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Work Attitudes and Behaviors PDF
Work Attitudes and Behaviors PDF
Suzanne Luttman
Associate Professor
Santa Clara University
Leavey School of Business
Santa Clara, CA 95053
sluttman@scu.edu
(408) 554-4897
FAX (408) 554-5193
Linda Mittermaier
Associate Professor
Capital University
College of Arts and Sciences
Columbus, OH 43209-2394
lmitterm@capital.edu
(614) 236-6130
Fax (614) 268-6837
James Rebele
Associate Professor
Lehigh University
Rauch Business Center
Bethlehem, PA 18015-3117
Jer8@lehigh.edu
(610) 758-3682
FAX (610) 758-6429
THE ASSOCIATION OF CAREER STAGE AND GENDER WITH TAX
ACCOUNTANTS’ WORK ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS
ABSTRACT
affects accountants’ job-related attitudes and behaviors. A first step in achieving this
objective is to identify those variables that are related to accountants’ work attitudes and
behaviors. Previous research has examined antecedent causes of, for example,
Two limitations of the extant research are that subjects have almost always been auditors
and no consideration has been given to the fact that accountants may react differently to
This study addresses these two limitations of prior research by examining whether
tax accountants’ work attitudes and behaviors differ across four common career stages:
with tax accountants’ work attitudes also was tested. Results indicate that career stage is
unrelated to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work alienation, and role stress.
A significant gender effect was found. These results for tax accountants differ somewhat
from results for auditors (Rebele et al. 1996), indicating that a one-size-fits-all approach
Prior research has examined the relationship between aspects of the accounting
Examples of this type of research include studies that have examined how accountants’
role stress is related to their job satisfaction and performance and studies examining
job satisfaction, performance, and turnover behavior (see, for example, Fogarty et al.
2000, Fisher 2001, Rasch and Harrell 1990, Rebele and Michaels 1990, and Senatra
1980).
Except for a few studies that tested whether age or job tenure affects accountants’
work attitudes and behaviors, researchers have not subdivided samples according to
where in their careers different respondents might be. Grouping all respondents together
implicitly assumes that where a person is in his or her career does not affect how the
person interacts with his or her work environment. Research in non-accounting contexts
has, however, shown that we can better understand how individuals relate to their jobs
and are affected by their jobs when we consider how people might change over time
The idea that we change in significant ways across the course of our careers is
intuitively obvious. What is not so obvious are the types and patterns of changes that we
might experience between when we start and stop working, or the effect that such
changes might have on how we relate to our work environment. Career development
theory provides several conceptual models that identify patterns of changing job concerns
and potential consequences of such changes for job-related attitudes and behaviors
(Smart and Peterson 1994). Super (1957) provided one such model of career
development and adjustment. Rather than assuming that all individuals in the same age
range are in the same career stage, Super’s model assumes that many factors (e.g.,
physical, social, and psychological) determine a person’s career stage. Having a similar
set of priorities, goals, and attitudes is a better indicator than is a similar age that
The four career stages identified in Super’s (1957) model are exploration,
facing individuals currently in that particular career stage. For example, exploration-
stage individuals are focused on finding the right occupation and with answering the
individuals have chosen their occupation and shifted their attention and efforts to
concerned with maintaining their position in the organization, and may be intimidated by
stage are more focused on making the transition from work to retirement. Cron and
Slocum (1986) have shown that long before they reach retirement age, some individuals
Sonnenfeld and Kotter (1982), Whiston (1990), and Smart and Peterson (1994)
have provided significant support for Super’s career stages model. Using Super’s model,
Rebele et al. (1996) found career stage to be associated with auditors’ job-related
attitudes and behaviors in important ways. For example, auditors in the exploration
career stage had the lowest levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment and
the highest levels of work alienation and role stress. These results indicate that auditors
just beginning their careers have a difficult time adjusting to the work environment, a
finding that suggests the need for job retention efforts designed specifically for entry-
level auditors.
