cornman, Carr, & Lucas, 2019a).
• Emploloyers have to pay huge hidden costs when employees’ domestic issues affect workplace
(Burch et al. 2018).
• As mentioned in introduction, employees as well as their organizations are on the receiving end
when they carry eldercare burden to workplace. This may result in low productivity, high
production costs, poor interpersonal relationships and this list goes on.
• The current study will help organizations to understand the relationship between one of the
significant issue i.e. eldercare burden and job burnout. It will also help both employees and
organizations to recognize how positive personal characteristics (PsyCap) play a significant role to
moderates the relationships between the two variables.
Conceptual Framework
Conceptual Framework
• COR theory - When employees perceive that their valuable resources are lost or under threat,
they feel stress and result in personal and job related outcomes.
• Eldercare burden - Actual or perceived threat to resources (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001).
• Resources and their shortage - lead towards stress - same resources help to cope with this stress
as well.
• The framework, based on COR theory proposes that the higher level of eldercare burden deplete
employees’ psychological and physiological resources and as a result employees feel stress (
Zacher et al., 2012).
• The depletion of resources may become more stressful when individuals are unable to gain more
resources or already lacking the resources. If this stressful situation sustains for a longer period
may lead employees to burnout.
• These conditions trigger a coping mechanism that pushes employees to fight to protect their
remaining resources (Wright & Hobfoll, 2004). This mechanism is basically based on the
employees’ personal characteristics (Psychological Capital) which play a buffering role
(moderating role) i.e. protecting them against the potential adverse effects of stressful life events
e.g. caregiving burden (Freedy & Hobfoll, 2017)
Literature Review
• Ageing transforms the way we understand ourselves and the world around us (Näre et al., 2017).
• This may include but not limited to adapting to a body change, added needs for caring, and even
labeling new identities e.g. “retiree” or “old person” (Horn et al., 2013). Theee “old persons”
group is the fastest-growing age group in both developed and developing countries (UNPD, 2011)
• An increase in the aged population triggers the need for resources to be allocated to social
especially health care systems (Mehta, 2005) and increases the demand for formal and informal
caregivers (Fine, 2007).
• Caregiving
• Schulz et al. (2004) have defined the caregiving as “...the provision of extraordinary care,
exceeding the bounds of what is normative or usual in family relationships”.
• It usually involves a significant expenditure of energy, time, and money over potentially
extended periods of time. One has to perform uncomfortable tasks.
• Informal caregivers are the persons (basically family members) who are caring those with
some disabilities, sickness or age-related issues. Usually with no health care education (
European Commission, 2012).
• It is an additional responsibility for many family members who are already involved with a
full-time job activity outside the home (Ireson, Sethi, & Williams, 2018).
Literature Review
• Eldercare/Caregiving Burden
• The burden have multiple meanings. It may either mean “that which is borne or carried” or
“that which is borne with labour or difficulty; that which is grievous, wearisome or
oppressive” (Webster's Dictionary, 1998).
• According to Shevell (2004), a burden is something which is “difficult responsibility”.
Synonyms include “duty” or “problem” or “load” as it conveys a reflection of shoulder bent
or oppression.
• Platt (1985) has defined the term as “….the presence of problems, difficulties or adverse
events which affect the life”. Burden may also be identified as a stressor that may lead to
physical or emotional strain or harm.
• For a family, caring for an elder is not only a new but challenging job as well (Islam et al.
2019). The literature has promoted the idea of perceived and observable costs of caregiving
burden by classifying it as objective and subjective domains (Hunt, 2003).
• Objective Burden - The observable, tangible, concrete cost of caregiving (Jones, 1996).
• Subjective burden - negative or positive feelings (Nijboer et al, 1999a).
Literature Review
• The current study is using four dimensions of caregiving burden
• Physical Burden - Tiredness, fatigue, exhaustion or lack of sleep
• Emotional Burden - Hopeless, helpless, worried, depressed, demoralized, or angry (Liepman
et al., 2014).
• Financial Burden - Insufficient resources to “pay for things that are required for caregiving”,
difficulty in paying for care receiver’s health services and overall feeling of financial strain.
• Social Burden - Compromise leisure hobbies and pursuits in addition to restricting time with
family and friends - Not able to participate in any activity and function in relatives, neighbors
or friends. - Even not able to talk to their loved ones – Social isolation
• Eldercare and Workplace
• Caregiver employees are the family members or others who are working in paid employment
and also responsible to provide assistance and care to someone with some
physical/impairment e.g. parents, spouse, friend, child or sibling (Ireson et al., 016).
• Regardless of the occupation or industries, these caregiver employees are found everywhere
(Yeandle et al 2006.).
 Literature Review
• Job Burnout
• Vague concept at its initial stages. identified as a significant problem experienced by the professionals
and mainly due to exposure to stress for longer period (Kutluturkan et al., 2016)
• Burnout is defined as “a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal
accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do ‘people work’ of some kind” (Maslach et al.,
1986). It is important to note that the burnout is a process which occurs gradually.
• Emotional Exhaustion
• Most apparent sign of burnout syndrome. (Maslach et al., 2001). The feelings of being “emotionally
overextended” and exhausting one’s “emotional resources” (Maslach, 1993).
• Depersonalization
• Exhaustion only mirrors the stress aspect of the burnout phenomenon. It is more than what you
experience as it leads to actions that may distance oneself from work both cognitively as well as
emotionally (Kipman et al., 2021).
• Inefficacy
• It is linked with “reduced personal accomplishment”. Some researchers have considered it as a function
of either depersonalization or emotional exhaustin or a combination of both. Symptoms may include
lack of satisfaction, feeling of incompetence and reduced productivity at work
Job Stress & Psychological Capital
• Job Stress
• Job stress refers to any characteristic in the job environment which poses a threat to the
employee. Job stress may be caused by 1) demands which the employee is unable to meet or
2) inadequate supplies to full his demands (Beehr & Newman, 1978).
• Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio (2007b) have defined the term psychological capital or PsyCap as “an
individual’s positive psychological state of development and is characterized by
• (1) having confidence (self-efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at
challenging tasks;
• (2) making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future;
• (3) persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to
succeed; and
• (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond
(resiliency) to attain success.”
Hypothesis Development
Eldercare Burden as a source of Job Burnout
• Any form of continuous caregiving may result in mental fatigue, exhaustion, stress, symptoms of
anxiety, depression and poor health (DePasquale et al., 2017).
• The job burnout has been regarded as a phenomenon that appears in the form of individuals
becoming insensitive to others because of the work they do, with the feelings of emotionally
exhausted, having no feelings of personal success and sufficiency (Yıldızhan et al., 2019).
• Caregiving provided by caregivers may be a major source of burden which ultimately leads to
burnout (Bährer-Kohler & Hemmeter, 2013). The caregiver may find it difficult to balance the role
of caregiver and other responsibilities of life (Towle et al., 2020). This leads to our first hypothesis
• H01: Eldercare burden positively predicts job burnout
• H01a: Physical burden linked to eldercare burden positively predicts job burnout.
• H01b: Emotional burden linked to eldercare burden positively predicts job burnout.
• H01c: Social burden linked to eldercare burden positively predicts job burnout
• H01d: Financial burden linked to eldercare burden positively predicts job burnout.
Hypotheses Development
Job Stress as Mediator
• Theories on stress claim that few roles or combination of roles may lead to stress. (Frone
, Yardley, & Markel, 1997).
• Usually for an adult, the roles of spouse, parent and employees are normative, strain associated
with each role may surge when the role of caregiver is added to existing roles. The scarcity of
resources due to multiple commitments associated with caregiving may lead to stress (Mui
& Morrow-Howell, 1993). If this stress does not handle properly, it may result in burnout.

