DOI: 10.54733/smar.1952063 ISSN: 2718-1081

Invisible Burdens: Burnout and Identity-Based Stressors in Public Service

Damla Köroğlu Ünver
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This qualitative study examines how public sector employees in Türkiye relate identity-based stressors to their experiences of burnout. Drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and an intersectional perspective, the study explores how gender, ethnocultural minority position, socioeconomic position, and internal migration background shape experiences of belonging, exclusion, and emotional burden. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 employees working in education, healthcare, and local government, and the data were analyzed thematically. Three interrelated themes were identified: (1) Identity-Based Belonging and Exclusion, (2) Invisible Emotional Labor from Intersecting Identities, and (3) Microaggressions and Identity-Linked Workplace Stress. Participants described exclusion, self-monitoring, cultural mediation, informal mentoring, microaggressions, stereotype-related vigilance, and limited professional recognition as part of their burnout narratives. These experiences were most clearly reflected in emotional exhaustion, while limited recognition resonated with reduced personal accomplishment and withdrawal with psychological distancing. SIT helps explain belonging and in-group/out-group positioning, whereas intersectionality shows how these experiences differ across intersecting social positions and organizational power relations. The findings suggest that burnout experiences in the Turkish public sector may be understood not only in relation to conventional occupational demands but also in relation to identity-related and organizational processes within their sociocultural context.

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