Abstract: In this review, foreign studies of causes of job burnout are reviewed in four parts. In the first part, the paper introduced the concept of job burnout and relevant questionnaires. Then it briefly introduced the development of research in job burnout. The third part reviewed the causes of burnout, which can be classified as work-related or individual factors. And the forth part discussed about some models explaining how burnout take places. Lastly, some summarization and evaluation are made, and prospect is put forward

Key words: job burnout, exhaustion, cynicism, decreased professional self-efficacy, causes of job burnout