• H02: Job stress mediates between eldercare burden and job burnout.
• H02a: Job stress mediates between physical burden of eldercare burden and job burnout.
• H02b: Job stress mediates between emotional burden of eldercare burden and job burnout
• H02c: Job stress mediates between social burden of eldercare burden and job burnout
• H02d: Job stress mediates between financial burden of eldercare burden and job burnout
Hypotheses Development
Psychological Capital as Moderator
• Luthans and his associates, explain PsyCap as a positive psychological state of development of an
individual (Luthans et al., 2008)
• Each element of the PsyCap has been identified to combat job stress and the negative impact that
can be created by job stress (Bandura, 2008; Snyder, 2000).
• Larson and Luthans (2006)“four constructs combined into a core construct;PsyCap may be a
stronger predictor than any one of the four individually”.
• This discussion guides us to following hypotheses:
• H03a: Psychological capital moderates the relationship between eldercare burden and job
stress such that the high level of psychological capital leads to a lower level of job stress.
• H03b:Psychological capital moderates the relationship between job stress and job burnout such
that the high level psychological capital leads to a lower level of job burnout
Conceptual Framework with Hypotheses
Research Methodology
Research Philosophy Positivist Paradigm
Research Approach Quantitative
Research Design Explanatory (Hypotheses Testing) / Predictive
Research Time Horizon Two-wave Multisource Longitudinal
T-1: Demographics, Eldercare Burden,
T-2: PsyCap, Job Stress, Job Burnout
Logic Deductive
Population Banking Sector & Health Sectors
Sample Size 5:1 respondents-to-measured item s ratio (Hair et al., 2009)
69 x 5 = 350 (approximately 350 to 450 respondents)
Unit of Analysis Individual Employee
Sampling Technique Convenience Sampling
Data Collection Method Survey (Self-administered)
Analysis Techniques Uni, Bi & Multi-Variate Analysis, Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive, Correlation/Regression Analysis, Mediation, Moderation Analysis, SEM
Tool for Analysis SPSS, AMOS, Conditional Process Technique
Measuring Instruments
Constructs No.of Items Source

