Accountability at Work: Effects of Employee Accountability on Emotional Exhaustion and Engagement among Healthcare Professionals in the Netherlands

Accountability plays an important role in the daily work of frontline professionals, yet it is unclear whether it affects them either positively or negatively at work. This study therefore examines how employee accountability (EA), as a job demand, impacts employee engagement and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, we assess to what extent psychological safety, as a job resource, moderates the impact of EA on emotional exhaustion and engagement. Based on a survey among 3,691 frontline professionals in Dutch healthcare, we show that different dimensions of employee accountability have contradictory, albeit small, effects on emotional exhaustion and engagement. In addition, our study reveals that the validity and reliability of the measurement of employee accountability are dependent on professional and national contexts. Recommendations for future research are discussed.