Abstract:

High-risk professionals - such as police officers, firefighters, military personnel, paramedics, and border guards - are socially expected to adhere to rigorous ethical standards. However, moral disengagement serves as a psychological mechanism that hinders moral agency. Because these occupational groups face a substantial risk of job burnout due to chronic stress exposure, it is essential to ask: how strong is the association between job burnout and moral disengagement? This study aims to evaluate the levels of job burnout and moral disengagement among high-risk professionals, and to explore the relationship between these two phenomena. The survey was conducted in 2025 on a sample of 153 Polish professionals working in high-risk occupations, utilizing the Polish version of the Work Moral Disengagement Scale (WMDS-PL) and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). The analysis revealed a moderate overall level of job burnout within the sample, which manifested primarily as occupational disengagement rather than physical or emotional exhaustion. Regarding moral disengagement, the professionals exhibited low-to-moderate overall scores, indicating a general tendency to reject moral rationalization mechanisms. Although the associations between the two constructs were generally weak, they remained positive. Furthermore, moral disengagement correlated more strongly with burnout-induced disengagement than with emotional exhaustion.