On-the-Job Coaching: Does One “Bad Apple” Spoil Audit Subordinates’ Commitment to the Firm?

• In Event: Auditor Training and Personnel Issues

Abstract

On-the-job coaching is a key topic in audit firms due to its potential value in improving learning and performance of subordinates. However, it may also have a direct impact on subordinates’ job attitudes (e.g., organizational commitment) and longer-term actions (e.g., leaving the firm). This study investigates the audit subordinates’ perceptions of on-the-job coaching quality of supervisors on multiple engagements, and the link of these perceptions with coaching satisfaction and commitment to the firm. These possible effects are important to audit firm management because under negative conditions they can lead to dysfunctional behaviors and employee turnover, which are detrimental for audit quality and costly for the firms. Based on survey responses from 131 subordinate auditors providing perspectives on 374 supervisors, we find that supervisors’ capabilities are viewed by subordinates (both associates and senior associates) as the greatest inhibiting factor of supervisors’ coaching quality, but that there is variation in the other significant factors between auditor ranks. These results contribute to the audit literature by providing an initial understanding of factors inhibiting coaching quality of audit supervisors. We also find significant variability in the perceived coaching quality of supervisors, and a differential influence of those supervisors on subordinates’ coaching satisfaction and organizational commitment. This result is novel in the literature on coaching, providing an incremental contribution to the one-one-one coaching interactions previously studied.

Authors

• Lindsay Andiola, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Jean C Bedard, Bentley University

• Joleen Kremin, Portland State University