Institutional Work in Non-Global Network Firms: How In-Charge Auditors Engage With Technology-Based Audit Tools to Influence the Audit

Abstract

I investigate how in-charge auditors emerge as big fish within the smaller ponds of non-global network firms (NGNFs) (i.e., firms other than the “Global 7”) to engage in institutional work using technology-based audit tools (TBATs) to impact audit quality. Using semi-structured interviews through the lens of institutional theory, I identify factors associated with in-charges’ propensity to engage in institutional work, being actions that contribute to the development (i.e., creation), continuance (i.e., maintenance), and/or breach (i.e., disruption) of practice. Findings identify audit firm culture, engagement budgets, and training experiences as important antecedents to individuals’ ability to pursue institutional work and effect change. Evidence suggests auditors internalize the time-relevance of their actions differently, and these perspectives are predictive of the nature of the institutional work auditors pursue. Data also give rise to new process-theory research questions regarding audit firms’ technological cultures, trainings, auditor-client interactions, and ceremonial practices as promising research avenues.