The interrelations between Personnel Burn Out and Financial Distress in Italian Public Universities

This study aims at investigating the interrelationship between personnel burn out and financial distress in Italian public universities. To this end the paper reviews the introduction of recent public reforms on the Italian university system. These reforms led to increase pressure to pursue financial efficiency and research quality, affecting in turn, the burn out of academicians and employee staff. Using a sample of 351 respondents from 54 Italian public universities, the paper shows that when high levels of financial efficiency are combined with high levels of research quality, the level of individual burn out increases. A deeper analysis shows to what extent the employment of PMSs (i.e., interactive and diagnostic) increases or reduces the level of personnel burn out. The results highlight how the current situation of financial distress experienced by the Italian public universities affects the level of burn out at individual level, especially in those academic environments that are performing well both financially and academically.