On the Role of Passion for Work in Burnout: A Process
Model
Robert J. Vallerand,1 Yvan Paquet,2 Frederick L. Philippe,3and Julie Charest1
1

Université du Québec à Montréal2

Université de Reims
3

McGill University

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present research was to test a model on
the role of passion for work in professional burnout. This model posits thatobsessive passion produces conﬂict between work and other life activities because the person cannot let go of the work activity. Conversely, harmonious
passion is expected to prevent conﬂict while positively contributing to work
satisfaction. Finally, conﬂict is expected to contribute to burnout, whereas
work satisfaction should prevent its occurrence. This model was tested in 2
studies with nurses in 2 cultures. Using a cross-sectional design, Study 1(n 5 97) provided support for the model with nurses from France. In Study 2(n 5 258), a prospective design was used to further test the model with nurses
from the Province of Quebec over a 6-month period. Results provided support
for the model. Speciﬁcally, harmonious passion predicted an increase in work
satisfaction and a decrease in conﬂict. Conversely, obsessive passion predicted
an increase of conﬂict. In turn, work satisfaction and conﬂict predicted decreases and increases in burnout changes that took place over time. The results
have important implications for theory and research on passion as well asburnout.

Judy and Joan are nurses in the same department at the same hospital.
They both love their work. They read about it, spend extra time discussing new cases, and regularly go to workshops. Not only do they love
their work, but they also feel that nursing is an important part of theiridentity, of who they are deep down: They are nurses. They are pasCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Robert J. Vallerand,
Laboratoire de recherche sur le comportement social, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case Postale 8888, succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal QC H3C 3P8, Canada.
E-mail: vallerand.robert_j@uqam.ca.

Journal of Personality 78:1, February 2010r 2010, Copyright the Authors
Journal compilation r 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00616.x

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sionate about nursing; they just cannot get enough of it. Although Judyand Joan share some similarities regarding their strong engagement toward nursing, they nevertheless display some important differences. Judyfeels that nursing is the one thing in her life that she could not live without. When she goes home at the end of the day, she still thinks about
work. She just cannot let go of her work even when she knows sheshould be devoting time to her family and pursuing other interests. Overtime, her rigid engagement toward her work, where she just cannot let goof nursing, has created conﬂict between her work and her personal life.
This conﬂict has slowly started to eat at her. As a consequence, more
and more, she now feels emotionally drained at work. Conversely,
although she loves nursing, Joan has other interests in her life. Thus,
when her day is done at the hospital, she looks forward to the evening
activities with her husband and children as well as to her other personal
interests (she loves painting and reading). Consequently, her ﬂexible engagement toward work protects her from experiencing conﬂict between
her work and other life activities. Furthermore, a focus on other life activities allows her to replenish herself, to come in at work with a keen
spirit, and to experience satisfaction from her work. Such a senseof personal satisfaction at work, in turn, protects her from feelingemotionally exhausted.
Over the past 30 years, much research has been conducted on theconstruct of burnout. Although much research has focused on the roleof social factors in burnout (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001), suchresearch does not explain why, in the same environment, one individual is thriving whereas another one is experiencing burnout symptoms,
as in the preceding example. In line with researchers in the ﬁeld of
burnout (e.g., Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007),
we believe that in order to provide an answer to this question, wemust look at individual work-related attitudes. One factor that would
appear relevant pertains to passion (Vallerand et al., 2003). Indeed, as
can be seen in the above example, being passionate for one’s work canlead one to be consumed with one’s work, thereby leading to the experience of conﬂict with other life activities and eventually to sufferingfrom burnout. However, passion can also provide one with the energy
to fully engage in one’s work and to derive satisfaction from it whilestill fully pursuing other life interests that should protect one fromburnout. So it would appear that passion can either facilitate or prevent the occurrence of burnout at work. The purpose of the present
paper is to propose a resolution to this issue by reporting the results of

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291

two studies on passion for work in helping professions (nursing) using
the Dualistic Model of Passion.

The Dualistic Model of Passion

Recently, Vallerand and colleagues (Vallerand, 2008; Vallerand et al.,
2003; Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003; Vallerand & Miquelon, 2007) proposed a conceptual model of passion toward activities. In line with
Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000), the Passion Model posits that people experience the need to grow psychologically and develop a sense of self and identity (Ryan & Deci, 2003).
Vallerand et al. (2003) suggested that people will develop a passion
toward enjoyable activities that are internalized in identity. A passion isdeﬁned as a strong inclination toward a self-deﬁning activity that
individuals like (or even love), that they value (and thus ﬁnd important), and in which they invest time and energy (Vallerand et al., 2003).
The Dualistic Model of Passion further posits that two distinct typesof passion, obsessive and harmonious, develop as a result of the type ofinternalization process that takes place.
Obsessive passion results from a controlled internalization (see Deci
& Ryan, 2000; Sheldon, 2002; Vallerand, 1997, 2001; Vallerand &Ratelle, 2002) of the activity into one’s identity. Such an internalization
originates from intra- and/or interpersonal pressure either because certain contingencies are attached to the activity, such as feelings of social
acceptance or self-esteem, or because the sense of excitement derived
from activity engagement becomes uncontrollable. With obsessive passion, individuals come to develop ego-invested self-structures (Hodgins& Knee, 2002) and eventually display a rigid persistence toward theactivity. Thus, although individuals love the passionate activity, theyﬁnd themselves in the position of experiencing an internal uncontrollable urge to engage in the passionate activity, leading to a more rigid
and conﬂicted form of task engagement. Such pressured engagement
should prevent the person from fully focusing on the task at hand andmay interfere with the experience of positive affect and task satisfactionand even facilitate negative affect during task engagement. In addition,
because with obsessive passion an internal urge leads the person to engage in the activity even when he or she should not, he or she may
experience negative emotions once engagement in the passionate activity is terminated (e.g., guilt for having engaged in the activity when one

