Efficacy or inefficacy, that's the question: Burnout and work engagement, and their relationships with efficacy beliefs

We challenge traditional view that lack of efficacy - measured with the corresponding reversed efficacy scale (Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI) - is a burnout dimension. Instead, we claim that in addition to exhaustion and cynicism, in efficacy - measured with a newly developed scale - characterizes burnout. MBI-efficacy is apparently related to work engagement, considered as the positive antithesis of burnout. We performed Structural Equation Modeling in two samples of Spanish (n = 239) and Dutch (n = 235) university students, and two Spanish employee samples, working in various jobs (n = 342) and working with information and communication technologies (n = 283). Our expectations were largely confirmed: (1) compared with efficacy beliefs in efficacy beliefs relate more strongly to the other two burnout components; (2) the alternative three-factor burnout model including in efficacy fits better to the data than the traditional model including efficacy; (3) a model with in efficacy loading on burnout and efficacy loading on engagement fits the data. It is suggested that an in efficacy scale rather than a reversed efficacy scale should be used to assess burnout in future studies.