Navigating stress in high-pressure environments: Financial communication, intrinsic motivation, and technological moderators in Chinese accounting.

Abstract

High-pressure accounting settings trigger substantial employee burnout. We investigate how robust internal financial communication shapes accountants' intrinsic motivation and burnout, and how co-worker support and AI integration (human versus technology resources) moderate these relationships. Based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we posited that transparent financial communication (a job resource) both directly lowers burnout and indirectly does so by boosting intrinsic motivation. We also predicted that supportive peers and sophisticated AI tools would strengthen communication's motivational impact. Analyzing three-wave survey data from 300 Chinese accounting professionals via PLS-SEM, we observed that financial communication significantly decreased burnout and increased intrinsic motivation (β = 0.35, p < .001). Intrinsic motivation partially mediated the communication-burnout connection. Notably, AI integration intensified communication's effect on motivation, while co-worker support showed no significant moderation (p = .100). These findings highlight that combining human and digital resources, effective communication, and AI, maximizes intrinsic motivation and minimizes burnout among accountants. Implications for theory and practice within the Chinese context and future research directions are discussed.