The aim of this article is to analyze the extent to which organizational culture contributes to the development of burnout in the workforce. This is important for exploring sources of stress that go beyond employees themselves and their working conditions and allow us to understand how elements of the organizational context can influence the development of burnout in organizations. By integrating organizational culture and work organization conditions, it is possible to examine how culture influences the different components of work organization conditions, and how this can lead to the development or aggravation of different aspects of burnout. The model proposed in this study comes out of the functionalist tradition, which considers culture as an organizational construct that influences and shapes the characteristics of an organization. Data from the SALVEO study were collected in 2009-2012 from a sample of 1824 individuals located in 60 Canadians workplaces. Multi-level regression models were used to analyze the data. After controlling for individual and family characteristics, group, developmental and rational cultures were associated with burnout. Group and developmental cultures were indirectly associated with lower levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism. They were also indirectly associated with higher levels of professional efficiency. Both of these cultures are characterized by flexibility. Rational culture, characterized by performance, was indirectly associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Hierarchical culture however showed no such associations with burnout. The results obtained highlight the importance of including variables relating to broader organizational contexts in models examining burnout in the workplace.

Keywords: organizational culture, burnout, cynicism, professional efficiency, stress multi-level analyses