Getting well by getting together: how organizational culture influence auditors’ well-being
2014 (Swedish)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [sv]
På senare år har sjukskrivningarna i Sverige ökat på grund av arbetsrelaterad stress, vilket tros bero på den ökade stressen i dagens samhälle. Forskning visar att arbetsrelaterad stress ofta drabbar individer som har kontakt med och ansvarar för människor. Det kan bero på att tidigare forskning inom well-being, välmående, främst har riktats mot läkarkåren. Eftersom revisorer, precis som läkare, anses vara en profession av många, finns det incitament att även studera revisorers well-being. Tidigare forskning har påvisat att organisationskulturen både kan ha en positiv och en negativ inverkan på en individs well-being, vilket medför att vi har valt att studera hur olika organisationskulturer inom revisionsbyråer påverkar revisorns wellbeing.
Genom att i ett första skede genomföra pilotintervjuer med revisorsassistenter, har detta gett oss en god inblick i deras arbetssituation, vilket har bistått oss i utformandet av en enkät. Denna enkät har sedan skickats ut till samtliga identifierbara godkända och auktoriserade revisorer i Sverige. Av 2 738 utskick fick vi 262 stycken svar, vilket motsvarar en svarsfrekvens på 9,6 %. Med hjälp av den teoretiska referensramen har sex stycken hypoteser utformats. För att testa dessa har vi valt att analysera våra resultat genom att utföra statistiska analyser.
Vi har i vår studie kunnat konstatera att det finns indikationer på att en kollektivistisk organisationskultur, hierarchy culture och adhocracy culture har en positiv inverkan på revisorns subjektiva well-being. Dessutom har vi även kunnat konstatera att det finns indikationer på att market culture och en individualistisk organisationskultur har en negativ inverkan på revisorns subjektiva well-being.
En begränsning med vår studie är att den endast innefattar godkända och auktoriserade
revisorer i Sverige. Begränsningen medför dock att vi kan bidra med ny kunskap inom en
tidigare relativt ostuderad kontext.
Abstract [en]
During the past years the absence from work due to work-related stress has increased in Sweden, which is assumed to have something to do with the increased stress in society. Previous research has shown that work-related stress often affects individuals who have some kind of contact with other people and also have a responsibility towards them. This might be a reason for why previous research has focused mainly on doctors, when it comes to studies on well-being. Since auditors, just like doctors, are believed to be a profession, it would also be interesting to study auditors’ well-being. Previous research has shown that the organizational culture can have an impact on the individual’s well-being. This is why we have chosen to study how different organizational cultures within audit firms affect auditors’ well-being.
We started our research by conducting pilot interviews with assistant auditors, to give us a good overview of their work situation. This led to the construction of a survey, which has been distributed to all approved and authorized auditors in Sweden. We have sent 2 738 questionnaires and received 262 responses, which is a response rate of 9,6 %. By the help of the theoretical framework, we constructed six hypotheses, which have been tested by statistical analyses.
One conclusion is that we have found indications that a collectivistic organizational culture, hierarchy culture and adhocracy culture have a positive effect on the auditors’ subjective wellbeing. We can also conclude that there are indications that market culture has a negative effect on the auditors’ subjective well-being.
A limitation with this study is that it only includes approved and authorized auditors in Sweden. The limitation, however, enabled us to contribute with new knowledge within a previously somewhat unstudied context.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2014. , p. 110
Keywords [en]
well-being, organization, culture, accountancy, accountant, profession
Keywords [sv]
organisationskultur, revisor, revision, profession
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-12231OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hkr-12231DiVA, id: diva2:728603
Educational program
Degree of Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
Examiners
2014-07-022014-06-242014-07-07Bibliographically approved