Burnout effect on working mothers in leadership positions during the COVID-19 lockdown
ISSN: 1754-2413
Article publication date: 23 May 2023
Issue publication date: 1 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand how the recent COVID-19 pandemic impacted burnout levels among working mothers in leadership positions and how income and work schemes play an important role in their burnout.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 961 working mothers and fathers in leadership positions in Mexico under different work schemes during the COVID-19 lockdown. Snowball sampling was used in this study. The Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey was distributed online, using the burnout scale, with income and work schemes as categorical variables.
Findings
Burnout levels among working mothers in leadership positions were higher than those among working fathers. The hybrid work scheme (i.e. working from home combined with working from office) lessens burnout in working mothers, contributing both theoretically and empirically to better understanding burnout levels of mothers in leadership positions.
Practical implications
The findings can encourage human resource areas to reflect on the overexertion and work stress of mothers in leadership positions, and potential support resources can be provided to motivate them and retain their talent.
Originality/value
The introduction of the notion of lockdown in a conceptual model to observe its interaction with burnout and hybrid work schemes (i.e. working from the office and home) has rarely been discussed in existing literature. The impact, especially for working mothers in leadership positions, must be thus carefully considered while dealing with future crises, thereby helping to develop policies and processes accordingly.
Keywords
Citation
Mucharraz y Cano, Y., Davila Ruiz, D. and Cuilty Esquivel, K. (2023), "Burnout effect on working mothers in leadership positions during the COVID-19 lockdown", Gender in Management, Vol. 38 No. 7, pp. 962-977. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-03-2022-0085
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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