David Emerson

Mid-Atlantic Conference, Morgantown, WV

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.

National Conference, San Diego, CA

Purpose: This study’s purpose is to tested a modified version of Fogarty, Singh, Moore, and Rhoads’s (2000: FMSR) Beyond the Role Stress Model using modified measures of job satisfaction and performance, the latter measure specifically targeted to measure dysfunctional auditor practices. Design/methodology/approach: This investigation utilizes structural equations modeling procedures to examine a model the postulates that burnout will mediate the relations between job stressors and the key organizational outcomes of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and reduced audit quality practices (RAQP). The data for this constructs comes from survey instrument packages completed by 293 auditors working at offices of 11 public accounting firms located in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Most of the respondents came from two of the Big Four and five other companies ranked among the 10 largest U.S. accounting firms in 2015. Findings: While FMSR found burnout to partially mediate the influence of the role conflict and role overload on the job outcomes, this study found that burnout fully mediated their influence, as well as that of role conflict, on all three job outcomes. Also, while FMSR found role overload to have a significant positive relation to burnout, this study did not find a significant relation between these two constructs. Research limitations/implications: This study is subject to the limitations inherent in cross-sectional studies that use self-report instruments. These limitations notwithstanding, the results provide knowledge of the workings of the role stress paradigm in auditor work settings. Originality/value: This paper confirms that it is highly unlikely that the significant associations in the FMSR are attributable to chance. The findings also demonstrate the superiority of the RAQP scale in terms of explaining variance in auditor performance when compared to the modified performance measure utilized by FMSR.

Ethics Research Symposium, San Diego, CA

There is often a conflict between corporate disclosures, decisions and actions in many aspects of corporate operations. One area that has received a good deal of attention recently relates to the joint influence of tax avoidance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on economic outcomes. We address a gap in the literature by evaluating investor perceptions when these corporate behaviors are in conflict. Using a 2 x 2 experimental design, we find that participants are more likely to invest in a company that maximizes profit by avoiding taxes, but which also reports engagement in good corporate citizenship behaviors. These companies are also seen as a more attractive investment opportunity than those that avoid taxes but do not support stakeholder values. We also find that individual attitudes regarding ethics and social responsibility can shape perceptions relative to firms’ tax avoidance behaviors. Collectively, our results suggest that espousing stakeholder values serves as a shield to protect the company from the negative consequences that may accompany an aggressive tax avoidance strategy.