Unpacking Coping Mechanisms and Coping Resources: The Role of Instrumental Leadership in Reducing Employee Burnout

Public servants face burnout due to increasing job demands and limited job resources. Drawing from data from a 2021 survey of local government employees in a large southwest US city, this article examines the role of instrumental leadership as a coping resource to reduce burnout while accounting for the presence of a coping mechanism (self-distraction) in an employee’s coping process. Results indicate that instrumental leadership is negatively associated with burnout and self-distraction; instrumental leadership also reduces the impact of self-distraction on burnout. This article identifies the importance of including both coping resources and coping mechanisms in future research.