Volume 21, Issue 1 (2024)
ioh 2024, 21(1): 191-206 |
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Nazaripour M, Zakizadeh B. The Role of Human Capital in Organizational Success: A Focus on Physcial and Mental Well-being of Accountants. ioh 2024; 21 (1) :191-206
URL: http://ioh.iums.ac.ir/article-1-3486-en.html
URL: http://ioh.iums.ac.ir/article-1-3486-en.html
Hazrat-e Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran , m.nazaripour@hmu.ac.ir
Abstract: (179 Views)
INTRODUCTION
Human resources are a critical asset for any organization's success. In today's knowledge-based economy, capable human resources are even more essential (22). The quality of human resources is influenced by both workplace conditions and individual employee characteristics. According to Nguyen (27), organizations can achieve sustainable development through efficient human resource management.
In today's knowledge-based economy, organizations prioritize their employees. Active employee engagement not only enhances customer satisfaction but also significantly contributes to achieving organizational goals (24). Healthy and motivated employees are crucial to organizational success. To thrive, organizations must prioritize employee health in addition to knowledge, commitment, and skills (26). Healthy employees with high morale effectively communicate and actively participate in achieving organizational objectives.
Healthy employees, both physically and mentally, contribute significantly to achieving goals such as attracting more customers, increasing profitability, and enhancing brand reputation (20). Additionally, physical and mental well-being reduces employee absenteeism and improves work quality. A strong sense of belonging, fostered by physical and mental health, leads to employees feeling connected to the company's successes and failures (17). Consequently, loyal employees invest significant time and energy in achieving organizational goals, contributing to a competitive advantage.
Accountants are key employees who can significantly contribute to achieving organizational goals. This includes reducing costs, gaining a competitive advantage, and managing risk. Therefore, the physical and mental well-being of employees, particularly accountants, is a critical concern for organizations. This study aims to investigate the impact of accountants' physical and mental health on organizational success.
METHODOLOGY
This research is a practical, descriptive-exploratory correlational study. The study population consisted of accountants working in manufacturing companies. Due to the difficulty and cost of accessing the entire population, a convenience sample of 218 questionnaires was collected. Of these, 209 were usable, resulting in a return rate of 54.4%, which is considered acceptable (4). Simple random sampling was employed, and data was collected during the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
The literature review was conducted using library research methods. The literature review informed the development of the research questions for the physical health, mental health, and organizational success constructs, drawing upon the work of Goldberg & Hillier (10), Keyes et al. (16), and Huff et al. (13), respectively.
Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed using SPSS version 26 and AMOS version 24 to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were extracted using SPSS, while inferential statistics were conducted using AMOS.
RESULT
According to the research findings, 69.4% of the respondents were male, and 30.6% were female. The majority of respondents were aged 30-40 (43.5%). Most respondents held a master's degree (59.8%), and their work experience ranged from 5 to 10 years (24.9%).
Before hypothesis testing, the normality of the data was assessed. Given the sample size of 209 cases, the central limit theorem suggests that the data can be assumed to be normally distributed. The study included seven variables: physical activity or sports (S), social health (SH), organizational success (OS), psychological health (PH), emotional well-being (EH), physical work environment conditions (WP), and nutrition (N).
This study used two indices—composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE)—to assess instrument reliability. Two additional indices—convergent validity and discriminant validity—were employed to measure instrument validity (Table 1).
Table 1: Reliability and validity of the model
Note: The calculations were performed using a macro developed by James Gaskin in Excel.
Table 2: Minimum requirements for model reliability and validity
Given that the calculated values in Table 1 exceed the threshold values, the research model exhibits good reliability and validity. Specifically, all CR values are greater than 0.7, and all AVE values are greater than 0.5. Additionally, the maximum shared variance (MSV) and average shared variance (ASV) are lower than the AVE.
Assessing the goodness-of-fit is a crucial aspect of structural equation modeling (SEM). Several indicators were used to assess the model fit in this study (Table 3).
Table 3: Goodness of model fit with different indicators of fitness
According to the values presented in Table 3, the research model exhibits a good fit.
Test of Hypotheses
The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with AMOS software. The results are presented in Table 4.
