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Volume 10/ Issue 20/ 2023 
 
 

7 
 

 

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENGAGEMENT AND ACADEMIC BURNOUT: 

EPISTEMOLOGICAL PREMISES FOR IMPROVING  

EDUCATIONAL QUALITY 

 

Marius-Costel EȘI 

Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava 

mariusesi@gmail.com 

 

Narcisa Loredana POSTEUCĂ EȘI 

„Al. I. Cuza” University of Iași 

narcisaposteuca@gmail.com 

 

Abstract: 

Our study relates to the relationship between the students' engagement in academic 

activities and their degree of burnout in an educational and social context. The topic to which 

our study refers is not focused strictly upon the learning process, but it relates to activities 

carried out in an academic context whose results do not always confirm educational, social, 

professional and personal expectations. Thus, we will discuss and analyze concepts such as 

“burnout”, “exhaustion”, “fatigue”, “stress” in the context of the carrying out of certain 

activities. 

 Under these conditions, the research was focused on students (N=145) enrolled in 

undergraduate studies at Al. I. Cuza University of Iași and the Ștefan cel Mare University of 

Suceava, the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, in the academic year 2022-

2023. The participation was voluntary and anonymous. The average age recorded was 21 

years (M=21, SD=1.4) and the distribution according to the gender variable indicated a ratio 

of 89f /56m.The questionnaire included two scales (α=0.9) that aimed at self-reporting levels 

of academic engagement and associated burnout. The analysis of the results revealed a 

significant (p=.000) high negative correlation (r = -0.9) (invers proportion ratio of variability) 

between the two dimensions. Following the interpretation of the results, the general 

hypothesis of the study was confirmed; according to this hypothesis there is a relationship 

between the variables “academic engagement” and “academic burnout” in the sense that the 



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students who declare high levels of engagement in the educational field experience lower 

levels of burnout and vice versa. 

 

Keywords: academic commitment; academic burnout; educational performance; burnout; 

academic quality. 

 

Introduction 

 

The involvement of students in the quality of the act of learning reveals the very idea of 

their active participation in such an educational approach. This assumption requires the 

consideration of a process of continuous training, but also of sustainable development of what 

the quality of the training/learning process stands for. Such a process requires a clear 

awareness of what constitutes the way of organizing personal and professional resources as 

they are found in students' lives. 

The quality of the activities carried out in the student environment largely depends on 

how they organize their relationship between resources and performance. Realizing one's own 

potential is most often achieved by taking into account the ability to relate to the idea of 

success, but also to emotional and sometimes even to physical stress. Hence the 

validated/confirmed studies of some specialists on aspects relating to possible correlations 

among anxiety, self-esteem, desirable or less desirable behaviors, fatigue, stress, performance 

and so on. 

The relevance of this type of study is supported by the degree of novelty and topicality 

of the subject, in the context of the advance of research in the psycho-pedagogical and 

educational field. Also, the scientific importance of this approach is justified by the need to 

calibrate educational policies according to the student's psycho-emotional resources. The 

analysis carried out can also be useful as a research base for further developments intended to 

provide solutions to improve the phenomenon of the academic burnout. 

 

1. The theoretical substantiation 

If we take into account the specialized literature, we note that the term “exhaustion” 

itself is explained in relation to the term “burnout”; the second term is rather understood as a 

specific form of mental and physical wear and tear (Freudenberger, 1974) or as a lack of 

motivation (Deci& Ryan, 2008; Dysvik & Kuvaas, 2011; Mac Donald, Kelly, Christen, 2019; 



International Journal of Social and Educational Innovation (IJSEIro) 

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Trépanier, Vallerand, Ménard, 2020) correlated with states of boredom (Schaufeli & 

Salanova, 2014; Vîrgă, Pattusamy & Kumar, 2020) or with implications of a psychological 

(Maslach& Jackson, 1981), social (Söderfeldt, Söderfeldt & Warg, 1995; Lloyd, King & 

Chenoweth, 2002; Kim & Stoner, 2008) or even pathological nature (Thunman,2012; 

Hernandez & Wu, 2018), implications that may or may not generate performance (Garden, 

1991; Verbeke, 1997). 

In such a context we can talk about a state of chronic fatigue generated by a series of 

aspects related to a quantitative and qualitative dimension of the learning process, but also of 

involvement in academic, formal, non-formal and informal activities (scientific 

demonstrations, volunteer activities and so forth). This form of burnout is frequently found 

among students and it can lead to a series of problems related to physical and mental health 

and also to the idea of responsibility regarding the assumption and fulfillment of a potential 

work task. 

