The Influence of Workload on Work-Life Conflict: Empirical Evidence from Accountants

Abstract

Increasing professional demands have contributed to growing work overload and to intensified conflict between professional and personal life. The accountancy profession, marked by strict deadlines, constant legal and tax requirements, and pressure from clients and supervisors, is particularly conducive to this phenomenon, and the topic remains underexplored in the national literature. This study analyses the influence of work overload on work–life conflict amongst Portuguese accountants, examining how work overload limits the time and energy available for family responsibilities and leisure. The convenience sample comprises 272 Portuguese accountants with data collected via an online questionnaire distributed on social media and publicised by the Order of Certified Accountants. Validated scales measured work overload and work–life conflict, the latter decomposed into three dimensions: work–family, family–work and work–leisure conflict. Data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlations and linear regression. Regression results confirm work overload as a positive, statistically significant predictor of work–life conflict across all three dimensions. The strongest effect emerged for work–family conflict, followed by work–leisure conflict. The effect on family–work conflict was weaker. The study's main contribution is its empirical application, still scarce, of the work–life conflict literature to the accountancy sector in Portugal, offering robust regression-based evidence on how work overload differentially affects family and leisure domains. Practically, findings provide organisations a well-founded basis for designing appropriate human resource policies, including equitable task redistribution, flexible working arrangements and stronger organisational support.