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Vallerand, Paquet, Philippe, et al.

should not have done so). In a similar vein, this internal urge to engage
in the passionate activity makes it very difﬁcult for the person to fully
disengage from thoughts about the activity, leading to conﬂict withother activities in the person’s life.
Harmonious passion, by contrast, results from an autonomousinternalization (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000) of the activity into the person’s identity. An autonomous internalization
occurs when individuals have freely accepted the activity as important for them without any contingencies attached to it. Harmonious
passion leads one to engage in the activity willingly and engenders asense of volition and personal endorsement about pursuing theactivity (Vallerand, Fortier, & Guay, 1997). Individuals do not feelcompelled to engage in the enjoyable activity; rather, they freely
choose to do so. With this type of passion, the activity occupies asigniﬁcant but not overpowering space in the person’s identity and isin harmony with other aspects of the person’s life. In other words,
with harmonious passion the authentic integrating self is at play
(Hodgins & Knee, 2002). Harmonious passion is thus hypothesized
to lead the person to engage in the task in a more ﬂexible mannerand thus to experience task engagement more fully. The person may
then better concentrate on the task and experience positive affect,
task satisfaction, and ﬂow (i.e., the feeling that one is immersed in
the activity; see Csikszentmihalyi, 1978) while engaging in the activity. Furthermore, because harmonious passion facilitates control of
the activity, it should contribute to the experience of positive affectand task satisfaction and minimize the experience of negative affectafter task engagement. It may even facilitate positive affect when the
person does not engage in the passionate activity and does somethingelse. In addition, such control over the activity should lead the person to display ﬂexible persistence toward the activity. The person canthen physically and mentally disengage from the passionate activity
when doing other activities, thereby allowing the person to replenish
him- or herself as well as preventing the experience of conﬂict withother activities (or people).
Organizational researchers have focused on concepts that would
appear related to that of passion such as affective engagement(Meyer & Allen, 1997), work engagement (Schaufeli & Bakker,
2004), and vigor (Shirom, 2004). Affective engagement is deﬁned
as an emotional attachment and a high implication toward theorganization (Meyer & Allen, 1997). Thus, a major distinction with

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293

the concept of passion is that one’s affective involvement is toward
the organization and not toward one’s work. Furthermore, Meyerand Allen do not indicate whether such engagement entails love forwork and time spent on it as is posited by the passion construct.
Work engagement (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli & Salanova,
2007) is seen by the authors as the opposite of burnout. Similarly,
vigor is seen as a core affect that is the opposite of burnout (Shirom,
2004). Thus, if work engagement (and vigor) is seen at the opposite
pole of burnout, and burnout is seen as resulting from one’s work
conditions and personal characteristics toward work, then engagement (and vigor) is best seen as a consequence and not as a typeof work engagement per se. Conversely, passion is seen as a type ofwork engagement and involvement that should trigger psychologicalprocesses that lead to burnout (or not). Furthermore, both types ofengagement (and vigor) do not distinguish between two types ofengagement as is proposed by the Dualistic Model of Passion (i.e.,
harmonious and obsessive passion). Thus, overall, although theabove constructs share some similarities with the concept of passion, there are also important distinctions.
Research conducted on the Dualistic Model of Passion has provided support for the model. For instance, results of exploratory andconﬁrmatory factor analyses have supported the validity and reliability of the two-factor Passion Scale (see Rousseau, Vallerand,
Ratelle, Mageau, & Provencher, 2002; Vallerand et al., 2003, Study
1; Vallerand, Rousseau, Grouzet, Dumais, & Grenier, 2006). In
addition, both types of passion have been found to correlate positively with measures of activity valuation, of perceptions of the task
as being a passionate activity, and of activity inclusion in the self.
Vallerand et al. (2003, Study 1) also found a positive relation between harmonious passion and measures of ﬂow and positive affectexperienced during task engagement (see also Mageau, Vallerand,
Rousseau, Ratelle, & Provencher, 2005), whereas obsessive passion
was positively related to negative affect (e.g., shame) and cognition(e.g., rumination) after engagement with the activity and when one isprevented from engaging in the activity altogether.
Additional research has also shown that harmonious passion isassociated with general positive affect and subjective well-being,
whereas obsessive passion is associated with general negative affectand is either unrelated or negatively related to subjective well-being(Rousseau & Vallerand, 2003, 2008; Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003;

