Stress Arousal and Burnout as Role Stress Mediators in the Public Accounting Work Environment

• In Event: Accounting Behavior and Organizations 2

Abstract

This study examines the influence of stress arousal and burnout as mediators of the negative relations between role stressors and job outcomes (satisfaction, performance, and turnover intentions) among a sample of AICPA members working in public accounting. We extend prior research by evaluating a model that simultaneously incorporates stress arousal and the three fundamental dimensions of burnout, (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment), as intervening variables in the dynamic relationship between role stress and job outcomes. This study also utilizes a recently validated stress arousal measure designed to capture the worry and ruminations aspects of arousal posited to be responsible for a number of deleterious personal outcomes.

The results indicate that role stressors, mediated by stress arousal and the individual burnout dimensions, exert a deleterious influence on job outcomes. In line with predictions regarding the temporal ordering of stress arousal and burnout in the model, each of the job stressors had a significant positive influence on accountants’ stress arousal, and the influence of the individual role stressors on each burnout dimension were either partially or fully mediated via their relations with stress arousal. In turn, the influence of stress arousal on each of the job outcomes was either partially or fully mediated through its relations with emotional exhaustion.

Authors

• Kenneth Jonathan Smith, Salisbury University

• David J. Emerson, Salisbury University