An Unintended Consequence of Employee Volunteerism on Staff Auditor Behavior

• In Event: Research with an Impact on Scholarship: Auditing and Social Responsibility

Abstract

Although employee volunteer programs are generally seen as positive developments, moral licensing theory suggests moral actions (volunteering) lead to subsequent immoral actions, which could diminish audit quality. In an experiment with upper-level accounting students, we find evidence of moral licensing, suggesting that staff auditors who engage in employee volunteer activities become more willing to commit a dysfunctional audit behavior. Since audit firms and employees are unlikely to abandon volunteer activities, we also investigate a way to mitigate the moral licensing effect. We find that a strong ethical environment helps to attenuate moral licensing in volunteers, and preserve audit quality. Our study highlights an unintended consequence of employee volunteerism, and contributes to research on audit quality, and ethical behavior in professional settings.

Authors

• Michael Killey, University of Michigan-Dearborn

• Matthew J. Hayes, University of Michigan-Dearborn