Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
Burnout is often attributed to excessive workload, but the kinds of tasks employees are asked to perform may also contribute. Illegitimate assigned tasks (IAT) are assignments employees view as unreasonable (outside their role) or unnecessary (should not exist). For example, a woman may be expected to plan office parties because of gendered workplace expectations, even when event planning is not part of her role. Such assignments can signal that organizations do not value employees’ time, skills, or contributions. Although IAT has been linked to burnout, the role of organizational justice in this relationship remains unclear, and leadership as an antecedent warrants further attention. This proposed study tests a sequential model grounded in Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. We aim to examine how ethical leadership relates to burnout through IAT and organizational justice. COR theory suggests IAT drains time, energy, and respect, while perceived injustice may deplete resources; JD-R theory frames IAT as a hindrance demand and justice as a resource. We hypothesize that ethical leadership is negatively related to IAT (H1); IAT is positively related to burnout (exhaustion and disengagement; H2) and negatively related to justice (H3); justice is negatively related to burnout (H4); justice partially mediates the IAT-burnout relationship (H5–H6); and ethical leadership is indirectly related to lower burnout through IAT and justice (H7). We will administer a quantitative, three-wave, time-lagged survey to 100 employed adults. We will measure ethical leadership and IAT at Time 1, organizational justice at Time 2, and burnout at Time 3. Measures will include the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire (Yukl et al., 2013), the Bern Illegitimate Task Scale (Semmer et al., 2010), Colquitt’s (2001) Justice Measure Items, and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (Demerouti, 1999), which measures exhaustion and disengagement. Controls include job demands, age, gender, sexual orientation, tenure, and hours worked. A serial mediation using the jAMM package in Jamvoi will be conducted. Exhaustion and disengagement will be analyzed separately, and direct IAT–burnout paths will be retained to assess partial mediation. We expect leadership to be associated with fewer illegitimate assignments, greater justice, and lower indirect burnout. Findings could clarify justice’s role in the IAT–burnout relationship and highlight leadership as an antecedent. Practically, results could show that preventing burnout requires more than reducing workload: leaders may need to clarify roles, explain assignments, and treat employees respectfully when assigning work.
Date
November 2026
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
Ethical leadership, illegitimate tasks, and justice as pathways to employee burnout
Burnout is often attributed to excessive workload, but the kinds of tasks employees are asked to perform may also contribute. Illegitimate assigned tasks (IAT) are assignments employees view as unreasonable (outside their role) or unnecessary (should not exist). For example, a woman may be expected to plan office parties because of gendered workplace expectations, even when event planning is not part of her role. Such assignments can signal that organizations do not value employees’ time, skills, or contributions. Although IAT has been linked to burnout, the role of organizational justice in this relationship remains unclear, and leadership as an antecedent warrants further attention. This proposed study tests a sequential model grounded in Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. We aim to examine how ethical leadership relates to burnout through IAT and organizational justice. COR theory suggests IAT drains time, energy, and respect, while perceived injustice may deplete resources; JD-R theory frames IAT as a hindrance demand and justice as a resource. We hypothesize that ethical leadership is negatively related to IAT (H1); IAT is positively related to burnout (exhaustion and disengagement; H2) and negatively related to justice (H3); justice is negatively related to burnout (H4); justice partially mediates the IAT-burnout relationship (H5–H6); and ethical leadership is indirectly related to lower burnout through IAT and justice (H7). We will administer a quantitative, three-wave, time-lagged survey to 100 employed adults. We will measure ethical leadership and IAT at Time 1, organizational justice at Time 2, and burnout at Time 3. Measures will include the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire (Yukl et al., 2013), the Bern Illegitimate Task Scale (Semmer et al., 2010), Colquitt’s (2001) Justice Measure Items, and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (Demerouti, 1999), which measures exhaustion and disengagement. Controls include job demands, age, gender, sexual orientation, tenure, and hours worked. A serial mediation using the jAMM package in Jamvoi will be conducted. Exhaustion and disengagement will be analyzed separately, and direct IAT–burnout paths will be retained to assess partial mediation. We expect leadership to be associated with fewer illegitimate assignments, greater justice, and lower indirect burnout. Findings could clarify justice’s role in the IAT–burnout relationship and highlight leadership as an antecedent. Practically, results could show that preventing burnout requires more than reducing workload: leaders may need to clarify roles, explain assignments, and treat employees respectfully when assigning work.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology