Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents and consequences of burnout among the Ethiopian Civil Service University and Kotebe Metropolitan University instructors in Ethiopia. Design/methodology/approach: The study employed purely quantitative research and then used a cross-sectional survey design. Therefore, questionnaires adopted from the Maslach Burnout Inventory were collected from 158 university instructors. Findings: The antecedents of burnout were a job, organizational and individual characteristics, whereas the consequences of burnout were job satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover intention. Work experience, educational status, job characteristics, organizational support and reward and recognition were reported as primary sources of burnout among instructors. Therefore, all the identified antecedents were correlated with burnout. Besides, turnover intention and affective commitment were the major consequences of burnout. Burnout partially mediated the relationship between the antecedents and consequences. Therefore, the antecedents directly impact burnout, but they also indirectly affect the consequences through burnout. Research limitations/implications: This study has a narrow geographical scope and is limited to a cross-sectional design. Therefore, a longitudinal study representing a large number of universities using mixed research is required to generalize about instructors' burnout in Ethiopia. Practical implications: This study helps to familiarize scholars, universities and researchers with instructors' burnout in Ethiopia. More specifically, the results of this study help the Ethiopian Civil Service University and Kotebe Metropolitan University to recognize the antecedents and consequences of burnout among their instructors and help them take corrective measures to address the problems of their employees as well as to improve efficiency and quality of education to the community through eliminating the antecedents. Originality/value: This study gives a better understanding of burnout and becomes good literature on the magnitude and relationship of the antecedents and consequences of burnout among university instructors in Ethiopia. Thus, it provides a conceptual basement for research on university instructors' burnout in Ethiopia.