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Vallerand et al., 2003, Study 2; Vallerand, Mageau, et al., 2008,
Study 2; Vallerand et al., 2006; Vallerand et al., 2007, Studies 1
and 2). Obsessive passion also predicts highly persistent behavior
in passionate activities that may be ill advised for the person suchas winter cycling over icy roads in Quebec (Vallerand et al., 2003,
Study 3), persisting in dancing while injured, leading to chronic
injuries in ballet dancers (Rip, Fortin, & Vallerand, 2006), as wellas heavy involvement in gambling activities (Rousseau et al., 2002)
that may be conducive to pathological gambling (Philippe & Vallerand, 2007; Ratelle, Vallerand, Mageau, Rousseau, & Provencher,
2004; Vallerand et al., 2003, Study 4). Obsessive passion has beenfound to be positively related to conﬂict with other life activities(Vallerand et al., 2003, Study 1; Vallerand, Ntoumanis, et al., 2008,
Study 3). Such conﬂict has been found to have negative repercussions on marital adjustment (Séguin-Lévesque, Laliberté, Pelletier,Blanchard, & Vallerand, 2003; Vallerand, Ntoumanis, et al., 2008,
Study 3). Finally, harmonious passion has been shown to be either
unrelated or negatively related to conﬂict and the above negative
outcomes (see Vallerand, 2008, in press, for a reviews).
The Present Research

The purpose of the present research was to propose and test a modelon the role of passion for work in burnout. This model posits
that passion is a distal predictor of burnout that sets things inmotion by triggering a causal sequence wherein psychologicalmediators (work satisfaction and conﬂict) are activated. Then, inturn, these mediators lead to the experience of burnout. Speciﬁcally,obsessive passion positively predicts conﬂict between work and otherlife activities, whereas harmonious passion is expected to negatively
predict conﬂict. In addition, harmonious passion is expected topositively predict work satisfaction, whereas obsessive passion is expected to be unrelated to it. Finally, conﬂict is expected to contributeto burnout, whereas work satisfaction should prevent its occurrence.
This is because, with obsessive passion, one displays rigid persistence
toward work and cannot let go of one’s work involvement. This is
expected to lead to conﬂict between work and other life activities andconsequently to burnout. Furthermore, with obsessive passion, one
cannot fully immerse in the activity, and thus little work satisfaction
should be experienced. Conversely, harmonious passion allows one

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295

to totally immerse oneself in the activity and to derive task satisfaction. Furthermore, because with harmonious passion, one maintains
control over the passionate activity, one can physically and mentallydisengage from the work activity when needed. One is thus protectedfrom the experience of conﬂict between work and other life activities,
from the experience of mental and emotional staleness, and consequently from burnout.
The proposed model is in line with past research. For instance, arecent study by Carbonneau, Vallerand, Frenette, and Guay (2008)
with over 490 experienced teachers has shown that whereas obsessive
passion for work was positively associated with burnout, harmonious passion was negatively related to it. Furthermore, other research
has shown that obsessive passion positively predicts conﬂict between
the passionate activity and other life activities (e.g., Séguin-Lévesqueet al., 2003; Vallerand et al., 2003, Study 1; Vallerand, Ntoumanis,
et al., 2008, Study 3) but is unrelated to task satisfaction (Vallerand& Houlfort, 2003). On the other hand, harmonious passion has beenfound to be positively related to task satisfaction (Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003; Vallerand et al., 2006, Studies 2 and 3) but to be either
unrelated or negatively related to conﬂict between the task and otheractivities (Vallerand et al., 2003, Study 1; Vallerand, Ntoumanis,
et al., 2008, Studies 1 and 3). Finally, past research on burnout has
systematically shown that there is a positive relationship between
work–family conﬂict and burnout (e.g., Demerouti, Bakker, &Schaufeli, 2005; Peeters, Montgomery, Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2005;
Piko, 2006). Thus, the more one experiences work–family conﬂict,
the more one is likely to experiences burnout. On the other hand, anegative relationship between work satisfaction and burnout has
been systematically obtained (e.g., Kalliath & Morris, 2002; Piko,
2006; Thomsen, Soares, Nolan, Dallender, & Arnetz, 1999).
As was seen above, much support exists for the different parts ofthe proposed model. However, no study has tested the integrativemodel of passion and burnout as a whole. This was the main purposeof the present research. In the present research, the proposed model
was tested in two studies with nurses, as past research has shown thispopulation to suffer from burnout symptoms (Maslach et al., 2001).
The second purpose of the present research was to chart the role ofthe model variables to predict changes in burnout over time. Thus,
whereas Study 1 was cross-sectional in nature, Study 2 followed
the evolution of burnout over a 6-month period. We believe that the296

Vallerand, Paquet, Philippe, et al.

present research should provide an important contribution to boththe burnout and passion literatures. With respect to burnout, thepresent research should yield important information with respect toan integrative model of burnout wherein a personal characteristic(harmonious and obsessive passion) predicts the occurrence of acontributing (conﬂict) and a protective (work satisfaction) factor of
burnout. Such a model leads to better knowledge of the conditions
that inﬂuence burnout and the type of interventions that may
prevent it. In addition, this model builds upon the recent work on
passion and more speciﬁcally that of Carbonneau et al. (2008) on
passion and burnout by providing crucial information on the differential effects of harmonious and obsessive passion on the mediating
psychological processes (work conﬂict and satisfaction) leading toincreases or decreases in burnout (see Vallerand, 2008). As such, it
paves the way to future research in other contexts (e.g., sports,
relationships) where conﬂict and satisfaction may serve as mediatorsof other outcomes.

STUDY 1The purpose of Study 1 was to test the proposed model using a crosssectional design with experienced nurses in France. It was positedthat obsessive passion would positively predict conﬂict between
work and other life activities, whereas harmonious passion was
expected to negatively predict conﬂict. On the other hand, harmonious passion was expected to positively predict work satisfaction,
whereas obsessive passion was predicted to be unrelated to it.
Finally, conﬂict and work satisfaction were expected to positively
and negatively predict burnout, respectively.
MethodParticipants
A total of 97 nurses took part in the study. They were all working in
French hospitals in France. Most of them were female nurses (90 women,
6 men, and 1 missing value) and were aged between 21 and 57 years(M 5 34.07 years, SD 5 9.95 years). They were working, on average,
34.15 hr per week (SD 5 4.16 hr) and had been working as nurses for an
average of 11.21 years (SD 5 10.12 years).

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297

Measures
The Passion Scale. The Passion Scale (Vallerand et al., 2003) is composed of two subscales of six items each, assessing harmonious (HP) andobsessive (OP) passion. Each item is responded to on a 7-point Likert
scale ranging from 1 (do not agree at all) to 7 (completely agree). A sample
item for OP is ‘‘I have difﬁculties controlling my urge to do my work,’’
and a sample item for HP is ‘‘My work is in harmony with other activities
in my life.’’ Results from exploratory and conﬁrmatory factor analyses
have provided strong support for the bifactorial structure of the scale in a
number of life contexts, including sports (Vallerand et al., 2006, Study 1),
gambling (Castelda, Mattson, MacKillop, Anderson, & Donovick, 2007;
Rousseau et al., 2002), and work (Carbonneau et al., 2008; Vallerand &Houlfort, 2003). Furthermore, internal consistency analyses supported
the reliability of the scale.
Alpha coefﬁcients in this study were .72 for each of the two subscales.
Participants were also asked to complete four items corresponding toVallerand and colleagues’ (2003) passion criteria. These four items assessed nurses’ love of nursing, time involvement in nursing, the importance of nursing, and if nursing is a passion for them (a 5 .70). A meanscore of 4 and up on these four items reveals at least a moderate level ofpassion for nursing (see Vallerand et al., 2003). Using this criterion, 88%of the participants reported to be passionate toward nursing.1
Work satisfaction. The Satisfaction at Work Scale (SAWS) was derived
from the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS: Diener, Emmons, Larsen,& Grifﬁn, 1985). The SAWS contains ﬁve items responded to on a 7-point
Likert scale (1 5 do not agree at all, 7 5 completely agree) and assesses
work satisfaction. A sample item is ‘‘I am satisﬁed with my work.’’ It has
been used with success in past research (Richer, Blanchard, & Vallerand,2002). In the present study, a principal component analysis yielded one
factor accounting for 51% of the variance, with factor loadings ranging
from .59 to .80. The alpha coefﬁcient in this study was .76.
Conﬂict. Conﬂict with other life spheres was assessed with ﬁve items
measuring the extent to which participants’ work of nursing conﬂictedwith other important activities in their life. A sample item is ‘‘My work as
a nurse conﬂicts with the other activities in my life.’’ In the present study,a principal component analysis yielded one factor accounting for 60% of
1. Results for the proposed model were exactly the same with and without theparticipants who indicated being less than moderately passionate toward nursing.
Thus, all participants were kept in the analyses.

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Vallerand, Paquet, Philippe, et al.

the variance, with factor loadings ranging from .55 to .92. The alpha coefﬁcient in this study was .76.
Burnout. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (BMI; Maslach, Jackson, &Leiter, 1996) was used to measure burnout in nurses. In its original form,
this scale is composed of 22 items assessing burnout with three subscales
tapping emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment. In this study, only the emotional exhaustion subscale was used, as it has been shown to be the best indicator of burnout(e.g., Gorter, Albrecht, Hoogstraten, & Eijkman, 1999; Piko, 2006;
Schaufeli & Van Dierendonck, 1993). In line with past research (Gorter
et al., 1999; Schaufeli & Van Dierendonck, 1993), one item from theemotional exhaustion subscale was deleted because it has been shown tobetter load on the other factors of the scale. The ﬁnal scale we used wasthus composed of eight items. A principal component analysis yielded one
factor accounting for 52% of the variance, with factor loadings ranging
from .51 to .82. The alpha coefﬁcient in this study was .86.