On the one hand, in a broader sense, our attention will focus on the relationships of the 

variables mentioned in this study starting from the idea of academic commitment. The 

explanation and substantiation of this idea from the perspective of predictors of educational 

performance (Greenwood, Horton & Utley, 2002; Dogan, 2015) and interpersonal 

relationships (Lee, 2012) positions the concepts of “burnout” and  

“exhaustion”/“fatigue”/“stress” in a global framework of scientific educational research, 

taking into account aspects related to resilience, fear, fear of failure and fear of authority. 

On the other hand, we will analyze the concept of “academic burnout” in students, 

taking from the specialized literature its relationship with the idea of organizational behavior 

(Maslach& Jackson, 1981) or cognitive decline/performance (May, Bauer &Fincham, 

2015).This whole process of “emotional burnout” becomes epistemically relevant to the 

extent that the focus is on the analysis of skills of a social nature. Thus, factors such as the 

cognitive reevaluation or time management, emotional involvement must underpin an entire 

process of reducing academic burnout related to students. (Brock, & Grady, 2002). 

Certainly, beyond the causes underlying the forms of burnout associated with 

alternative dimensions, which the specialized literature identifies and validates through a 

series of quantitative studies, we can appreciate that such a study reconfirms the need to 

reevaluate and reconsider the activities of educational nature activities carried out in an 

academic context by students in relation to work tasks, personal and professional 

expectations. Under these conditions, the way students perceive their own performance 



International Journal of Social and Educational Innovation (IJSEIro) 

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cannot be correlated with the idea of burnout (McCarthy, Pretty, Catano, 1990; Schaufelli et. 

all, 2002), but rather with the idea of perception of the process of personal and professional 

self-regulation (Zimmerman &Schunk, 2001). 

The ways in which students engage in such an academic approach to learning, relating 

to those around them, but also participating in a series of academic activities can de facto 

generate positive or negative effects of an internal/intrinsic nature (increase/lack of 

motivation, increased/decreased personal performance) or even external/extrinsic 

(optimal/deficient relationship with others, activism/passivity in relation to social issues, 

obvious/or less obvious or even non-existent valorization and capitalization). 

 

2. Methodology 

 

2.1. Purpose, objectives and research topic 

The purpose of the research is to identify the psycho-emotional, behavioral and 

contextual factors which diminish the commitment to educational activities. More precisely, 

in order to improve the educational quality, we consider it necessary to probe the elements of 

involvement, motivation, performance, attitudinal benchmarks, and so on and their impact on 

the functionality and quality of life. 

This approach supports the need to develop a research problem that identifies the 

potential relationships between the two reported categories (the level of engagement and the 

level of burnout): Is there a link between the academic engagement and the phenomenon of 

burnout? In this regard, the objectives of the research will pursue: 

O1: measuring the level of student involvement in the academic activity (self-report); 

O2: measuring the level of burnout of students in terms of academic activity (self-report): 

O3: checking the potential degrees of relationship between the two analyzed dimensions. 

 

2.2. Hypotheses 

In order to verify the potential relationships between the two variables, we will analyze 

the following hypothesis: 

H1: There is a significant (negative) correlation between the students' level of academic 

engagement and their level of academic burnout. 

H0: There is no significant correlation between the students' level of academic engagement 

and their level of academic burnout. 



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2.3. Instruments 

For the analysis of the independent variable “academic involvement” the Academic 

Engagement Scale (Zhang et. all, 2015) was applied. It includes 14 items associated with 

dimensions such as: the attitude towards study, the level of engagement, the psycho-

emotional commitment, and so forth. The answers were scored on a Likert-type scale, where 

1 – “total disagreement” and 5 – “total agreement”. After application, we obtained an optimal 

internal consistency score: 0.99 (Table 1). 

 

 

 

 

Table 1. Alpha Cronbach coefficient related to the Academic Engagement scale 

 

Similarly, in order to test the “academic burnout” variable, the participants were 

distributed the Academic Burnout Scale (Zhang et. all, 2015) which is intended to record the 

students' attitude towards academic activities (purpose, benefits, psycho-emotional impact 

and so on). The scale was adapted to facilitate the optimal understanding of the items by 

Romanian students. The content of the scale is structured in 15 items with answers on 5 

levels of assessment (Likert-5). The internal consistency coefficient obtained from 

application is similarly high: 0.99 (Table 2). 