Psychological Capital (PsyCap) 24 Luthans, Avolio, et al. (2007)

Job Stress measure 5 (Crank, Regoli, Hewitt, & Culbertson, 1995)

Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey 22 Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, and Jackson
(1996)

Physical Burden 4 Novak and Guest (1989)

Social Burden 5 Novak and Guest (1989)

Emotional Burden 5 Novak and Guest (1989)

Financial Burden 4
Stommel, Given, and Given (1990)
RESULTS
• Demographics
• Male 69%, Female 31%
• Banking Sector Employees 47%, Health Sector 53%
• Respondents aged 31 years and below 72%, 32 or above 28%
• Marital Status: Single 56%, Married and Others 44%
• Qualifications: Upto 16 years 56%, Above 16% 44%
• Providing Care To: Both Parents 63%, One of the Parents: 26%, Grand Parents and Siblings:
11%
• Duration of Care: Upto 3 years 56%, More than 3 years 44%
• Multivariate Outliers
• Mahalanobis D2 – No outlier detected
• Multicolinearity
• variance inflation factor (VIF) combined with tolerance statistics – shows no multicolinearity
Measurement Model and Its Evaluation
Measurement Model Evaluation
• Unidimensionality
• attained when all the measuring items have satisfactory factor loading for the particular
latent variable
• 13 items were deleted
• Scale Reliability
• Valiidty / Convergent Validity / Discriminant Validty
• Values adequately meet the established standards
Measurement Model Evaluation
• Absolute Fit Indices
• Value should be less than 3 – Satisfactorily met the criteria
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA)
• Value less than .08 – Successfully met the standard
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR)
• Value close to 0, not greater than .08 – Acceptable
• Comparative Fit Index
• Minimum acceptable valule 0.90 – Acceptable
• Incremental Fit Index
• 0.9 or above - Acceptable
• Tucker-Lewis Fit Index
• 0.9 or above – Satisfactory
• Parsimony Indeces – CFI / PCFI
• 0.8 or above - acceptable
Final Model
 Correlation Between Key Variables
Emotion
Eldercare Job Job Psychologic Physical Social al Financia
Variable Burden Burnout Stress al Capital Burden Burden Burden l Burden
Eldercare Burden 1
Job Burnout .217** 1
Job Stress .137* .273** 1
Psychological
Capital -.282** -.297** -.193** 1
Physical Burden .736** .172** .174** -.173** 1
Social Burden .804** .219** .063 -.191** .469** 1
Emotional
Burden .830** .180** .079 -.323** .369** .642** 1
Financial Burden .708** .093 .099 -.143** .400** .431** .454** 1
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Hypotheses Testing – Main Hypothesis
Model 1 Model 2

B SE (B) B SE (B)

Eldercare Burden predicting Job Burnout .238** .058 .176** .057

Physical Burden predicting Job Burnout .141** .044 .072** .043

Emotional Burden predicting Job Burnout .160** .048 .138** .046

Social Burden predicting Job Burnout .188** .045 .167** .044

Financial Burden predicting Job Burnout .076 .044 .037** .042

 Hypotheses Testing – Mediation Analysis
Effect SE L.C.L.I. U.C.L.I. p-Value

Eldercare Burden  Job Stress  Job Burnout (H02)

