Attachment orientations and job burnout: The mediating roles of team cohesion and organizational fairness

The current study explored the mediating effect of perceived work team cohesion and organizational fairness on the link between adult attachment and job burnout in a sample of 393 Israeli employees. Structural equation modeling revealed that attachment anxiety and avoidance were related to more job burnout, that the link between avoidance and burnout was fully mediated by lower appraisals of organizational fairness, and that the link between anxiety and burnout was partially mediated by lower appraisals of team cohesion. Thus, attachment insecurities were associated with negative perceptions of team cohesion and organizational fairness which, in turn, contributed to job burnout. Results were discussed based on attachment theory while emphasizing the need for further research examining the generalizability of the findings.