Surviving busy season: Using the job demands-resources model to investigate coping mechanisms

Fatigue and burnout are root causes of audit quality issues and turnover. Leveraging the job demands-resources theory, we investigate whether two mechanisms can reduce accountants' fatigue and, in turn, improve audit quality. We conduct a field study of public accountants during both normal and busy season work periods, collecting bi-daily logs to examine whether the use of microbreaks (i.e., brief respite activities) as a job crafting mechanism and/or the receipt of supervisory support as a job resource lessen end-of-day fatigue. We posit and find that engaging in microbreaks is associated with reduced end-of-day fatigue within busy season. Similarly, we posit and find that higher levels of daily supervisory support during busy season are associated with lower end-of-day fatigue. However, neither of these mechanisms is associated with lower end-of-day fatigue during normal work periods. Our results also indicate that these two mechanisms function as complements during busy season, with either one significantly reducing end-of-day fatigue, but both together having an interactive effect. Further, end-of-day fatigue during busy season reduces sleep quality, which increases accountants' fatigue the following morning. In a follow-up experiment, we consistently find evidence that a 1-min microbreak reduces fatigue and that this reduction directly translates into improved error detection.