Job Demands, Resources, Occupational Burnout, And Individual Work Performance Among Commune-Level Civil Servants: Evidence from Gia Lai, Vietnam

The operation of Vietnam’s two-tier local government system, comprising the provincial and commune levels, has heightened the requirements placed upon commune-level civil servants in relation to initiative, coordination, digital casework, and accountability for outputs. This study examines the associations among personal resources, the work environment, job demands, new-task demands, occupational burnout, and individual work performance. Data were collected in 2026 from 563 non-managerial professional civil servants working at commune level in Gia Lai Province. The scales were assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and covariance-based structural equation modelling in SPSS and AMOS; indirect effects were evaluated using 5,000 bootstrap resamples. The model demonstrated a good fit to the data (χ²/df=1.280; CFI=0.978; TLI=0.976; RMSEA=0.022; SRMR=0.034) and explained 42.6% of the variance in occupational burnout and 59.3% of the variance in individual work performance. Job demands and new-task demands were positively associated with burnout, whereas burnout was negatively associated with work performance. Implementation competence exhibited the strongest direct association with performance, followed by digital adaptability and public service motivation. Although the work environment did not demonstrate a sufficiently robust direct association with performance, it contributed to lower burnout. Both indirect paths, JD→BO→IWP and DQ→BO→IWP, were statistically significant. The findings indicate that strengthening administrative performance at commune level requires an integrated approach combining competence development, work design, digital support, and the prevention of sustained occupational depletion.