 

 

 

Table 2. Alpha Cronbach coefficient related to the Academic Exhaustion scale 



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2.4. Participants 

 The questionnaire was randomly distributed to second-year students enrolled in the 

UAIC and USV students, as mentioned. The respondents (N=145) recorded their answers 

voluntarily, through the Google Forms application. 89 f the participants were female and 56 

were male and the average age of the participants was 21 years (SD=1.4) 

 The data collection period: 14.11.2022 – 27.11.2022. 

 

2.5. Analyze. Obtained results 

 The recorded data were processed in IBM SPSS Statistics 20, following descriptive 

(Appendix 1) and correlational analysis. After analyzing the correlation between the two 

variables, we obtained the following results (Table 3): 

● The correlation between the two variables is statistically significant (p=.000, p< 

0.001); 

● The correlation is negative (negative r); 

● The size of the correlation indicates a strong connection (high correlation) between 

the two variables (r = -0.902, r ⊂ [0.51;1]). 

 

Correlations 

 Impl.Ac Burn.Ac 

Spearman's rho 

Impl.Ac 

Correlation 

Coefficient 
1,000 -,902** 

Sig. (2-tailed) . ,000 

N 145 145 

Burn.A

c 

Correlation 

Coefficient 
-,902** 1,000 

Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 . 

N 145 145 

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 

 

Table 3. Correlational analysis results: academic engagement-academic burnout 

 



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2.6 Discussions and interpretations 

The analysis carried out therefore reveals a significant negative correlation between the 

two investigated variables, indicating an inversely proportional relationship between the 

levels of the recorded scores. Thus: 

● The students with high levels of engagement have low scores on academic burnout; 

● The students with average levels of engagement also record average scores on the 

academic burnout variable; 

● The students who experienced low levels of engagement also reported increased 

levels of academic burnout. 

In conclusion, we accept the hypothesis (H1: There is a significant (negative) 

correlation between students' level of academic engagement and their level of academic 

burnout) and we reject the null hypothesis. 

 

2.7 Preliminary conclusions 

According to the analysis carried out and the related interpretations, it can be stated that 

there is a significant relationship, in the case of students, between the attitude towards the 

educational process and the exhaustion of mental and emotional resources. The 

interdependence between engagement and burnout, from the perspective in which they were 

approached in this approach, was validated for both genders and without variations according 

to age parameters. The high level of correlation between the two variables indicates a 

significant potential for further research to pursue the possibilities of improving the 

commitment of students in order to improve the quality of the education act and, implicitly, 

their psychological and affective well-being in a formative/education context. 

 

3. Limits and directions of development 

The limitations of the current study are related to the size of the investigated group 

(limited number of participants, less significant for the Romanian student population), but 

also to the categorized gender distribution (there is a lower representation of the male 

participants compared to the female participants). Also, an isolation of the parasite variables 

is necessary. 

The potential of the subject addressed supports the possibility of further research 

directions by augmenting the research base, expanding the level of placement of students and 

its utilization within other specializations, faculties or universities in Romania. Also, the 



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study can be calibrated by introducing associated variables: awareness, performance, 

personality, emotionality, sociability, conscientiousness, organization, perfectionism, skills, 

resources, and so on. 

 

General conclusions 

The achievement of the study regarding the possible correlation between the academic 

involvement and the academic burnout brings into discussion the idea of some current 

participatory mechanisms and processes through which the learning and assimilation process 

is facilitated. The educational experiences are thus deciphered and transposed in a scientific 

manner, through the analysis of innovative ideas, in a theoretical and applied framework. 

Such ideas which are of significant importance to the research and the community of 

specialists can be found in the field of the epistemic homogeneity (for instance, the mutual 

learning, the cooperative learning, the rethinking of strategies for approaching the learning 

process and the educational activities carried out in an academic context).Concerning the 

analysis and synthesis approach of such a subject addressed in this research, we note its 

authenticity in the area of educational applications with visible implications at the society 

level. 

The awareness of such existing aspects in the educational process allows and requires 

from our standpoint the assumption and implementation of significant strategies and elements 

within the educational society. An openness towards man and also towards society as a 

whole, allows for a clear representation of what the quality of a learning approach stands for 

in connection, on the one hand, to the relational dimension between the academic 

engagement of students in the learning process and the academic exhaustion thereof, and on 

the other hand, with their level of engagement in academic activities. Under these conditions, 

the human value must be given more credit in relation to what can be translated through it 

from an economic, social standpoint and, last but not least, from the viewpoint of social and 

professional expectations. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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