A Note about the Effect of Auditor Cognitive Style on Task Performance

Abstract

Previous research documents variation among auditors in terms of their cognitive style. Auditors have been classified as possessing an intuitive, analytic, or hybrid cognitive style. However, the potential implications of cognitive style upon auditor task performance have received little attention. Building upon the work of Chan (1996), this paper examines the role of “cognitive misfit” on auditor task performance. Cognitive misfit is a lack of fit between a person's cognitive style and task characteristics. Participating auditors were required to perform two judgment tasks and complete a cognitive style questionnaire. Tests for an interactive task performance effect between task type and auditor cognitive characteristics were performed. As expected, auditor cognitive style significantly interacts with the task type. Analytic auditors performed better on the analytic task than the intuitive task. Likewise, intuitive auditors performed better on the intuitive task than on the analytic task. Limitations and implications of the research are discussed.