A Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis of Coefficient Alpha for the Maslach Burnout Inventory

By Denna L. Wheeler, Matt Vassar, J. Worley, Laura L. B. Barnes. 2011

186 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The purpose of this study was to synthesize internal consistency reliability for the subscale scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The authors addressed three research questions: (a) What is the mean subscale score reliability for the MBI across studies? (b) What factors are associated with observed variance in MBI subscale score reliability? (c) What are the implications for appropriate use based on MBI subscale mean internal consistency estimates? Of the 221 studies reviewed, 84 provided alpha coefficients and were used in the current analysis. Results suggest that mean alpha estimates across subscales generally fell within the .70 to .80 range. Scale variance and language most often accounted for the variance in coefficient alpha, although some variations were apparent between subscales. Of the three MBI subscales, Personal Accomplishment and Depersonalization mean alpha estimates were well below recommended levels for high-stakes decisions, such as the diagnosis of burnout syndrome. Recommendations for the use of the current version of the instrument’s scale scores as well as suggestions for scale refinement are provided.

Subfields: General Health Professions, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0a58d81a8b2e0b57926f57ec9dca353d6a77523c

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In General Health Professions

In Social Psychology

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

A methodological synthesis and meta-analysis of judgment tasks in second language research (2020, background): “Their approach, known as ‘reliability generalization meta-analysis’ (Rodriguez and Meada, 2006; Wheeler et al., 2011), involves systematically reviewing and aggregating reliability coefficients to estimate the overall reliability in a given sample of studies.”
Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT)—Development, Validity, and Reliability (2020, background): “, “I feel I treat some recipients as if they were impersonal objects”) may lead to low reliabilities, especially for the subscales assessing cynicism and reduced professional efficacy (for a meta-analysis, see [13]).”