Procedure
Nurses were contacted through hospital unit managers or directors.
Participants were told that the purpose of the study was to learn
more about nursing. It was also mentioned that participation was
voluntary and anonymous and that all responses would remain conﬁdential—they would never be sent to their manager, director, or toanyone in the hospital. Indeed, nurses were asked to hand in theircompleted questionnaire in a sealed envelope. When completing thequestionnaire package, participants were ﬁrst asked to indicate theirage, gender, the number of hours per week they were working on
average, and the number of years of experience they had in nursing.
They were then asked to complete the scales presented above.
Results and Discussion

Table 1 reports the means, standard deviations, and correlations of
all study variables. To test the proposed model, a path analysis was
conducted with LISREL 8 ( Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2003). The model
was composed of two exogenous variables (HP and OP) and three
endogenous variables (work satisfaction, conﬂict, and burnout). The
covariance matrix served as the database for the path analysis, andthe method of estimation was maximum likelihood. Paths weredrawn according to the proposed model. In addition, a positive co-299

On Passion and Burnout

Table 1Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations of the Model Variables:
Study 1

Harmonious passion (1)Obsessive passion (2)Satisfaction at work (3)Conﬂict (4)Burnout (5)

Mean

SD

1

2

3

4

4.57
1.88
4.09
3.38
2.62

0.93
0.91
0.97
1.41
0.59

–
.35nnn.50nnn.07
 .31nn–.14.44nnn.02–
 .01
 .41nnn–.24nNote: n 5 97.
npo.05, nnpo.01, nnnpo.001

variance was estimated between the two exogenous variables (seeKline, 2005). Results of the path analysis revealed an excellent ﬁt to
the data. The chi-square value was nonsigniﬁcant, w2 (df 5 4,
N 5 97) 5 4.50, p 5 .48, and other ﬁt indices were excellent: nonnormed ﬁt index (NNFI) 5 1.00, comparative ﬁt index (CFI) 5 1.00,
root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA) 5 .00 [.00,.14], goodness-of-ﬁt index (GFI) 5 .98, standardized root meansquare (SRMR) 5 .054, and normed ﬁt index (NFI) 5 .95.2 As
shown in Figure 1, all estimated paths were signiﬁcant at least atpo.05, except for the path between HP and conﬂict, which had astandardized coefﬁcient of  .12. Inspection of the correlation
residuals revealed that all were nonsigniﬁcant, indicating that additional paths would not be signiﬁcant and would not improve themodel ﬁts (Kline, 2005). Sobel tests were then conducted to conﬁrm
the signiﬁcance of the two mediations between passion and burnout.
The mediation of satisfaction at work between HP and burnout
proved to be highly signiﬁcant, z 5 3.53, po.001. Furthermore, themediation of conﬂict between OP and burnout also showed to besigniﬁcant, z 5 2.28, po.05. These results thus conﬁrmed the signiﬁcance of both mediations. Finally, two alternative models were
tested. The ﬁrst alternative model positioned burnout as a mediator
between HP and satisfaction at work (HP ! burnout ! satisfaction at work) and between OP and conﬂict (OP ! burnout !
2. There were no gender differences on all study variables. In addition, controlling for nurses’ age, number of years of experience, and number of hours worked
per week did not affect the results.

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Vallerand, Paquet, Philippe, et al.

Figure 1

Path analytic model of the relationships among passion, satisfaction
at work, conflict and burnout. Standardized path coefficients arepresented. nnnpo.001

conﬂict). Results of this alternative model revealed poor ﬁt indices,
w2 (df 5 4, n 5 97) 5 40.61, po.00001, RMSEA 5 .28. The second
alternative model posited that passion was a mediator between conﬂict and satisfaction at work and burnout (conﬂict and satisfaction
at work ! passion [HP and OP] ! burnout). This alternativemodel also yielded poor ﬁt indices, w2 (df 5 4, N 5 97) 5 40.61,
po.00001, RMSEA 5 .23. Overall, the results from alternative models suggest that the original model should be preferred.
In sum, as predicted, OP positively predicted conﬂict that was, inturn, positively associated with burnout. In addition, as expected,
HP was negatively related to conﬂict (although it was not statisticallysigniﬁcant). Finally, HP positively predicted satisfaction at workthat was, in turn, negatively associated to burnout. Thus, overall, thepresent ﬁndings provided preliminary support for the role of passion
in burnout. They also highlighted the psychological processes thatappear to be at play in these relationships. Indeed, conﬂict and work
satisfaction proved to be strong mediators of the relationship between passion and burnout, with the former playing a facilitativerole and the latter a protective role in burnout.

STUDY 2

Results of Study 1 provided preliminary support for the proposedmodel. However, one limit of this study was the use of a cross-sec-

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On Passion and Burnout

tional design. Such a design makes it impossible to chart the prospective evolution of change in the model variables. Study 2 aimed at
examining this issue. Thus, the purpose of Study 2 was to replicate
the results of Study 1 using a prospective design. Nurses were thus
contacted at Time 1 and completed scales assessing passion for
nursing, work satisfaction, conﬂict, and burnout. They were contacted a second time, 6 months later, and the same measures wereassessed again except for passion. For external validity purposes, themodel was tested with nurses from a different country, namely,
French-Canadian nurses from the Province of Quebec, Canada. It
was hypothesized that obsessive passion would lead to increases in
conﬂict over a 6-month period that would, in turn, be conducive toincreases in burnout 6 months later. Conversely, harmonious passion was expected to lead to increases in work satisfaction over a
6-month period that would, in turn, be negatively associated withincreases in burnout 6 months later. Finally, harmonious passion
was expected to negatively predict increases in conﬂict.

