Authors: Athanasios Saligkos, Eirini Nikolopoulou, George Androulakis

Title: Job Satisfaction of Economists: Trends in Engagement and Burnout

Abstract

After the economic crisis and the memoranda in Greece, followed by the health crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the implementation of digital reform, many significant laws were voted on in the Hellenic Parliament. This resulted in the signing and implementation of dozens of ministerial decisions and hundreds of implementing circulars. A substantial portion of the memorandum laws, nearly complete enforcement of pandemic-related laws, as well as the implementation of digital governance, has been carried out and is still being conducted by economists/accountants, adding a tremendous workload and burdening them both physically and psychologically. The complex and demanding legislation, the application thereof, and the fulfillment of hundreds of obligations by economists/accountants, affect their job satisfaction and lead them either to lower levels of work commitment or higher rates of burnout. Despite the fact that there are numerous references in global literature regarding job satisfaction in fields such as education, healthcare, and occupational safety, there is limited research concerning job satisfaction among economists. These researchers aim to interpret its structural elements and its particular characteristics. In this study, we examine the relationship that economists' job satisfaction has with tendencies for work engagement and professional burnout, as well as the impact of their structural elements on gender and working hours. To accomplish this goal, an analysis and objectification were conducted using the Item Response Theory on 206 responses from economists/accountants in various economic sectors in Greece. The brief form of the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQsf) (Weiss et al., 1967) was utilized for the measurement and assessment of professional satisfaction, while the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (Kokkinos, 2006; Maslach et al., 1986; Maslach & Jackson, 1981) was employed for measuring burnout. The measurement of Work Engagement was conducted using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES17) (Schaufeli et al., 2002; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004b), and for Emotional Intelligence, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaires (TEIque-SF) (Petrides, 2009) tool was utilized. As evident from the current study, despite the fact that the overall job satisfaction of economists is close to the population average, lower external satisfaction is observed in the female gender. The burnout levels of economists/accountants are around the mean, corresponding to the average burnout in the population. This is because we observe elevated levels of exhaustion that are, however, compensated by equally elevated levels of personal accomplishment. Nevertheless, when focusing on the two genders, significant statistical differences and a higher degree of burnout are observed in females. All structural elements of work engagement (vigor, dedication, absorption) appear to be influenced by the duration of work. Lastly, regarding emotional intelligence, it is evident that female economists are significantly affected emotionally compared to the average emotional intelligence level of both genders.