The Effect of the Frequency of Instructional Messages and Message Source on Auditors’ Knowledge Sharing Behavior

• In Event: Continental Breakfast and Research & Education Forum
  In Paper Session: Table 20: Auditor Interactions and Use of Specialists

Abstract

Prior literature has documented the importance of knowledge sharing to accounting firms (Vera-Munoz, Ho and Chow 2006; Carson 2009; Reichelt and Wang 2010), however, researchers have made little process in understanding knowledge sharing behavior in an accounting setting. Vera-Munoz et al. (2006) suggest that formal interactions among auditors can affect auditors’ knowledge sharing behavior. This study aims to understand how formal communication among auditors affect knowledge sharing behavior in knowledge management system. Specifically, this study investigates the impact of the frequency of instructional message and message source on knowledge sharing behavior in an auditing setting. Social categorization theory and message frequency studies in psychology were used to develop the hypotheses of this study. An experiment was conducted and participants were 103 accounting major students. These participants are used as proxy for staff auditors. The experiment employs a 2×2 between-subjects design. The first independent variable is the frequency of instructional (knowledge sharing) message and manipulated at two levels: high frequency or low frequency. The second independent variable is message source. Participants received instructional messages either from an out-group manager or an in-group manager.
The results of this study indicate that an in-group manager is more effective in motivating knowledge sharing behavior. When motivating auditors’ knowledge sharing behavior, an out-group manager should avoid sending high frequency of knowledge sharing messages to auditors. This study provides guidelines for altering the communication styles in order to encourage knowledge sharing. The findings of this study also suggest that more communication messages are not always better. Thus, it helps organizations understand the reasons why employees are reluctant to share their knowledge.

Author

• Xu Cheng, University of South Florida