MethodParticipants
A total of 258 nurses took part in the study. They were all working in
French-Canadian hospitals in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Most ofthem were female nurses (236 women, 22 men) and were aged between 27
and 60 years old (M 5 45.53 years, SD 5 7.50 years). They had beenworking as nurses for an average of 10.11 years (SD 5 8.19 years). Using
the same criteria as in Study 1, 69% of the participants reported to bepassionate toward nursing.3
Measures
The measures used in Study 2 were the same as those used in Study 1 (thePassion Scale, the Satisfaction at Work Scale, the Conﬂict Scale, and theMaslach Burnout Inventory—emotional exhaustion subscale). All scales
showed adequate levels of reliability (see Table 2 for the alpha coefﬁcientsof each scale at Times 1 and 2).
3. The alpha coefﬁcient for the four items assessing the passion criteria was .74.
Results for the proposed model were exactly the same with and without the participants who indicated being less than moderately passionate for their work as anurse. Thus, all participants were kept in the analyses.

Note: n 5 258.
npo.05, nnpo.01, nnnpo.001

Harmonious passion Time 1 (1)Obsessive passion Time 1 (2)Satisfaction at work Time 1 (3)Conﬂict Time 1 (4)Burnout Time 1 (5)Satisfaction at work Time 2 (6)Conﬂict Time 2 (7)Burnout Time 2 (8)

4.46
1.88
4.06
2.35
2.63
3.89
2.32
2.67

Mean
1.09
0.77
1.16
1.10
1.43
1.18
0.99
1.37

SD
.86
.71
.88
.80
.93
.87
.75
.93

Alpha
–
.19nn
.61nnn .17nn .43nnn.58nnn .18nn .41nnn

1–.05.35nnn.11.08.29nnn.13n2–
 .15n .59nnn.67nnn .18nn .50nnn

3–.28nnn .14n.66nnn.26nnn4–
 .43nnn.28nnn.75nnn5

Table 2Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations of the Model Variables: Study 2–
 .21nn .56nnn

6–.33nnn7

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303

Procedure
A total of 2,000 questionnaires with prestamped return envelopes were sent
to the Fédération des Inﬁrmières et Inﬁrmiers du Québec (FIIQ), a provincial nurses’ union in the Province of Quebec, Canada. The FIIQ then selected from their registering base a random sample of 2,000 nurses working
in French-Canadian hospitals in the Province of Quebec. Each selected nurse
received by mail a questionnaire along with a letter explaining the general
purpose of the study. Participants were told that the aim of this study was tolearn more about nursing. They were assured that they were free to participate or not in the study and that their answers would remain conﬁdential,
anonymous, and would not be sent to the FIIQ or to the hospital where they
were working. The questionnaire ﬁrst asked participants to report their age,gender, and the number of years of experience they had in nursing. Participants then completed the scales presented above. In all, 652 nurses returned
their questionnaire fully completed at Time 1 for a response rate of 33%.
The second assessment took place 6 months later. The FIIQ then sent a newquestionnaire package to the 2,000 nurses who had been randomly selectedat Time 1. It was again mentioned that participation was voluntary andanonymous. Nurses were then asked to complete a second time the Satisfaction at Work Scale, the Conﬂict Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Overall, a total of 258 participants completed the questionnaire at bothphases of the study, for a response rate of 40% between the Times 1 and 2.4
4. We examined whether participants who only completed the questionnaire atTime 1 differed from those who took part in both phases of the study. Resultsfrom a MANOVA (with all study variables at Time 1 as dependent variables,
including age and years of experience) indicated that participants differed on two
variables, F(5, 258) 5 3.28, po.01, Z2 5 .025. Nurses who only completed thequestionnaire at Time 1 were more obsessively passionate for their work
(M 5 2.04, SD 5 0.087) compared to those who participated at Times 1 and 2(M 5 1.88, SD 5 0.77), F(1, 258) 5 5.21, po.05, Z2 5 .008. These former nurses
also reported a higher level of conﬂict (M 5 2.63, SD 5 2.35) than the nurses whocompleted both phases of the study (M 5 2.35, SD 5 1.10), F(1, 258) 5 7.98,
po.01, Z2 5 .012. Finally, attrition rate did not differ as a function of gender or
education (all w2 were nonsigniﬁcant). It should be noted that the effect sizes ofthese differences were quite small, accounting together for only 2% of the variance(Cohen, 1988). Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that these slight differences
should not affect the present results in a signiﬁcant manner. To ensure that attrition had not signiﬁcantly affected results of Study 2, we conducted the same
path analysis of Study 1 with only the Time 1 variables of Study 2, including all
participants who completed the Time 1 measures (n 5 652). This path analysis wasconstrained to be equal across the group of participants who only completed Time1 (n 5 394) and the group of participants who completed both Times 1 and 2(n 5 258). The model with the parameter estimates constrained to be equal across304

Vallerand, Paquet, Philippe, et al.

