Hunton, J.E. Gomaa, M. Gold-Nöteberg, A.H. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University)
Abstract
The purpose of the current study is to assess the extent to which auditors’ judgments are affected by client gender, perceived client expertise and auditor gender. While we predict an overall male client favorability bias, we expect that such bias will be mitigated when the client possesses a high, relative to low, level of perceived expertise. Further, we predict differential responses of male and female auditors toward client gender and perceived expertise based on dissimilar risk propensity traits between genders. A total of 157 experienced auditors participated in a between-participants experiment with two manipulated variables [client gender (male or female) and perceived client expertise (high or low)] and one measured variable [auditor gender (male or female)]. In a client-inquiry scenario, auditors exhibit greater belief revision when the client is male as compared to female. We observe a mitigating effect of perceived client expertise for male auditors, but not female auditors. Female auditors react more strongly than male auditors to client gender, such that they refrain from strongly revising their beliefs when the client is female, even when perceived client expertise is high. Since one of the hallmarks of the audit profession lies in the concept of objectivity, the results of this study indicate that audit researchers and practitioners need to better understand the implications of gender stereotypes toward female managers.
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Paper provided by Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam. in its series Research Paper with number
ERS-2006-059-F&A Revision_Date: 2008-04-17.
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