Two important limitations of existing research are that auditors were almost
always used as subjects and, except for Rebele et al. (1996), the moderating effect of
career stage on the relationship between work environment and job-related attitudes and
behaviors has not been examined. This study extends Rebele et al. (1996) by examining
whether and how tax accountants’ career stage is related to their work attitudes. As noted
by Benke and Rhode (1980), work environments within public accounting firms differ
across specializations and results from one group of professionals may not be
measuring and testing the effect of career stage will both improve our understanding of
Beyond Rebele et al. (1996), this study also evaluates the association of gender
with tax accountants’ work attitudes. Creating a positive work environment, including
The basic purpose of this study is to examine whether tax accountants’ work-
related attitudes differ across the four career stages identified by Super (1957). Work
attitudes examined in the study are job satisfaction, job performance, job-related tension,
organizational commitment, work alienation, role conflict, and role ambiguity. This
section reviews relevant empirical research as background for hypotheses about the
association of career stage and tax accountants’ work attitudes (Hypotheses H1a through
H1g) and the impact of gender on tax accountants’ work attitudes (Hypothesis 2). For
Job Satisfaction
Research on the association between career stage and job satisfaction has
produced mixed results. Studies by Slocum and Cron (1985), Cron and Slocum (1986),
and Ornstein, Cron, and Slocum (1989) found that the level of job satisfaction of
salespeople increased as they progressed through the career stages. Results from other
studies indicate that job satisfaction either does not increase across career stages (Van
Maanen and Katz 1976) or decreases across career stages (Churchill et al. 1976; Mount
1984).
example, Adler and Aranya (1984) found that CPAs’ intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction
increased over the first three career stages, but then diminished in the final career stage,
while Rebele et al. (1996) found exploration-stage auditors had the lowest levels of job
satisfaction, with satisfaction generally increasing over the next three career stages.
Alternatively, Norris and Niebuhr (1983) found job satisfaction to be unrelated to career
stage for accountants employed by Big 8 firms. The inconclusiveness of prior research
Job Performance
Although workers’ job performance often declines over career stages, research
involving professional employees does not support this decline in performance (Hall and
Mansfield 1975; Cron and Slocum 1986). This may be because experience and client
relationships enable professionals in the later career stages to maintain relatively high
performance levels. Rebele et al. (1996) found this positive relationship between career
stage and performance, with exploration-stage auditors having the lowest level of job
the second hypothesis about tax accountants’ career stage and performance is:
Job-Related Tension
Stress is experienced, to varying degrees, by all employees and can arise from the
physical work environment, the individual, the work group, or the organization (Matteson
tension should improve over time, although research has not extensively investigated the
relationship between career stage and job tension. Results from the one available study
(Rebele et al. 1996) show no significant relationship between auditors’ career stage and
Organizational Commitment
The degree to which an individual feels committed to his or her organization may
expectations to the workplace and can become critical of their organizations when these
expectations are not met (Hall 1976). Promotions and raises received by those in the
establishment and maintenance career stages tend to lead these individuals to perceive
found that younger employees tend to be less committed to their organizations than older
employees.
The relationship between career stage and organizational commitment has been
examined in several accounting studies, with mixed results. Adler and Aranya (1984)
found older accountants to be more committed to their organizations than were younger
career stage, measured using Super’s model, and organizational commitment and Lynn et
1986) found no relationship between accountants’ career stage and commitment to their
organizations.
Because prior research has produced mixed results regarding the relationship
between accountants’ career stage and organizational commitment, the fourth hypothesis
is:
Work Alienation
An individual who “cares little about the work, approaches work with little energy
and ambition, and works primarily for extrinsic rewards” (Rebele et al. 1996: 245) is said
to be alienated from his/her work (Dubin 1956; Moch 1980). Work alienation is the
opposite of job involvement (Kanungo 1979; Organ and Greene 1981; Lefkowitz et al.
1984), which would be the work attitude preferred by employers. Two studies have
examined the relationship between career stage and accountants’ work alienation or job
involvement. Rebele et al. (1996) found auditors’ career stage to be negatively related to
work alienation, with exploration-stage auditors exhibiting the highest levels of work
alienation. Lynn et al. (1996) found a positive relationship between accountants’ career
stage and job involvement. Thus, the fifth hypothesis, concerning the relationship
Role stress includes both role conflict and role ambiguity, with role conflict
and role ambiguity referring to existing uncertainty about job expectations, methods for
fulfilling job expectations, and/or the consequences of job performance (Kahn et al.
