Title: Burnout syndrome: antecedents and consequences in auditing profession

Authors: Ilse Maria Beuren; Patricia Villa Costa Vaz; Rosiele Bescorovaine

Addresses: Post-Graduate Accounting Program, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Reitor João David Ferreira Lima, s/n, 88040-970, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil ' Post-Graduate Accounting Program, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Av. Prefeito Lothário Meissner, 632, 80210-170, Curitiba, PR, Brazil ' Post-Graduate Accounting Program, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Av. Prefeito Lothário Meissner, 632, 80210-170, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

Abstract: This study analyses the mediating role of the burnout syndrome in the relationship between its antecedents and consequences in auditing profession. The burnout dimensions considered were emotional exhaustion, reduced feelings of personal accomplishment and depersonalisation; for antecedents, perceived workload (overload), role ambiguity and role conflict; and for consequences, job satisfaction, performance and turnover intentions. To this end, descriptive research was carried out from the application of a questionnaire, with questions based on the studies of Guthrie and Jones III (2012) and Shih, Jiang, Klein and Wang (2013), in a sample of independent auditors. For data analysis descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used. The survey results show consistent evidence of connections between antecedents and consequences of burnout, considering the mediating role of the burnout trends, since five of the six hypotheses tested were confirmed.

Keywords: auditing; burnout syndrome; emotional exhaustion; reduced personal accomplishment; depersonalisation; history of burnout; perceived workload; overload; role ambiguity; role conflict; burnout consequences; job satisfaction; performance; turnover intentions; independent auditors; structural equation modelling; SEM; burnout trends.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAUDIT.2015.076458

International Journal of Auditing Technology, 2015 Vol.2 No.4, pp.364 - 383

Received: 05 Oct 2015
Accepted: 21 Jan 2016
Published online: 09 May 2016 *

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