The Multitasking Audit Environment: How Alternative Modes of Communication Affect Team Performance.

• In Event: Audit team communication/knowledge sharing

Abstract

Despite the considerable evidence suggesting multitasking reduces performance, multitasking is unavoidable in the audit profession. Auditors are often required to work on multiple engagements and perform multiple tasks simultaneously to keep up with the demands of their profession. In the hopes of facilitating their multitasking, auditors have extended beyond face-to-face interactions to computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies. However, little is known about the relative impact of these modes of communication on the performance of audit teams working in multitasking environments. Accordingly, in a laboratory experiment, we examine the effects of alternative modes of communication (face to face, chatroom, and discussion board) on audit team performance in a multitasking setting. Our results demonstrate that traditional face-to-face communication outperforms both forms of CMC (chatroom and discussion board). Also, within CMC, teams using a discussion board significantly outperform teams using a chatroom.

Authors

• Veena Looknanan Brown, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

• Juergen Sidgman, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

• Joseph F Brazel, North Carolina State University