Table 4: The results of research hypotheses test
According to Table 4, all six main hypotheses were confirmed at the 99% confidence level, as their critical ratios exceeded 2.58. This indicates that a one-unit increase in the variables of sports, nutrition, physical work environment conditions, emotional well-being, psychological health, and social health, respectively, leads to a 0.254, 0.173, 0.126, 0.213, 0.174, and 0.175 unit increase in organizational success. Based on the standardized coefficients, physical activity had the strongest influence, while psychological health had the weakest. Given the sedentary nature of accounting work, this finding seems reasonable.
CONCLUSIONS
In addition to possessing technical knowledge and professional ethics, accountants must maintain sufficient physical and mental health to deliver quality professional services. This study demonstrates that the physical and mental health of accountants plays a significant role in enhancing their performance and, subsequently, organizational success.
To assess the physical health of accountants, this research utilized three constructs: physical activity, nutrition, and physical work environment conditions. Physical activity can significantly boost employee vitality by positively impacting various bodily systems. A healthy diet can enhance employee efficiency and productivity by improving physical health. The physical work environment has a substantial impact on employee performance, and proper design and equipment can contribute to their physical well-being.
Psychological health encompasses healthy thinking and the ability to adapt to one's environment and social interactions. It plays a significant role in achieving organizational goals by reducing material and emotional costs. For accountants, psychological health involves the capacity to withstand work pressure.
This study employed three constructs to assess the psychological health of accountants: emotional well-being, psychological health, and social health. Emotional well-being represents a balance between positive and negative emotions. Increased positive emotions lead to greater employee motivation and engagement. Psychological health reflects inner well-being and self-efficacy, enabling employees to contribute more actively to the organization. Social health indicates an individual's level of social presence within the organization and society. This enhances employees' ability to play a more effective role in the organization.
Accountants shoulder diverse and extensive responsibilities, making physical and psychological health crucial for timely and high-quality performance. Thinking is a core competency for accountants, demanding both physical and mental well-being. Given their constant engagement with tables, charts, and complex statistical data, accountants are prone to conditions like stress, sick building syndrome, and headaches. As valuable assets to their organizations, accountants require attention to their physical and psychological health.
Recommendations
Based on the research findings, recommendations can be made for both accountants and organizations. For accountants, the following two areas require attention.
a) Improve physical fitness: Accountants should prioritize physical health by engaging in regular exercise, playing sports, and maintaining a balanced diet.
a-1) Enhance psychological resilience: Accountants should cultivate effective coping mechanisms for challenges, pressures, and stressors. Positive thinking and avoiding negative emotions like stress, depression, and anxiety are essential.
a-2) Prioritize learning and practice: New accountants should prioritize learning fundamental accounting concepts to build confidence. Continuous practice and revision of basic principles are crucial for enhancing accounting knowledge. Effective and consistent work is a key to success in the accounting profession.
a-3) Continuous learning: Continuous learning expands accountants' knowledge and perspectives. By staying updated through sources like professors, colleagues, conferences, journals, and websites, accountants can enhance their accounting and auditing skills.
a-4) Enhance IT skills: IT proficiency is essential for accountants as it increases efficiency and accuracy in completing tasks.
b) Organizations: Accountants are a primary source of financial data essential for critical decision-making. Therefore, organizations must prioritize the well-being and work-life balance of their accountants. Effective incentive policies are crucial for attracting and retaining qualified accountants. Competitive salaries are necessary to ensure a satisfactory standard of living and support further education, thereby attracting top talent. Organizations should also provide continuous training opportunities to keep accountants updated with the latest industry knowledge.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None.
KEYWORDS
Accountant Health, Organizational Success, Physical Health, Mental Health, Human Resources
Human resources are a critical asset for any organization's success. In today's knowledge-based economy, capable human resources are even more essential (22). The quality of human resources is influenced by both workplace conditions and individual employee characteristics. According to Nguyen (27), organizations can achieve sustainable development through efficient human resource management.
In today's knowledge-based economy, organizations prioritize their employees. Active employee engagement not only enhances customer satisfaction but also significantly contributes to achieving organizational goals (24). Healthy and motivated employees are crucial to organizational success. To thrive, organizations must prioritize employee health in addition to knowledge, commitment, and skills (26). Healthy employees with high morale effectively communicate and actively participate in achieving organizational objectives.
