The Big Five personality traits and burnout among Malaysian HR professionals: The mediating role of emotion regulation

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Malaysian HR professionals emotions regulation strategy mediates the relationship between their personality and burnout. To date few studies have examined such issues, especially among emerging Asian economies such as Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

A model linking the Big Five personality to emotions regulation (deep and surface acting (SA)) and burnout was tested using data from 136 employees from a large Malaysian financial institution.

Findings

Results indicate that the Big Five had different effects on burnout and emotion regulation. Only SA mediated the relationship between extroversion, emotional stability and openness on personal-related burnout and between extroversion and openness on work-related burnout.

Originality/value

The study represents one of the first attempts in the literature to explore how individual differences and emotions influence burnout among HR professionals. The study also addresses calls in the literature to further explore the role of emotions in the workplace in non-Western contexts.

Citation

Santos, A., Mustafa, M. and Chern, G.T. (2016), "The Big Five personality traits and burnout among Malaysian HR professionals: The mediating role of emotion regulation", Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 2-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJBA-09-2014-0106