Indirect effect .0375 .0181 .0061 .0787 Sig

Physical Burden  Job Stress  Job Burnout (H02)

Indirect effect .0359 .0136 .0119 .0654 Sig

Emotional Burden  Job Stress  Job Burnout (H02)

Indirect effect .0183 .0144 -.0093 .0483 InSig

Social Burden  Job Stress  Job Burnout (H02)

Indirect effect .0140 .0132 -.0114 .0415 InSig

Financial Burden  Job Stress  Job Burnout (H02)

Hypotheses Testing – Moderation Analysis
Model 1 (Job Stress) Model 2 (Job Burnout)
B (SE) B (SE)
Organization Type .0167 (1149) .3945 ** (.0938)
Respondent’s Age -.0564 (.0687) -.1173 (0562)
Marital Status -.0017 (.0955) -.0146 (.0784)
Qualification -.0113 (.0595) -.0787 (.0485)
Providing Care To .1369* (.0582) .1073 (.0478)
Care Duration -.0825* (.0371) -.0154* (.0305)
Eldercare Burdeon .0426 (.0704) .1039 (0576)
Psychological Capital (PsyCap) -.2289 (.0670) -.1974** (.0546)
Eldercare Burden x PsyCap -.1710* (.0774)
Job Stress x PsyCap .0694 (.0563)
F-value 3.9344 ** 10.9520 **
R2 .0969 ..2497
Δ R2 .0134 .0035
Note: ** p<0.01, *p<0.05, B=Beta, SE=Standard Error
Moderation Analysis
2

1.5

1
Job Stress

Low PsyCap
0.5
High PsyCap

-0.5

-1
Low Eldercare Burden High Eldercare Burden
 Summary of Hypotheses Testing
Hypothesis Restatement DV (s) Status

H01 Eldercare burden positively predicts job burnout Job Burnout Accepted

H01a Physical burden positively predicts job burnout. Job Burnout Accepted

H01b: Emotional burden positively predicts job burnout. Job Burnout Accepted

H01c Social burden positively predicts job burnout. Job Burnout Accepted

H01d Financial burden positively predicts job burnout. Job Burnout Accepted

H02 Job stress mediates between eldercare burden and job burnout. Job Burnout Accepted

H02a Job stress mediates between physical burden and job burnout. Job Burnout Accepted

H02b Job stress mediates between emotional burden and job burnout. Job Burnout Rejected

H02c Job stress mediates between social burden and job burnout. Job Burnout Rejected

