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This chapter combines quantitative studies of the connections between stressors and performance in accounting settings and identifies the mediators and moderators of stressors–performance relationships. Using meta-analyses and path analyses, this research compiles 72 studies to investigate the relationships of stressors with accountant and auditor performance. As hypothesized, bivariate meta-analyses results indicate that work-related stressors negatively affect performance, and burnout and stress are negatively related to performance, whereas motivation is positively related to performance. Moreover, a meta-analytical structural equation modeling indicates that role stressors have significant direct and indirect effects (through burnout and stress) on job performance. Accumulation of multiple samples through meta-analysis bolsters statistical power compared to single-sample studies and thus reveals the sign of residual direct effects of role stressors on job performance in accounting settings.

This paper 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. It extends prior research which examined these linkages (Chong & Monroe, 2015; Fogarty, Singh, Rhoads, & Moore, 2000; Smith, Davy, & Everly, 2007) 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. This paper also utilizes a recently validated stress arousal measure designed to capture the worry and rumination aspects of arousal posited to be responsible for a number of negative personal outcomes.

The results indicate that role stressors, mediated by stress arousal and the individual burnout dimensions, have a negative 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 was 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.

Given the increasing global focus of many aspects of our society, researchers have taken significant steps in understanding the impact of culture on various psychological states. This review focuses on the stressor–strain relationships within the context of cross-cultural and cross-national studies. Using research findings from the United States as a baseline, we identify common and unique themes concerning the stressor–strain relationships between different countries, and clarify the differences between cross-national and cross-cultural studies. Furthermore, we consider cross-cultural and cross-national occupational stress research from an individual differences perspective. We encourage future studies to adopt this perspective and carefully consider the implications of cultural values on occupational stress research at the individual, group, and country levels.

The malicious impulse is a phenomenon that lies in the theoretical and ontological space between emotion and action. In this chapter, we probe this space. In the empirical part of this work, we evaluate the hypothesis that middle-level supervisors will be more likely than non-supervisory workers and top-level supervisors to report an impulse to “hurt someone you work with” (i.e., maliciousness).

Data are from a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of employed Toronto residents in 2004–2005.

Results from logistic regression analyses show that when job characteristics are controlled, the estimated difference between middle-level supervisors and workers in other hierarchical positions reporting the impulse to harm a coworker is statistically significant. Moreover, the difference between middle-level supervisors and other workers persist after controls for anger about work and job-related stress.

In discussing our results, we focus on factors that might generate the observed associations, and on how Bourdieusian theory may be used to interpret the social patterning of impulses in general, and malicious impulses in particular. We also discuss the implications of our findings for emotional intelligence in the workplace.

Considerable progress has been made over the past 20 years toward the construction of a global stress paradigm for accountants in the workplace. Over this time period, a number of antecedents and consequences of personal and organizational stress have been identified and empirically verified. These efforts have provided the foundation for future investigations, which will likely provide additional guidance to those seeking to implement strategies aimed at enhancing individual well-being and organizational efficiency. This chapter synthesizes the findings of these studies to construct a model of the stress dynamic among accountants aimed at guiding future efforts designed to refine our understanding of this critical phenomenon.

This study explores how participation in decision making (PDM) can help employees balance the demands from work and life. Based on Karasek's (1979) job demand–job control model, this study hypothesizes that work hours moderate the relationship between PDW and work–life conflict. Using a linked employer and employee two-year survey, this study finds that PDM can reduce work–life conflict, but the reduction only works for employees who work long hours. For those employees who work short hours, PDM increases their work–life conflict.

The nature of work has changed in the past 30 years but we do not know what these changes have meant for worker job stress. In this chapter we compare data from three surveys of the quality of work life from 1972 to 2002. At the most general level, work today is less stressful than it was in 1972. Workers report fewer job demands, more decision latitude, less job strain, more job security and greater access to job resources and job support. However, these changes have not affected all workers equally. Women, those with less education, non self-employed workers, blue collar workers and workers in manufacturing industries showed the greatest decreases in job stress although levels of job stress remain higher than for comparison groups (men, college educated, white collar, service workers). Changes were not always linear across time suggesting that some aspects of job strain are sensitive to economic cycles.

The ability of firms to retain valued knowledge and skills possessed by accounting professionals depends, in part, on creating a work environment that positively affects accountants’ job-related attitudes and behaviors. A first step in achieving this objective is to identify those variables that are related to accountants’ work attitudes and behaviors. Previous research has examined antecedent causes of, for example, accountants’ job satisfaction, performance, organizational commitment, and role stress. Two limitations of the extant research are that subjects have almost always been auditors and no consideration has been given to the fact that accountants may react differently to their work environment depending on where they are in their careers.

This study addresses these two limitations of prior research by examining whether tax accountants’ work attitudes and behaviors differ across four common career stages: exploration, establishment, maintenance, and disengagement. The association of gender with tax accountants’ work attitudes was also tested. Results indicate that career stage is significantly related to tax accountants’ performance and job-related tension, but unrelated to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work alienation, and role stress. A significant gender effect was found. These results for tax accountants differ somewhat from results for auditors (Rebele et al., 1996), indicating that a one-size-fits-all approach to managing work environments within accounting firms may not be effective in developing and retaining professional staff.

Unlike other populations, entrepreneurs may be unable to fully escape from job-related stress due to their financial and/or psychological connection to their ventures. The authors argue that stress is a universal, intangible variable that profoundly influences the entrepreneurial process. In the present review, the authors critically synthesize past literature to evaluate the substantive body of research on stress in entrepreneurship and assess the impact of stress on individuals’ well-being. The authors find that entrepreneurial stress stems from role conflict or overload, issues related to business operations, and concerns from life outside the venture. Further, stress may result in changes to personal satisfaction and psychological well-being, contingent upon an individual’s stress tolerance, coping strategies, or recovery practices. The entrepreneurial process, from creation to exit, is comprised of several transition periods, all of which are uniquely stressful. The authors explore the implications of our findings by discussing stressors that may manifest during each stage of the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, the authors respond to calls for more dynamic investigation of entrepreneurial stress while also highlighting the need for more research into stressors associated with specific entrepreneurial activities.

Occupational stress occurs in a variety of forms, types, and situations. Arguably, a certain level of stress can encourage productivity, ingenuity, and satisfaction. As occupational stress escalates, however, people’s capacity to deal with it diminishes, eventually compromising work performance and provoking people to express negative emotions. These negative aspects of stress are buffered to a certain extent by individual differences such as personality as well as external contextual factors such as the working environment. This chapter reports a study applying an affective events theory (AET) as a framework to investigate perceived stress in response to negative events in emergency services’ workplaces and the potential buffering effects of servant leadership, affective team climate, and psychological capital. An experience sampling methodology (ESM) was used to record daily cases of self-reported negative events experienced by participants over the three week data-collection period. A structured survey questionnaire independent of the ESM was also used to collect data from 44 emergency service operation members. The findings indicate that servant leadership behavior, affective team climate, and individual psychological capital all are significantly related to reduced perceived occupational stress in emergency service team members.