The present study examines the genesis of emotional exhaustion among undergraduate social work students in Hong Kong. Of particular concern are the relationships among key factors, including the student's idealism, altruism and career orientation, and emotional exhaustion. To investigate this, the study employed survey data collected from 165 undergraduate social work students recruited from a major university in Hong Kong. The results support the hypothesis that idealism and career orientation affect students' emotional exhaustion. Nonetheless, the results do not support the hypothesized negative relationship between altruism and emotional exhaustion. The implications of the findings for further research and prevention of emotional exhaustion in social work education are discussed. (Contains 5 tables.)