Perceived Organizational Support as a Potential Buffer Against Auditor Burnout: A Focused Review and Conceptual Synthesis

HRMARS - Auditor burnout remains a persistent concern in external auditing, with particular relevance to Asian audit markets where rapid professionalisation, workload concentration, and staff retention pressures have become increasingly pronounced. While prior research has largely focused on demand-side factors such as time pressure and role stress, comparatively little attention has been given to organisational resources that audit firms can actively manage. This paper examines perceived organizational support (POS) as a potential buffer against auditor burnout through a focused review and conceptual synthesis of 42 sources. Integrating Organizational Support Theory and the Job Demands–Resources model, it develops a framework in which POS reduces burnout both directly and indirectly through work engagement. The framework introduces dual-accountability tension—arising from auditors’ simultaneous obligations to clients and the public interest—as a key boundary condition shaping the effectiveness of organisational support. Five testable propositions are advanced to guide future empirical inquiry. The paper argues that durable reductions in auditor burnout are more likely to arise from organisational interventions in supervisory practice and role design than from individual coping strategies alone. The framework offers particular relevance for Asian audit settings and provides a foundation for longitudinal and intervention-based research in these contexts.