Understanding the auditor's ethical behaviour in the professional environment

Resumo

This thesis contributes novel insights to the understudied field of auditing ethics through four linked studies. Chapter two offers a detailed review of literature over 40 years, amalgamating Bibliometric, Social Network and Content Analysis to scrutinize 114 articles from accounting and business ethics journals on the Web of Science database from 1980-2021. Through a thematic clustering of this literature, gaps are identified and potential research trajectories suggested. While auditing ethics is emerging as a field, most existing studies focus on developed countries, with a scarcity of work on developing nations and the ethical perceptions of professional auditors. Although individual auditors' ethical decision-making and moral reasoning have been widely studied, organizational factors received less attention. Recognizing the need for research to reflect the rapidly evolving business environment, this thesis posits more emphasis on practical applications of auditing ethics. Insights derived from this analysis provide the basis for the following three papers within this thesis. Chapter three of this thesis offers a unique exploration of auditors' attitudes towards different forms of corruption, with a specific focus on an under-studied context - Palestine. Utilizing ordinal regression and the Mann-Whitney U Test, an original survey of Palestinian auditors is analyzed. The findings indicate variability in auditors' perceptions of corruption, with corrupt behaviors linked to political, private, and bureaucratic jobs perceived as more acceptable than illicit receiving and giving practices. Acceptance of corruption was found to decrease with age across most corrupt behaviors surveyed. Gender differences also emerged, with female auditors exhibiting a higher tolerance towards various forms of corruption. The auditor's position and external education were also found to influence attitudes towards corruption. These findings have valuable implications for regulators and professional bodies looking to curb corruption, providing actionable insights to inform anti-corruption strategies. The fourth Chapter analyses an original survey of auditors using Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). to examine possible factors affecting Ethical Conflict (EC) and the impact of EC on Turnover Intention (TI). It investigates the moderating role of Ethical Climate (EtC) and its relationship with EC and job-related outcomes. It also examines the mediating role of EC between Perceived Auditor Ethical Failure (PAEF) and TI and also between Workload (WL) and TI. In the final chapter of this thesis, we pioneer the application of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework in assessing factors impacting auditors' work outcomes, utilizing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. We find that ethical conflict (EC) is positively associated with adverse work outcomes, notably turnover intention (TI), validating the JD-R framework. Vital job resources, such as ethical climate (EtC) and career fulfilment (CF), markedly influence job demands and work outcomes, thus mitigating both EC and TI. Intriguingly, the study identifies a positive relationship between Empowerment (EM) and EC, arising when auditors with perceived empowerment lack actual decision-making authority, a finding which challenges the JD-R framework and underscores the necessity of scrutinizing the subtleties of job resources within the audit profession. Recognizing both positive and negative effects of job resources is key in devising strategies that enhance auditor welfare and job performance. The findings have implications for auditing firms, aiding in the mitigation of potential EM's negative impact on EC, and promoting decision-making capacity in auditors. Consequently, these firms can equip auditors with essential resources to effectively manage job demands, fostering positive work outcomes and an ethical audit profession.