Personality traits and junior auditors’ attitudes toward audit behavior: a cultural comparative study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of auditors’ personality traits, measured by the Big Five personality framework, on their attitudes toward dysfunctional audit behavior (DAB) in two different cultural contexts, the United States (US) and Lebanon.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a survey-based methodology administered to senior accounting students from accredited universities in the US and Lebanon, used as proxies for junior auditors. The survey measures respondents’ personality traits and their attitudes toward various forms of DAB using Likert-type scales, where lower values indicate stronger agreement with the behavior. Multiple statistical analyses are conducted to examine the relationships between personality traits, culture and attitudes toward DAB.FindingsThe results show that neuroticism is significantly associated with selected forms of DAB. Specifically, higher levels of neuroticism are associated with stronger agreement with Time Deadline Pressure Premature Sign-off (TDPMS) and weaker agreement with time budget pressure underreporting of time (TBURT). Other personality traits exhibit limited explanatory power. Cultural differences are also observed: Lebanese junior auditors demonstrate significantly stronger agreement toward certain types of DAB than their American counterparts. Culture is also found to moderate the relationship between neuroticism and some DAB types.Practical implicationsUniversities and audit firms can use this research to raise awareness on the DAB issue, its impact on audit quality and its associated risks. Through training and awareness such behavior might be mitigated.Originality/valueThis study explores whether junior auditors’ personality is associated with their attitudes toward improper auditing practices, a topic that has not been thoroughly tackled in the literature. Addressing this issue from two different cultural contexts provides greater insight into the topic.