The factorial validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey in representative samples of eight different occupational groups

The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) is designed to measure the three subdimensions (exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy) of burnout in a wide range of occupations. This article examines the factorial validity of the MBI-GS across eight different occupational groups in Norway: lawyers, physicians, nurses, teachers, church ministers, bus drivers, and people working within advertising and information technology (N = 5,024). Separate confirmatory factor analyses using LISREL showed that the hypothesized three-factor model had sufficient fit in all occupational groups except for the group of people working in advertising. In a multigroup analysis including all occupations but the latter one and in an analysis of all individuals combined into one sample, the three-factor model had a clearly better fit than the alternative one-factor and two-factor models. The results support that MBI-GS provides a suitable measurement to assess burnout across a diversity of professions.