Social Comparison, Perceived Control, and Occupational Burnout

Deux etudes transversales ont porte sur 72 officiers des douanes (recherche no. 1) et sur cent officiers de police (recherche no. 2) dans le but d’approfondir la relation entre la direction de la comparaison sociale et des variables comme le burnout, des plaintes relatives a la sante ou la satisfaction liee au travail. La comparaison sociale a ete mesuree par la frequence avec laquelle les sujets disaient se comparer avec des salaries mieux et moins bien lotis sur plusieurs dimensions professionnelles. On a mene des analyses de correlation plusieurs et de mediation pour mettre a l’epreuve deux hypotheses complementaires. Premierement, la comparaison ascendante etait supposee etre positivement liee au controle percu et a la satisfaction professionnelle, et negativement aux ennuis de sante et au burnout. Deuxiemement, le controle percu devait avoir un impact sur la relation entre la direction de la comparaison et des variables comme le burnout, les plaintes relatives a la sante ou la satisfaction liee au travail. Les resultats des deux etudes ont partiellement valide ces attentes et montre que seule la composante emotionnelle du burnout, l’epuisement emotionnel, etait affectee par la direction de la comparaison sociale et mediatisee par le controle percu. Two cross-sectional studies were conducted among 72 customs officers (Study 1) and 100 police officers (Study 2) to examine the relationship between the direction of social comparison and outcomes such as occupational burnout, health complaints, and job satisfaction. Social comparison was measured by the frequency at which participants reported that they compared themselves with better-off and worse-off employees on several work-related dimensions. Correlation and mediation analyses were conducted to test two complementary hypotheses. Firstly, upward comparison was expected to be positively related to perceived control and job satisfaction, and negatively related to health complaints and occupational burnout. Secondly, perceived control was expected to mediate the relationship between comparison direction and psychological outcomes such as burnout, health complaints, and job satisfaction. The results of both studies partially supported these predictions and showed that only the emotional component of burnout—emotional exhaustion—was affected by social comparison direction and mediated by perceived control.