H02d Job stress mediates between financial burden and job burnout. Job Burnout Accepted
Psychological capital significantly moderates the relationship between eldercare burden and job
H03a stress such that increased psychological capital leads to a lower level of job stress. Job Stress Accepted
Psychological capital significantly moderates the relationship between job stress and job burnout
H such that increased psychological capital leads to a lower level of job burnout. Job burnout Rejected
DISCUSSION – Correlation Analysis
• Results are aligned with the findings of Sakka et al. (2016a) that the impact of extraordinary
demands may spill over the family as well as work roles.
• Kutner et al. (2009) have mentioned that family issues may be an important source of stress for
an individual.
• Job stress has the same kind of relationship with job burnout as increased stress results in higher
levels of job burnout.
• If continuous stress is not managed effectively, burnout is inevitable (Coakley, 1992;
Edwards, 2015; McShane & Von Glinow, 2004).
• Psychological Capital reversely correlates with all the three variables which indicates that higher
levels of psychological capital lower the impact of eldercare burden, job burnout, and job stress.
• Individuals with high levels of positive psychological capital are less likely to face burnout
DISCUSSION – Main / Mediation Analysis
• Eldercare Burden and Job Burnout
• It supports the claim that the impact of eldercare burden spills over the workplace.
• Aligned with the literature that working caregivers are most likely to be a victim of role
conflicts (e.g. eldercare and work role). (National Family Caregivers Association, 2011).
• Regression results also infer acceptance of hypotheses H01a, H01b, and H01c and H04a. Physical,
emotional, financial and social burdens significantly predict the job burnout. The higher
levels of all these burdens not only support the possibility of increasing job burnout and it
highly supports the literature (Angermeyer et al. 2006). The first objective achieved.
• Job Stress as Mediator
• Findings are aligned with existing literature Schjoedt (2020), Zaghini et al. (2020),
• The burnout establishes the concluding phase of a reaction process of stress (Borgogni &
Consiglio, 2005).
• It is further claimed that feeling a sense of powerlessness when you see others fighting with
disease and one has nothing much to do may lead to stress which ultimately result in
burnout (Wahlberg et al., 2016).
• The study findings satisfactorily infer that job stress significantly mediates the relationship
between the two variables. Hence, second objective achieved as well.
DISCUSSION – PsyCap as Moderator (Stage
1)
• The moderation effect of PsyCap between eldercare burden and job stress is fully aligned with the
literature available on the topic.
• It negatively moderates between eldercare burden and job stress as it proves that higher levels of
PsyCap lower the impact of eldercare burden on job stress.
• It works like a coping mechanism and plays a buffering role between the variables.
• Folkman and Lazarus (1984) argued that an individual suffers stress when one believes that the
available resources are insufficient to deal with unpleasant situations.
DISCUSSION – PsyCap as Moderator (Stage
2)
• The most unexpected inference of this study is that the PsyCap does not moderate the relationship
between job stress and job burnout.
• This means that psychological capital does not play any role in lowering the risks of conversion of stress
into burnout. Here psychological capital has failed to play a buffering role between job stress and job
burnout.
• Individuals use their resources when it is required to be used. The impact of a positive resource will
remain limited when an individual does not perceive a situation as stressful and need a resource Hobfoll
(2002) . As mentioned the average score of eldercare burden is below average, it may be concluded
that the respondents of this study may see stressful but they don’t perceive that it may lead to burnout.
• It also leads to the assumption that resources like psychological capital do not require by the
respondents to support them up. Therefore, the impact of PsyCap was not significant because the
respondents didn’t use psychological capital in the time when data was collected.
• Madden (2013) has concluded that even high or low levels of PsyCap do not have any impact on
individuals although they may experience high levels of role conflict.
• In another study it is revealed that when work-family conflict reaches to a certain level, psychological
capital does not have any buffering role (Tosunoğlu, 2021).
DISCUSSION – PsyCap as Moderator (Stage
2)
• French and Colleagues saw resources with respect to the degree of fit or lack of fit which is
determined by the demands and coping abilities. They mainly conceptualized the existence of
resources within an “ecological backdrop” in which a resource that is beneficial in one situation
might not be valued in another context. The resource fit model mainly explains why resources
have variable impacts in variable situations (French et al., 1982; French, Rogers, & Cobb, 1974)
• It further advances thinking regarding stress resistance and clarifies regarding the detrimental
impact of certain resources in some ecological contexts (Hobfoll, 2002).
• The influence of resources is casual when facing challenges during life (Holahan et. Al., 1999).
• Gollwitzer and Moskowitz (1996) suggested that the individuals prefer not to use cognitive
resources (e.g. psychological capital). These resources will only be consumed if the conditions
warrant that expenditure. This is a conceptualization that further induces the resources
diminishment and resource reserves notions. The idea of efficiently using cognitive resources that
are may be required for other cognitive tasks can also be applied to understand the “automaticity
of much of human behavior”. In this respect, many behaviors in the past found functional are
now automatic. Otherwise, cognitive energy used in original decision making would require to be
revisited in every instance and add to ongoing cognitive resource costs (Hobfoll, 2002)
 Theoretical Implications
• This study highlight the critical role of eldercare burden towards development of stress and burnout in
employees at workplace. As the COR Theory mainly stresses on the assumption that availability of resources
may prevent an individual to lose more resources as a buffering role is played by these resources.
• Study further enriches the theory with the claim that resources not valued in one situation, might be beneficial
in other context. These resources may have variable impact in variable situations.
• It further infers that the resources will not be consumed if the conditions do not warrant their expenditure. The
resources diminishing may not work all the time as cognitive resources work under “automaticity of human
behavior”.
• Additionally, this study suggests that resource losses may implicitly help understand how does job stress
evolves as a psychological reaction to the environment for the employees facing eldercare burden and process
through which it shapes into job burnout. The situation becomes stressful if employees are low on PsyCap.
• This study significantly contributes to the COR theory by following the most important trend of the theory as it
relates to “better understand how individuals allocate and conserve resources in the context of resource gains
and loss” (Hobfoll et al., 2018).
 Practical / Managerial Implications

• Managers may encourage their employees to share their family issues especially related to eldercare. This will
not only help employers to adopt strategies to take measures regarding employees’ well-being but employees
may feel less burdened as sharing may reduce the impact of a negative event.
• Organization may offer such policies that may increase employees’ capacity to manage work-family conflict as
they not only bring their hands but their hearts and heads to the workplace as well.
• State level policies should be introduced. There are two very important documents EU 2019 legislation and
2021-French legislation. A report published by European Union Commission may be used as a guiding source.
• Organizations should be looking for means to encourage personal strengths, such as PsyCap.
• Organizational recruitment and selection process may introduce some psychological tests to promote
candidates with higher levels of psychological capital.
• Managers can arrange short training interventions to develop PsyCap within employees.
• Managers are strongly recommended to introduce such policies which may help employees to balance their
work-life responsibilities.
 Limitations
• The findings offered by this study are conditional with respect to its limitations. The boundary conditions
enforced by the design of the current study proposes many openings for future research. Both independent
and dependent variables have been measured using self-reported perceptual data as it is the most dominant
practice used in the majority of the management research. The researcher has made substantial efforts during
construct validation as well as data collection to attain the highest possible level of data quality. Despite all
these measures taken by the researcher, one cannot totally rule out the possibility of self-reporting bias or
common method variance. Podsakoff, MacKenzie, & Podsakoff, 2012).
• Another limitation of this study is the generalization of the findings as data were collected from only banking
as well as health sectors.
• However, this dissertation has used two-wave panel data for testing hypothesis, it is recommended to use
three or more wave-data to draw conclusive causal implication (Ployhart & Vandenberg, 2010).
• Additionally, the same study may be conducted using experimental design through establishing a control
group.
• The present study was limited to look burnout as a holistic phenomenon. The individuals with burnout
syndrome may also be look for at what stage of the burnout they are current facing.
Suggestions for the Future Research
• There is a possibility of looking for other resources to test for the possible moderating effect
which may produce interesting results.
• Future researchers should collect data from other industries with the same research design as the
specific characteristics of one or two sectors may limit the generalizability of the finding.
• The present research does not apply the various stages respondents may test for these stages and
look for any differences according to these stages
• Personal resources may vary significantly, future research may explain the nature of personal
resources and stipulate their underlying mechanism before appraising their values to employees
facing adverse situations.
• This study has used only four dimensions of eldercare burden, future studies may add more
dimensions to it. Additionally, like most work-family research, this study has concentrated on the
negative impact of the caregiving. Providing eldercare may have positive impact as well, such as
evoking a sense of purpose, work enrichment, and strengthening the bond. as they increase
belonging, feelings of purpose and self-efficacy (Castro & Gordon, 2012; Kayaalp, Page, &
Rospenda, 2020).
• The data have collected using two time lags. It is recommended for the future researchers to
collect data using multiple time lags. The future research may also focus on longitudinal study in
eldercare domain.
 CONCLUSION
• A growing body of literature advocates that the impact of demands associated with eldercare negatively spills
over the workplace. However, the evidence that ‘how’ such demands negatively impact employees’ behavior at
the workplace remains limited and research has very much deficient regarding the impact of burden due to
eldercare at the workplace in terms of stress and ultimately burnout.
• The current study is guided by the gap in the literature that offers the findings contributing towards the existing
body of research by suggesting that employees feel burdened as eldercare demands exceed and become
stressed. This exposure gradually leads an employee to burnout.
• It is important to note that sometimes this relationship is not the same as mentioned as it does not happen to
everyone in the same way. The personal positive resources work as a buffer between negative events of life and
negative consequences. Although, this study has failed to prove this in terms of the relationship between job
stress and job burnout but it has proved that these resources play a moderating role between eldercare burden
and job stress. One may conclude that positive psychological resources (PsyCap) may not play the same role not
only for different personalities but also even the same personality with different contexts.
• It is further concluded that largely, the core objectives of this study have been achieved. The study has also
opened doors for future researchers to replicate the same research to investigate the contextual based
differences.
• Nevertheless, the study’s findings do propose that the impact of eldercare burden ultimately spills over the
workplace in terms of stress as well as burnout. This affects the employees personal as well as professional life.
Organizations should start giving importance to this ‘silent productivity killer’ if an effective, efficient and
productive workplace is desired.