The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) is a widely used scale that measures burnout in the general professions. Debate persists regarding the factor structure of the MBI-GS, and there is scarce empirical evidence about the reliability, validity, and measurement invariance of the MBI-GS in Spanish-speaking samples. Moreover, the psychometric properties of the MBI-GS have not been analyzed in Colombia. This study aimed to analyze the internal consistency, factor structure, measurement invariance, and convergent validity of the MBI-GS in a large sample of Colombian workers. The MBI-GS was administered to a total sample of 978 workers from three private companies in Bogotá (66.9% males, 32.7% females, 0.4% other). All subscales showed adequate internal consistency (alphas ranging from 0.72 to 0.86). The three-factor model demonstrated a very good fit to the data (root mean square error of approximation - RMSEA = 0.05, comparative fit index - CFI = 0.99, non-normed fit index - NNFI = 0.98, and standardized root mean square residual - SRMR = 0.06). The measurement invariance both at a metric and scalar level was supported across gender, age group, and socioeconomic status. The MBI-GS subscales showed the expected correlations with job satisfaction, work engagement, psychological distress, and psychological inflexibility. In conclusion, the Spanish version of the MBI-GS demonstrated good psychometric properties in a Colombian sample.
Keywords: Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey; burnout; confirmatory factor analysis; measurement invariance.