Do Apprenticeship Norms Encourage Supervisors' Audit Quality Enhancing Behaviors?

• In Event: Norms, Culture, and Values in the Audit Context

Abstract

The audit environment operates using an apprenticeship model, where more senior auditors are responsible for the training and development of junior auditors. While a significant stream of research has investigated this model from the perspective of the review process and its effect on preparers and reviewers, we investigate what effect the apprenticeship model has on those who “coach” new hires. We describe how this social environment strongly influences the salient role identities that auditors experience, and also the different norms and beliefs associated with each role. We argue that the salient role identity of the "coach" will activate apprenticeship norms, which include norms around quality behavior. In an experiment with experienced auditors, we find that auditors select a higher-quality sample when accompanied by a novice versus a peer. We offer evidence that this effect is explained by increased felt responsibility to model quality behavior. Our work is important for practice as it offers information about the process by which the traditional audit environment encourages quality behavior in a time when firms are considering a variety of changes to the social configuration of that environment.

Authors

• Emily Sokolosky Blum, Texas A&M University

• Richard Hatfield, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa