Ego Depletion and Auditors' JDM Quality

• In Event: Audit Quality & Judgment

Abstract

I conduct two experiments to investigate whether self-control requirements in auditing tasks cause ego depletion, and whether depletion impacts auditors' judgment and decision-making (JDM) on realistic auditing tasks. I further examine the role of task-specific experience, task-relevant expertise, and professional skepticism in mitigating or exacerbating depletion. In my first experiment, I find that self-control requirements in two accounting tasks cause greater levels of depletion than does a depleting task from the ego depletion literature. I find that both task-specific experience and task-relevant expertise significantly mitigate depletion. I also find that professional skepticism exacerbates depletion for domain-relevant tasks. In my second experiment, with respect to consequences, I do not find evidence that short-term depletion from task performance significantly affects auditors’ JDM. Specifically, the depletion manipulations in my setting do not significantly affect: 1) auditors’ reasonableness ratings for fraudulent, client-provided explanations for trends; 2) generation of raw or valid alternative explanations for these trends; or 3) auditors’ confidence in their task performance. This research contributes to the literatures on auditors' JDM quality, fraud detection ability, professional skepticism, and ego depletion theory. Future research is needed to determine whether more severe instances of ego depletion are sufficient to significantly impact auditors’ JDM quality.

Author

• Patrick J Hurley, Northeastern University