1964). Both role conflict and role ambiguity should decline as individuals progress in
their careers (Walker et al. 1975; Cron 1984). Role conflict should decline across career
stages because (1) more experienced individuals will likely have learned how to resolve
or cope with conflict, (2) over time, individuals may build up psychological defense
mechanisms to screen out conflicting demands, and (3) individuals who cannot cope with
conflict will likely change jobs. Role ambiguity should decline over time as individuals
obtain more information about what supervisors expect of them and about how to meet
Although role stress has been examined in several prior accounting studies (e.g.,
Fisher 2001, Senatra 1980), only Rebele et al. (1996) tested the relationship between
career stage and role stress. Their findings indicate that external auditors’ role ambiguity
declined over the four career stages, but, except for exploration-stage auditors having the
highest levels of role conflict, career stage was unrelated to role conflict. The sixth and
seventh hypotheses address the relationship between tax accountants’ career stage and
Gender
The association between the work environment and job-related attitudes and
behaviors may be affected by gender. For example, Weeks et al. (1999) found
Lynn et al. (1996) found some differences in accountants’ work attitudes across career
stage for females, but not for males. Given the increasing number of women employed in
accounting positions, identifying gender differences in work attitudes and behaviors has
RESEARCH METHOD
This section explains how the above hypotheses were tested and how the data
were analyzed. Included in the section are descriptions of the subjects and a discussion
Data Collection
firms. Questionnaires were distributed by a tax partner whose cover letter supported the
were distributed and 118 completed questionnaires were returned to the authors, for a
response rate of 82 percent. Eleven questionnaires were incomplete, so data from 107
Respondents had been with their firms for an average of more than three years
and had an average of five years of tax experience. Approximately 35 percent of the
respondents were at the staff level, 29 percent were seniors, 27 percent managers, and
number of years with the firm (firm tenure), years of tax experience, and years in public
accounting are provided in the upper portion of Table 1. The lower portion of Table 1
provides demographic information (sex, position in the firm, and highest educational
Measures
The reliability of the measures provided by the instruments used in this study has
contexts. For example, job satisfaction was measured using Hoppock’s (1935) four-item
scale, which has been validated in repeated studies involving more than 20,000 subjects
measure has been used by Harrell and Stahl (1984), Harrell and Eickhoff (1988), Rasch
Psychometric evaluations have shown the 13-item role conflict scale and the 10-
item role ambiguity scale developed by Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970) to be reliable
measures of both role conflict and role ambiguity (Schuler et al. 1977; Jackson and
Schuler 1985; Gregson et al. 1994). These 23 items were used to evaluate role stress in
this study.
and used by Rebele et al. (1996). This scale measures respondents’ perceptions of how
their jobs affect their physical health in terms of tension, anxiety, worry, stress, and
fatigue.
for work on this dimension. Respondents self-rated their job performance using a
Prior research has measured career stage using variables that Dillard and Ferris
(1989) have characterized as being either demographic (e. g., age, job title, years at the
approaches to measuring career stage have been shown to account for more variability in
job attitudes than do demographic-based measures (Rush et al. 1980; Cron and Slocum
1986; Ornstein et al. 1989; Chao 1990; and Morrow et al. 1990).
Career stage was measured in this study using the perceptual-based Career
Questions included in the CCI identify those career concerns that are currently most
with approximately equal numbers of males and females, supports the factorial validity
and consistency of the CCI with Super’s four career stages (Smart and Peterson 1994).
Rebele et al. (1996) used the CCI to identify external auditors’ career stages.
stage. For example, most “staff” tax accountants were classified as being in the
establishment career stage using the CCI, although these same individuals would have
been classified as exploration-stage if the demographic variable, job title, had been used
as the career stage measure. There were partners and managers in the exploration stage,
tenure) to classify individuals into career stages rather than using the individuals’ own
perceptions about their current career stage. By using the CCI to identify career stage,
respondents are correctly classified based on their survey responses. For example,
partners and managers deciding whether to make their careers with the CPA firm or to
indicate responses suggesting they are dealing with the “what do I want to do with the
rest of my life” question. Thus, they would properly identify themselves as being in the
items, and reliability estimates (Cronbach’s coefficient alpha) for each measure used in
the study. All job outcomes and role stress survey questions were measured on a 7-point
scale with the exception of job-related tension, which (to maintain consistency with
previous studies) was measured using a 6-point scale. The Career Concerns Inventory,
alpha, one of the most widely used measures of internal consistency. It is appropriately
used when survey responses have a multiple-point rating system (e.g., 1-7 ranking on the
“agree/disagree” scale). The maximum possible value for Cronbach’s alpha is one when
the correlation between the variables is one. All measures in the current study have
sufficiently high reliability, as indicated by coefficients alpha ranging from .76 to .95
(Nunnally 1978).