Healthy employees, both physically and mentally, contribute significantly to achieving goals such as attracting more customers, increasing profitability, and enhancing brand reputation (20). Additionally, physical and mental well-being reduces employee absenteeism and improves work quality. A strong sense of belonging, fostered by physical and mental health, leads to employees feeling connected to the company's successes and failures (17). Consequently, loyal employees invest significant time and energy in achieving organizational goals, contributing to a competitive advantage.
Accountants are key employees who can significantly contribute to achieving organizational goals. This includes reducing costs, gaining a competitive advantage, and managing risk. Therefore, the physical and mental well-being of employees, particularly accountants, is a critical concern for organizations. This study aims to investigate the impact of accountants' physical and mental health on organizational success.
METHODOLOGY
This research is a practical, descriptive-exploratory correlational study. The study population consisted of accountants working in manufacturing companies. Due to the difficulty and cost of accessing the entire population, a convenience sample of 218 questionnaires was collected. Of these, 209 were usable, resulting in a return rate of 54.4%, which is considered acceptable (4). Simple random sampling was employed, and data was collected during the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
The literature review was conducted using library research methods. The literature review informed the development of the research questions for the physical health, mental health, and organizational success constructs, drawing upon the work of Goldberg & Hillier (10), Keyes et al. (16), and Huff et al. (13), respectively.
Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed using SPSS version 26 and AMOS version 24 to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were extracted using SPSS, while inferential statistics were conducted using AMOS.
RESULT
According to the research findings, 69.4% of the respondents were male, and 30.6% were female. The majority of respondents were aged 30-40 (43.5%). Most respondents held a master's degree (59.8%), and their work experience ranged from 5 to 10 years (24.9%).
Before hypothesis testing, the normality of the data was assessed. Given the sample size of 209 cases, the central limit theorem suggests that the data can be assumed to be normally distributed. The study included seven variables: physical activity or sports (S), social health (SH), organizational success (OS), psychological health (PH), emotional well-being (EH), physical work environment conditions (WP), and nutrition (N).
This study used two indices—composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE)—to assess instrument reliability. Two additional indices—convergent validity and discriminant validity—were employed to measure instrument validity (Table 1).
Table 1: Reliability and validity of the model
| variable | CR | AVE | MSV | ASV | S | SH | OS | PH | EH | WP | N |
| S | 0.810 | 0.520 | 0.239 | 0.065 | 0.721 | ||||||
| SH | 0.843 | 0.518 | 0.181 | 0.101 | 0.170 | 0.720 | |||||
| OS | 0.880 | 0.554 | 0.270 | 0.189 | 0.489 | 0.425 | 0.744 | ||||
| PH | 0.855 | 0.500 | 0.134 | 0.079 | 0.138 | 0.353 | 0.366 | 0.707 | |||
| EH | 0.845 | 0.524 | 0.270 | 0.151 | 0.208 | 0.379 | 0.520 | 0.295 | 0.724 | ||
| WP | 0.813 | 0.522 | 0.233 | 0.112 | 0.098 | 0.307 | 0.410 | 0.314 | 0.483 | 0.723 | |
| N | 0.836 | 0.507 | 0.143 | 0.073 | 0.227 | 0.187 | 0.378 | 0.115 | 0.358 | 0.256 | 0.712 |
Table 2: Minimum requirements for model reliability and validity
| Threshold Value | |
| CR> 0.7 | Reliability Condition |
| AVE> 0.5؛ CR>AVE | Convergent Validity Condition |
| MSV < AVE ؛ ASV < AVE | Divergent Validity Condition |
Assessing the goodness-of-fit is a crucial aspect of structural equation modeling (SEM). Several indicators were used to assess the model fit in this study (Table 3).
Table 3: Goodness of model fit with different indicators of fitness
| Index | Calculated value | Threshold value | Comparison |
| X2/df | 1.471 | Less than 3 | Favorable |
| RMSEA | 0.048 | Less than 0.08 | Favorable |
| GFI | 0.836 | More than 0.90 | Acceptable |
| CFI | 0.923 | More than 0.90 | Favorable |
| AGFI | 0.804 | More than 0.90 | Acceptable |
| NFI | 0798 | More than 0.90 | Acceptable |
| TLI | 0.914 | More than 0.90 | Favorable |
| RFI | 0.772 | More than 0.90 | Acceptable |
| IFI | 0.925 | More than 0.90 | Favorable |
Test of Hypotheses
The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with AMOS software. The results are presented in Table 4.
