ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Organ. Psychol.
Sec. Employee Well-being and Health
This article is part of the Research TopicNavigating Emotions at Work: Behavioral Consequences of Positivity and NegativityView all 4 articles
Intersectionality Burnout Inventory
Provisionally accepted
- William James College, Newton, United States
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Burnout research has emphasized generic job stressors while giving limited attention to how 10 intersectional identities and environmental context jointly shape burnout risk. This study 11 develops and validates the Intersectionality Burnout Inventory (IBI): A positively worded 12 instrument assessing burnout risk across factors of environment and purpose, intersectionality 13 and identity, and emotional capacity. An IRB-approved, four-phase design combined qualitative 14 and quantitative methods: Expert content validation (Phase I), focus groups emphasizing 15 intersectionality and environment (Phase II), dimensionality testing via parallel analysis and EFA 16 (Phase III; N = 340 MTurk employees), and CFA with construct validation (Phase IV; N = 227 17 employees at a U.S. health and well-being organization). EFA supported a three factor, 40 item 18 structure explaining 52.26% of variance. CFA indicated acceptable fit (RMSEA = .06; SRMR = 19 .07; CFI = .90; TLI = .87). After removing underperforming items, the final 31 item IBI showed 20 strong internal consistency (α = .89 overall; subscales α = .83–.90). Convergent and predictive 21 validity were supported: Negative correlations with the Maslach Burnout Inventory (r = −.64) 22 and the Burnout Assessment Tool (r = −.60), positive correlation with psychological well being 23 (r = .43), and negative correlation with turnover intentions (r = −.47), all p < .001. Participants 24 also reported that fully positive wording enhanced clarity and psychological safety. By 25 integrating intersectionality and environmental context with established burnout dimensions 26 consistent with Job Demands–Resources, Conservation of Resources, and stress-appraisal 27 perspectives the IBI offers a psychometrically sound, practically useful diagnostic for multilevel 28 burnout risk and targeted intervention.
Keywords: burnout, Intersectionality, cognitive-load, scale development, turnover, Well being
Received: 19 Sep 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Coppola, Tortez, Cooper and Heilman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Paul J. Coppola
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