How is time perspective related to burnout and job satisfaction? A conservation of resources perspective

Abstract

Research on time perspective has not been reliably applied to organizational settings primarily because there have not been attempts to empirically and theoretically link time perspective to job attitudes. We utilized the framework of conservation of resources theory (COR) and assumed that time perspective is a valuable personal resource that buffers the adverse effects of burnout leading to more favorable job appraisals. Measures of time perspective, core self-evaluations, burnout and job satisfaction were collected from 135 bank employees. We replicated the indirect effect of core self-evaluations on job satisfaction through burnout and further showed that participants with a more balanced time perspective had lower burnout leading to higher job satisfaction. These results suggest the importance of time perspective in job attitudes and provide insights into enhancing human strengths from a positive psychology perspective. We argued for a connection between the COR and time perspective theories based on motivation and goal attainment processes and further discussed the implications of our findings.