The stressors-performance relationship in public accounting firms : A longitudinal study

Purpose: This study aims to examine the causal nature of the suggested correlations between stressors and performance in accounting and auditing firms. Design: A longitudinal study of the relationships between role stressors and performance of 71 chartered public accountants and trainee-chartered accountants surveyed before and after the fiscal period has been conducted using the partial least squares approach. Findings: The variation of stress arousal is positively associated with the variations of role conflict and overload, but not with the variations of role ambiguity and stress arousal. The variation of burnout arousal is positively related to the variation of stress arousal and, unexpectedly, performance. Practical implications: To improve the performance and well-being of accounting and auditing firm employees during the fiscal period, it appears preferable to give employees and partners less tasks difficult or impossible to accomplish together by hiring and specializing employees. Originality: This longitudinal study provides an original explanation for the phenomena reported in cross-sectional studies and makes three contributions: (1) it suggests a central role during a fiscal period of stress arousal as a mediator of the effects of two role stressors on performance and well-being, (2) the comparison with previous studies' finding suggest the generalizability of some conclusions over time and across space, and (3) the majority of the control variables have no significant relationship with the variables of interest.