Time to recover: The moderating role of psychological detachment in the link between perceptions of high-involvement work practices and burnout

This study investigated the impact of employee perceptions of high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) on employee burnout. It further tested the proposition that the recovery experience of psychological detachment would moderate the HIWPs – burnout link. The proposed model was tested among a sample of nurses and midwives (N = 1,135) in Ireland. The results showed that, as hypothesized, employees’ perceptions of HIWPs were associated with lower levels of burnout. Furthermore, psychological detachment moderated the relationship between HIWPs and burnout such that the negative HIWPs-burnout relationship was more pronounced for participants with high compared to low levels of psychological detachment. This study contributes to the HRM and occupational health psychology literature by taking a contingency perspective to understand when the positive effects of HIWPs can be enhanced or undermined.