An exploratory investigation into the moderating effect of academic resilience on the relationship between academic burnout and counterproductive academic behaviour

Abstract

Extant literature has yet to examine the relationship between academic burnout, counterproductive academic behaviour, and academic resilience. Drawing inspiration from parallel investigations in the workplace context, the present study first sought to explore whether academic burnout is associated with counterproductive academic behaviour, before further evaluating whether academic resilience moderates this relationship. The factor structure of Cassidy’s (2016) Academic Resilience Scale was also clarified to facilitate this analysis. Undergraduates (n = 201) self-reported their perceptions of academic burnout, engagement in counterproductive academic behaviour, and context-specific academic resilience tendencies. Results indicated: (1) the three-factor structure (i.e., perseverance, reflecting and adaptive help-seeking, negative affect and emotional response) best fit the Academic Resilience Scale for this dataset, (2) only two of academic burnout’s three facets – emotional exhaustion and cynicism (but not lack of academic efficacy) – were significantly and positively associated with counterproductive academic behaviour, and (3) there was no evidence of moderating effects concerning each aspect of academic resilience, on the relationships between each aspect of academic burnout and counterproductive academic behaviour. The education sector could look to capitalise on this study as a springboard for deepening theoretical knowledge of this under-researched area, through further replication and extension work. Moreover, the findings from this study could also be applied to bring about practical benefits by improving undergraduates’ mental wellbeing while preserving the integrity of educational institutions and the spirit of education.