Table 4: The results of research hypotheses test
| hypothesis | relationship | unstandardized coefficient | standard error | standardized coefficient | critical ratio | P-value | ||
| 1 | S | OS | 0.254 | 0.049 | 0.407 | 5.164 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | N | OS | 0.173 | 0.065 | 0.181 | 2.651 | 0.008 | |
| 3 | WP | OS | 0.126 | 0.050 | 0.174 | 2.525 | 0.012 | |
| 4 | EH | OS | 0.213 | 0.052 | 0.294 | 4.104 | 0.000 | |
| 5 | PH | OS | 0.174 | 0.067 | 0.164 | 2.584 | 0.010 | |
| 6 | SH | OS | 0.175 | 0.062 | 0.199 | 2.827 | 0.005 | |
CONCLUSIONS
In addition to possessing technical knowledge and professional ethics, accountants must maintain sufficient physical and mental health to deliver quality professional services. This study demonstrates that the physical and mental health of accountants plays a significant role in enhancing their performance and, subsequently, organizational success.
To assess the physical health of accountants, this research utilized three constructs: physical activity, nutrition, and physical work environment conditions. Physical activity can significantly boost employee vitality by positively impacting various bodily systems. A healthy diet can enhance employee efficiency and productivity by improving physical health. The physical work environment has a substantial impact on employee performance, and proper design and equipment can contribute to their physical well-being.
Psychological health encompasses healthy thinking and the ability to adapt to one's environment and social interactions. It plays a significant role in achieving organizational goals by reducing material and emotional costs. For accountants, psychological health involves the capacity to withstand work pressure.
This study employed three constructs to assess the psychological health of accountants: emotional well-being, psychological health, and social health. Emotional well-being represents a balance between positive and negative emotions. Increased positive emotions lead to greater employee motivation and engagement. Psychological health reflects inner well-being and self-efficacy, enabling employees to contribute more actively to the organization. Social health indicates an individual's level of social presence within the organization and society. This enhances employees' ability to play a more effective role in the organization.
Accountants shoulder diverse and extensive responsibilities, making physical and psychological health crucial for timely and high-quality performance. Thinking is a core competency for accountants, demanding both physical and mental well-being. Given their constant engagement with tables, charts, and complex statistical data, accountants are prone to conditions like stress, sick building syndrome, and headaches. As valuable assets to their organizations, accountants require attention to their physical and psychological health.
Recommendations
Based on the research findings, recommendations can be made for both accountants and organizations. For accountants, the following two areas require attention.
a) Improve physical fitness: Accountants should prioritize physical health by engaging in regular exercise, playing sports, and maintaining a balanced diet.
a-1) Enhance psychological resilience: Accountants should cultivate effective coping mechanisms for challenges, pressures, and stressors. Positive thinking and avoiding negative emotions like stress, depression, and anxiety are essential.
a-2) Prioritize learning and practice: New accountants should prioritize learning fundamental accounting concepts to build confidence. Continuous practice and revision of basic principles are crucial for enhancing accounting knowledge. Effective and consistent work is a key to success in the accounting profession.
a-3) Continuous learning: Continuous learning expands accountants' knowledge and perspectives. By staying updated through sources like professors, colleagues, conferences, journals, and websites, accountants can enhance their accounting and auditing skills.
a-4) Enhance IT skills: IT proficiency is essential for accountants as it increases efficiency and accuracy in completing tasks.
b) Organizations: Accountants are a primary source of financial data essential for critical decision-making. Therefore, organizations must prioritize the well-being and work-life balance of their accountants. Effective incentive policies are crucial for attracting and retaining qualified accountants. Competitive salaries are necessary to ensure a satisfactory standard of living and support further education, thereby attracting top talent. Organizations should also provide continuous training opportunities to keep accountants updated with the latest industry knowledge.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None.
KEYWORDS
Accountant Health, Organizational Success, Physical Health, Mental Health, Human Resources
Keywords: Accountant Health, Organizational Success, Physical Health, Mental Health, Human Resources
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Health Education
Received: 2023/05/3 | Accepted: 2024/12/9 | Published: 2025/02/6
Received: 2023/05/3 | Accepted: 2024/12/9 | Published: 2025/02/6
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