Results and Discussion

Table 2 reports the means, standard deviations, and correlations of
all study variables. To test the proposed model, a path analysis was
conducted with LISREL 8 ( Jöreskog & Sörborm, 2003). The model
was composed of ﬁve exogenous variables (HP and OP, controllingfor satisfaction at work, conﬂict, and burnout as assessed at Time 1)
and three endogenous variables (satisfaction at work, conﬂict, andburnout as assessed at Time 2). The covariance matrix served as the
database for the path analysis and the method of estimation was
maximum likelihood. Paths were drawn according to the proposedmodel. In addition, a positive covariance was estimated among all
exogenous variables.
Results of the path analysis revealed an excellent ﬁt to the data. The
chi-square value was nonsigniﬁcant, w2 (df 5 10, n 5 258) 5 12.09,
p 5 .29, and other ﬁt indices were excellent, NNFI 5 .995,
CFI 5 .998, RMSEA 5 .029 [.00, .06], GFI 5 .99, SRMR 5 .026, and
NFI 5 .99.5 As shown in Figure 2, all estimated paths were signiﬁcantat least at po.05, including the path between HP and conﬂict at Time
2. Inspection of the correlation residuals revealed that all were nonsigniﬁcant, indicating that additional paths would not be signiﬁcant
and would not improve the model ﬁts (Kline, 2005). Sobel tests werethen conducted to conﬁrm the signiﬁcance of the three mediations between passion and burnout. The mediation of the increases in satisfaction at work between HP and changes in burnout proved to behighly signiﬁcant, z 5 3.93, po.0001. Furthermore, the mediation of
the increases in conﬂict between OP and increases in burnout was alsosigniﬁcant, z 5 1.96, p 5 .05. These results thus conﬁrmed the signiﬁthe two groups perfectly replicated Study 1 results and ﬁt adequately the data, w2(df 5 16, n 5 652) 5 36.50, po.001, NNFI 5 .97, NFI 5 .96, CFI 5 .98,
RMSEA 5 .064, GFI 5 .98, SRMR 5 .066. In addition, all correlation residuals
were nonsigniﬁcant. Finally, this constrained path analysis did not differ from themodel with no parameter constraint between the groups, Dw2 (5) 5 6.73, p 5 .24,
thus suggesting that the path analysis was virtually the same between participants
who completed both Times 1 and 2 questionnaires and those who completed onlythat of Time 1.
5. There were no gender differences on all study variables. In addition, the number of years of experience was unrelated to all study variables. Age was negatively
associated with conﬂict at Time 1 (r 5  .13, po.05). However, controlling fornurses’ age, years of experience, and number of hours worked per week in themodel did not affect the results.

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On Passion and Burnout

Figure 2

Path analytic model of the prospective relationships among passion,
satisfaction at work, conflict and burnout. Standardized path coefficients are presented. Covariances between exogenous variables are
not shown for clarity. The reader is referred to Table 2 to this effect.
npo.05, nnpo.01, nnnpo.001.

cance of both mediations. Finally, we examined if the mediation of theincreases in conﬂict between HP and burnout was signiﬁcant. A Sobel
TEST revealed that this mediation was only marginally signiﬁcant,z 5 1.79, p 5 .07.
We also tested the only alternative model possible in light of theprospective design. This model posits that burnout is a mediator between HP and satisfaction at work and between OP and conﬂict. Results of this alternative model revealed poor ﬁt indices, w2 (df 5 11,
n 5 258) 5 36.87, po.0002, RMSEA 5 .098 [.064, .13]. In addition, the
Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) used to compare nonhierarchicalmodels (see Kline, 2005) was higher for this alternative model

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Vallerand, Paquet, Philippe, et al.

(AICA 5 86.88) than for the proposed model (AICO 5 64.09). Together, these additional results reveal that the proposed model should
be preferred.
GENERAL DISCUSSION

The main purpose of the present research was to propose and test amodel on the role of passion in burnout. This model posits that obsessive passion facilitates burnout whereas harmonious passion prevents its occurrence through their differential relationships withwork satisfaction and conﬂict between work and other life activities. Speciﬁcally, the model posits that obsessive passion positively
predicts conﬂict between work and other life activities, whereas harmonious passion negatively predicts it. On the other hand, harmonious passion is expected to positively predict work satisfaction,
whereas obsessive passion is hypothesized to be unrelated to it. Finally, conﬂict and work satisfaction are expected to positively andnegatively predict burnout, respectively. This model was supported
in two studies, including a 6-month prospective study, with nurses
from two countries. These ﬁndings lead to two major implications.
A ﬁrst implication is that the present ﬁndings underscore the factthat the type of passion that one has for an activity that he or she
engages in on a regular basis (such as work) matters greatly with respect to burnout. These ﬁndings suggest that engagement for one’s
work is not simply a matter of quantity (or high vs. low engagement).
Rather, the type (or quality) of engagement one holds toward work
also matters greatly, as obsessive passion was found to promote burnout and harmonious passion to prevent it, even after controlling for thenumber of hours worked. These ﬁndings are in line with research by
Carbonneau et al. (2008), who have shown that whereas obsessive
passion is positively related to burnout, harmonious passion prevents
its occurrence. Furthermore, the present ﬁndings are also in accord
with past research on passion with a variety of activities that has shownthat harmonious passion typically predicts adaptive outcomes, whereas
obsessive passion typically leads to less adaptive outcomes and at times
clearly maladaptive ones (Ratelle et al., 2004; Séguin-Lévesque et al.,
2003; Vallerand, Mageau, et al., 2008; Vallerand et al., 2003; see also
Vallerand, 2008, in press, for reviews).
The second major implication of the present research is that it
appears that some of the psychological processes that promote as

