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Workplace Aggression Initiated by Clients Against Accounting Professionals

Fri, October 2, 4:30 to 6:00pm, TBA

Abstract

We survey 134 accounting professionals to examine whether they experience client-initiated workplace aggression, and if so, what forms that aggression takes and how these professionals respond to or cope with such aggression. We also examine the prevalence of an extreme form of workplace aggression, client-initiated bullying, and its effect on accounting professionals. We examine these phenomena using questionnaires on negative acts, coping mechanisms, and bullying that are grounded in the psychology literature. Ninety percent of respondents have experienced at least one client-initiated negative act in their career; on average, respondents experience four such negative acts. Further, our results show that 34 percent of respondents have experienced client- initiated workplace bullying. To cope with workplace aggression, we found that accounting professionals often try to take action to improve the situation but they also ignore or resign themselves to the situation. Conditional analyses reveal that seniors, managers, and partners typically experience more negative acts than staff but seniors and managers also commonly experience more negative acts than partners; we find few important differences between auditors and tax professionals. Additional analyses suggest that partners generally cope differently than staff, seniors, or managers.

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