Comparing the relationship between job burnout and mental health among auditors and nurses

Dissertation of Master's Course in Auditing

Abstract:

     Pressures caused by conflicts of interest, busy working periods and the like make auditing a stressful job; Such tensions affect many aspects of auditors' lives and activities; A person's physical and mental health is threatened, his personal and family life is affected, his social relations are weakened in the workplace and outside of it, the motivation and energy for work activities are reduced and ultimately lead to the weakening of work performance. Such consequences are a serious threat to departments and organizations. However, few researches have studied the job status of auditors in terms of the mentioned issues. The purpose of this research is to examine the state of job burnout, mental health and the relationship between these two variables in auditors, and compare it with nurses (as a job that is clearly stressful based on numerous researches). For this purpose, through a survey research project, one hundred auditors and one hundred nurses were selected from among Iran's official accountants' society and Iran's nursing system organization, respectively, and they completed two questionnaires of job burnout, Pines and Aronson, and Goldenberg's general health. The resulting data were analyzed by calculating Pearson's correlation coefficient and t-test. The results showed that the relationship between job burnout and mental health in both auditors and nurses is significant and negative. But the analyzes did not reveal a significant difference between auditors and nurses in burnout and mental health. Although traditionally burnout is more specific to jobs like nursing that are related to health and social support services, but the results of this research show that auditors are equally exposed to burnout and mental problems caused by it. Therefore, the state of job burnout and mental health of auditors is an important issue that should be considered by managers and decision-making centers. Keywords: job burnout, mental health, auditors, nurses. Mental health, along with physical and social health, is one of the most important factors determining a person's job performance. In addition to employee performance, illness rates, absenteeism, unexpected accidents, employee turnover, as well as employee productivity and creativity, have a strong relationship with their mental health (Catini and Lucifora[1], 2013). On the other hand, mental health itself is affected by the conditions and factors of the work environment. Employees' attitudes about various aspects of the work environment, such as workload, intensity of stress, and locus of control, are decisive for their mental health (Isabel and Kittel[2], 2004). In addition, the state of balance of job demands with the degree of freedom of action of employees, as well as the balance between the amount of effort of employees and the reward received, is effective on the state of mental health of employees (Catini, and Lucifora, 2013).

     Sometimes the mentioned factors, along with other influential factors, may be put together in such a way as to create a destructive process of erosion in a person's work life. In this way, one of the widespread problems in work environments, which is considered as an important risk factor for the health of employees, is burnout[3]. Job burnout is an emotional response to long-term stress and is manifested in emotional fatigue and physical and mental exhaustion (Cheng[4] et al., 2013; Li[5] et al., 2013). The effects of job burnout put a person's physical and mental health at risk and lead to a decrease in individual performance; In addition, the symptoms and complications of job burnout can be a problem for others as well (Nobukht and Oliyali, 2011). Due to the difference in the conditions of the working environment in different jobs, it is natural that the incidence of burnout, as well as the level of mental health of people who have different jobs, are different. Based on the results of the research, the scopes include many physical, psychological and social aspects of the person. Digestive disorders, sleep problems, muscle pains, headaches, and increased vulnerability to diseases, especially colds and flu, can be symptoms of burnout that appear in the body (Maslach and Goldberg [6], 1998).The effects of job burnout in the mental state are manifested in the form of helplessness, feeling of inadequacy and lack of self-confidence, depression, chronic guilt and anger (Calbers and Fogarty [7], 2005). In the field of social relations, job burnout is associated with a negative and unappreciative response to clients, having a pessimistic view of others, reducing positive psychological states such as intimacy, observing professional and social ethics, humility, and politeness, as well as family problems (Abdi Masuleh et al., 2016; Alavi and Jantifred, 2018; Shakriniya, 2011). All in all, such complications make a person unable to perform his work duties correctly and accurately; The importance of work decreases for him, he takes various forms of escape and absenteeism from work, and in general, the quality of a person's performance decreases (Larson[8] et al., 2004). Such broad dimensions indicate the importance of job burnout in the state of jobs and organizations and the need to pay attention to it. Mental health is also one of the important factors among the variables involved in job performance. Many researches have investigated the relationship between mental health and job status. Among other things, based on the research of Karasek and Torres [9] (1990), having low control in the execution of tasks and high work expectations from the employee leads to public health problems. Also, work pressure leads to a noticeable increase in mental disorders such as depression and anxiety in employees (Stanfield and Kennedy[10], 2006; Wang[11] et al., 2008). Vesey et al. (2009) also state that job stress has a negative effect on job satisfaction and mental health of employees.

A look at the complications mentioned for job burnout shows that regardless of job performance, what is destroyed in the process of burnout is the individual's mental health; The research conducted in this field also shows that there is a relationship between job burnout and mental health of employees (Shakrinia, 2011; Alavi and Jantifred, 2018; Abdi Masuleh, et al., 2016; Najafi, Solati, Farozbakhsh, 2019).

Despite the fact that there is a relationship between job burnout and mental health in general, but the status of the variables involved in this relationship in different jobs, is different For a long time, numerous researches have shown that the most job burnout is related to jobs that deal with people and are considered as part of social services. This problem is caused by the daily exposure of these people to stressful conditions and the lack of positive conditions in the work environment; Therefore, nurses, teachers, counselors, psychologists, social workers, police forces, etc. are known as people who are exposed to job burnout (Nobukht and Olyaei, 2013). But this view seems to be changing; Nowadays, job burnout has been investigated in many occupations, from military occupations (Rozi [12], et al., 2012) to office workers (Malkara, 2018), from university professors to technical occupations (Asadi, Borjali, and Jamhari, 2016) and even in carpet weaving (Alavi and Jantifred, 2018), and its importance has been emphasized. 

     Auditing has traditionally been a stressful profession: busy schedules, rush of demands, limited time for personal life; Therefore, as a rule, burnout is common among auditors (Fogarty and Ulis[13], 2000; Herda and Lovell[14], 2012). In the field of job burnout in audit jobs, research has been done, but it is small. According to this research, burnout among auditors can be significant; It seems that among the variables underlying job burnout among auditors, environmental factors and workload are more important and have a positive relationship with burnout, reduction in work quality, and psychological problems. At the same time, being a woman, celibacy, and lack of formal employment are factors that lead to greater vulnerability to burnout (Larsono et al., 2004; Culbers and Fogarty, 2005; Lopez, and Peters [15], 2012; Bagharpour, Saee, and Shaani, 2011). Also, the search in the relevant research literature in the Iranian society indicates the rarity of such researches, especially in the field of auditing. According to the above evidence and reasons, this research aims to investigate the status of various dimensions of job burnout, mental health, and the relationship between these two variables among auditors who are members of the Certified Public Accountants Society of Iran. Another goal of the research is to examine the changes of these variables with other demographic information such as marital status.