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Auditors' Engagement Team Commitment and Its Effect on Team Citizenship Behavior

aLouisiana Tech University, USA
bUniversity of Texas at Arlington, USA
cLouisiana Tech University, USA
dTexas State University, USA
eColumbus State University, USA
fSkidmore College, USA

Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research

ISBN: 978-1-80382-802-2, eISBN: 978-1-80382-801-5

Publication date: 25 August 2022

Abstract

Prior research finds that auditors can be distinctively committed to multiple workplace targets (e.g., their audit firm, supervisors, profession, and clients). This study investigates an underexamined target of auditor commitment – engagement teams. Given that these teams are responsible for performing key audit tasks for clients and external stakeholders, we argue that auditors' commitment to their team can affect auditor behavior. Using a sample of 121 auditors, our results indicate that quality social exchange relationships between individual auditors and their engagement teams, activated by perceptions of team fairness, and reciprocated with team commitment, are associated with beneficial group-oriented behavior. Specifically, we posit and find that perceived team fairness predicts perceived team support, perceived team support predicts team commitment, and team commitment predicts citizenship behavior directed toward the engagement team (e.g., helping the team by taking on extra responsibilities during an audit). We also find that the social exchange proxies of perceived team support and team commitment sequentially mediate the positive effect of perceived team fairness on team citizenship behavior, and that team commitment is a stronger predictor of team citizenship behavior than auditors' commitment to their firm.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We thank Khondkar Karim (editor), an anonymous reviewer, and Marcia Simmering for their helpful comments and suggestions. The authors also acknowledge the financial support provided by the School of Accountancy, Louisiana Tech University.

Citation

Herda, D.N., Lavelle, J.J., Lauck, J.R., Young, R.F., Smith, S.M. and Li, C. (2022), "Auditors' Engagement Team Commitment and Its Effect on Team Citizenship Behavior", Karim, K.E. (Ed.) Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (Advances in Accounting Behavioural Research, Vol. 25), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 59-76. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1475-148820220000025003

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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