The “items” column in Table 2 indicates the number of questions from the survey
instrument used in the measurement of each job attitude, role stressor, or career stage.
relationship between tax accountants’ career stage and work attitudes and between gender
factor and the analysis involves a single predictor variable (career stage or gender) and
commitment, work alienation, and role stress) measured on interval scales. MANOVA
allows the researcher to perform a single test that determines whether a significant
when compared to all of the work attitudes simultaneously. If there are significant
differences using MANOVA (i.e., across career stages or gender with respect to at least
identify which groups differ. If significant univariate F results are found, follow-up tests
determine the specific work attitudes on which the groups differ (contrasts).
RESULTS
Results are presented in Table 3. Panel A of Table 3 presents results for the
hypothesized relationships between tax accountants’ career stage and work attitudes. The
figures in the first four columns of Panel A represent the mean summated scale (summing
response scores across items to create an overall scale on each construct for each
respondent) for each career stage. The univariate F-values columns report the ANOVA
results, and the “significant contrasts” column identifies those career stages exhibiting
Work Attitudes
F=1.62, p < .05). However, univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) results indicate
that only job performance (Hypothesis 1b) and job-related tension (Hypothesis 1c) are
significantly different across career stages. Job performance increased through the
results show that exploration-stage tax accountants had significantly higher levels of job-
related tension than did their colleagues in the disengagement career stage. No
significant differences across career stages were found for job satisfaction (Hypothesis
1a), organizational commitment (Hypothesis 1d), work alienation (Hypothesis 1e), and
Gender
that tax accountants’ gender is related to their work attitudes (multivariate F = 2.52, p <
.05). Univariate ANOVA results indicate that male and female tax accountants differed
female tax accountants were more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to their
organizations, and reported less role conflict than did their male colleagues. Interactions
Results from this study indicate that career stage is generally unrelated to tax
accountants’ work attitudes, although evidence was found that exploration-stage tax
accountants have significantly lower levels of job performance and significantly higher
satisfaction, organizational commitment, and role conflict, with females reporting higher
Comparing the results of this study with Rebele et al.’s (1996) findings for
external auditors supports Benke and Rhode’s (1980) observation that not all
professionals within public accounting firms react the same to their work environment, or
even perceive their work environment in the same way. With the exception of role
conflict, the same work attitudes examined in this study were found by Rebele et al.
(1996) to be significantly related to external auditors’ career stage. The results of these
retention in professional accounting firms may not be most effective in improving job-
Comparing results from the Rebele et al. (1996) study and this study should be
done with caution because subjects for the two studies came from different firms and
different geographic locations. Future research using auditors and tax accountants from
offices of the same firms is needed to more conclusively establish whether or not there
are differences in how these groups of professionals interact with their work
environments. The results of this current study should be interpreted in light of the
limitations that all measures in the study are self-reported, that the sample included only
four disengagement-stage tax accountants, and that the questionnaire was somewhat long
Professional services firms must effectively and efficiently use their intellectual
capital, or knowledge, in order to offer superior client service. Developing and retaining
competitive, while the departure of trained professional staff compromises a firm’s ability
to serve its clients and to obtain new clients or offer new services (Hermanson et al.
1995; Hooks and Cheramy 1994). Both developing and retaining professionals depends,
attitudes. Understanding how accounting professionals’ work attitudes and behaviors are
affected by the work environment or personal characteristics should help firms create
career development and training programs that most benefit their professional staff.
Using a career stages framework, this study has shown that tax professionals just
beginning their careers are not adjusting well to the public accounting work environment.
Firms should pay particular attention to developing and retaining valued employees in
Results from this study and the prior study by Rebele et al. (1996) have
implications for researchers who are examining the work attitudes and behaviors of
divide samples by specialization, career stage, and gender. Separate analyses then should
Suzanne Luttman gratefully acknowledges the support provided by the Robert and
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Table 1
Characteristics of Tax Professionals
Within Each Career Stage
Frequencies Total
Sex:
Male 12 25 26 3 66
Female 11 21 5 1 38
Total 23 46 31 4 104*
Position:
Partner 1 1 6 2 10
Manager 7 9 11 2 29
Senior 6 13 12 0 31
Staff 9 24 4 0 37
Total 23 47 33 4 107
Education:
Bachelor’s degree 8 27 21 3 59
Master’s degree 10 12 8 1 31
Doctoral degree 5 8 3 0 16
Other 0 0 1 0 1
Total 23 47 33 4 107
* p < .05
** p < .10
*** Figures represent the mean summated scale of questions for each work attitude.
****Only significant contrasts are reported.
* p < .05
** p < .10