Traditionally, auditors have been slow to adopt new technologies in their profession. One proposed explanation for this phenomenon is a psychological factors model, which hypothesizes that auditors have a personality structure that makes them reluctant to accept change and innovation. We tested this model by assessing personality traits related to “Openness to Experience” in auditors and comparing their trait strength to that of the general population. Contrary to the model's predictions, auditors as a group exhibited average to above average levels of Openness-related traits. Additional tests indicated that “influential” auditors (partners and those in large firms) had higher levels of Openness than their less influential colleagues, making it unlikely that innovation-resistant auditors act as technological gatekeepers in the profession. We conclude that auditors in general, and influential auditors in particular, have the psychological resources necessary to accept change and innovation in their profession. Future research should focus on social/organizational factors as an explanation for the slow adoption of new auditing technologies.
Resume
Traditionnellement, les verificateurs comptables sont lents a adopter de nouvelles technologies. L'article propose d'expliquer ce phenomene par des facteurs psychologiques, ce qui presuppose que c'est la structure de leur personnalite qui les rend refractaires au changement et a l'innovation. Nous avons teste ce modele psychologique en evaluant les traits de la personnalite relies a “l'ouverture a l'experience” chez les verificateurs par rapport a la population en general. Contrairement aux attentes, les verificateurs — en tant que groupe — se sont situes dans la moyenne et meme au-dessus de la moyenne. Des tests supplementaires ont indique que les verificateurs “influents” (les associes et ceux qui travaillent dans des grandes firmes) affichaient un degre d'ouverture plus grand que leurs collegues moins en vue, ce qui rend improbable que les verificateurs resistant a l'innovation fassent obstruction au changement technologique. Conclusion: les verificateurs en general, et les verificateurs influents en particulier, sont dotes des ressources psychologiques necessaires a l'acceptation du changement et de l'innovation dans leur profession. Une prochaine recherche devrait se concentrer sur les facteurs sociaux/organisationnels pour expliquer la lenteur d'adoption des nouvelles techniques de verification.
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