On Passion and Burnout

307

well as prevent the occurrence of burnout have been uncovered.
Speciﬁcally, in two studies it was found that obsessive passion facilitated the experience of burnout through two processes. First, obsessive passion contributed to burnout through its relationship with
conﬂict between one’s work and other life activities. Second, obsessive passion also has been found to be unrelated to work satisfaction,
which can serve as an antidote to burnout. Thus, it would appear
that rigid engagement toward one’s work induced by obsessive passion prevents one from experiencing any work satisfaction and, on
top of that, leads to conﬂict between work and other life activities.
Thus, affective rewards from one’s work are no longer forthcoming
and the person cannot disengage from the work commitment because of the rigid engagement toward it. As a result, the person
comes to experience burnout. Years ago, burnout researchers suggested that because of one’s passion, people remained strongly engaged in their work, could not disengage from it, and under harshconditions, would come to experience burnout (see Maslach et al.,2001). The present ﬁndings suggest that such an analysis applies only
to obsessive passion and not to harmonious passion. Thus, the typeof passion one holds toward work matters greatly.
Conversely, the present ﬁndings reveal that with harmonious passion, instead of experiencing burnout, people actually come to thrive atwork. Speciﬁcally, harmonious passion was found to prevent burnout
through its positive and negative relationship with work satisfaction
and conﬂict, respectively. Thus, because harmonious passion leads to amore ﬂexible task engagement, one can enjoy one’s experience at workand derive satisfaction from it. Furthermore, such a ﬂexible engagement allows one to let go of work at the end of the day. Thus, rather
than experiencing conﬂict between work and life activities, one canthen fully enjoy life outside of work and return to work refreshed thenext day. These two elements (work satisfaction and the prevention of
conﬂict) promote the prevention of burnout. It should be noted, however, that the role of harmonious passion in the prevention of work
conﬂict was not particularly strong. In fact, it was the weakest link in
the integrative model. Future research is needed in order to more
ﬁrmly establish the validity of this path.
These overall ﬁndings are in line with the literature on the relationship between the two types of passion and task satisfaction andconﬂict (see Vallerand, 2008, in press), as well as that involving these
two mediators and burnout (see Maslach et al., 2001; Maslach &308Vallerand, Paquet, Philippe, et al.

Leiter, 2008). These ﬁndings are also partly in line with research on
the role of work engagement in burnout. For instance, Schaufeli andSalanova (2007) suggested that engagement may represent an ‘‘antidote’’ to burnout. Although we agree that work engagement may
play a protective function against burnout, our ﬁndings suggest that
this would only be the case for harmonious passion. Furthermore,
we posit that such a protection against burnout takes place throughthe mediating role of work satisfaction and conﬂict and not directly.
This analysis was supported in two studies. Furthermore, Study 2
also supported the role of harmonious passion in predicting changes
in work satisfaction and conﬁct, that, in turn, predicted decreases
and increases in burnout, respectively, over a 6-month period. Overall, the present ﬁndings provide important support for our position.
Some limitations of the present set of studies need to be considered. First, a correlational design was used in both studies andtherefore causality cannot be inferred from the present research. Although Study 2 used a prospective design and the present ﬁndings
are in line with past theory and research, future research using experimental designs is needed in order to more ﬁrmly establish thecausal role of passion in triggering the sequence leading to burnout.
Second, the present research relied exclusively on self-report data.
Although the present results replicated in both studies and are consistent with the past literature, future research should seek to replicate the present ﬁndings with other assessments of burnout, such as
those of informants (e.g., spouse, friends, or coworkers). Third, theresponse rate in Study 2 was low. Future research is needed to conﬁrm that the present results generalize to the overall nursing population as well as to other workers. Fourth, it should be underscoredthat only one dimension of burnout was assessed in the present research, namely, emotional exhaustion. Although emotional exhaustion appears to be the most fundamental dimension of burnout(Maslach & Leiter, 2008), future research should further ascertain
the role of passion in the experience of the other two burnout dimensions, namely cynicism and reduced efﬁcacy. Finally, it should
be noted that the percentage of variance explained in both studies
was low to moderate in magnitude. This ﬁnding suggests that otherpsychological processes are at play. For instance, past research has
shown that social variables such as a heavy workload and lack ofautonomy are also involved in the experience of burnout (see Maslach et al., 2001). Future research is needed in order to determine

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how such additional processes may be best incorporated within thepresent model in predicting the occurrence of burnout.
In sum, it would appear that passion is a double-edged sword. On
the one hand, one type of passion (obsessive) is conducive to burnout, whereas on the other hand, the other type of passion (harmonious) prevents its occurrence. Thus, an important issue with respect
to burnout is not whether someone is passionate or not toward work
but rather whether someone displays a harmonious or an obsessive
passion. Because passionate workers deeply care about their work,
the challenge for them would appear to remain harmoniously passionate for their work while refraining from becoming obsessively
passionate. It would thus appear that the conceptualization of passion offers a new avenue toward a better understanding of the processes promoting as well as preventing the occurrence of burnout.
Future research along these lines would therefore appear promising.

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