The effect of ethical tension and time pressure on job burnout and premature sign-off

Abstract

The burnout is a common occurrence in psychology and a few applied business fields. Due to continuous acknowledgement in the practice community, this topic's academic acknowledgement has begun to surface in accounting literature. Previous studies in accounting revealed that burnout amid internal auditors are an important issue for auditors and employers. This paper examines the influence of ethical tension and time pressure on job burnout and its influence on premature sign-offs among internal auditors. To assess this, a total of 187 internal auditors who work in Jordanian public shareholding companies answered a questionnaire. The findings were that ethical tension and time pressure are important antecedents for job burnout, which increases internal auditors' level of premature sign-offs. Furthermore, the study found that the job burnout mediates the relationship between ethical tension, time pressure and premature sign-off.