Effect of Personality Traits on Dysfunctional Audit Behaviour

Abstract

Auditor behaviour has been under the focus of researchers for quite some time now but it has lately been more emphasized because of the recent major corporate failures. Dysfunctional audit behaviour (DAB) is linked with reduced audit quality and is a widespread problem. Extant research does not adequately seem to find out the enablers and predictors of DAB. Archival research suggests that an individual’s personality can predict his or her behaviour. Therefore, considering the importance of personality as the determinant of behaviour, there is a need to explore auditor’s personality. It is expected that studying auditor’s personality would give a better insight into the DAB problem. Empirical evidence on the relationship between personality and dysfunctional audit behaviour is still lacking. Therefore this paper attempts to examine the concept of personality, big five personality trait model for the evaluation of personality and its relationship with dysfunctional audit behaviour. It also reviews the existing literature on the relationship between personality and its different dimensions with DAB. Finally, it proposes a conceptual relationship between big five personality traits and DAB.