Literature Review |
Corresponding author: Linde Kerckhofs ( l.kerckhofs@ieseg.fr ) Academic editor: Anna Gold
© 2024 Linde Kerckhofs, Marie-Laure Vandenhaute, Kris Hardies.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes, provided that the article is not altered or modified and the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Kerckhofs L, Vandenhaute M-L, Hardies K (2024) A systematic literature review on the bright and dark sides of auditors’ personality. In: Majoor B, Gold A, Oord A (Eds) De controle verklaard. Maandblad voor Accountancy en Bedrijfseconomie 98(1/2): 11-24. https://doi.org/10.5117/mab.98.116510
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This article synthesizes research on auditors’ ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ personality traits. Our systematic literature review identified 34 studies that met our inclusion criteria. These studies provide insights into auditors’ personality traits, their impact on audit quality, and their association with various professional behaviors and outcomes. Our review emphasizes the importance of understanding personality traits and considering them in the recruitment phase and throughout an auditor’s career. Recognizing the variation in auditors’ personalities and understanding their interplay within audit practices are relevant for improving and refining the profession.
Personality traits, auditors, audit profession
This article is relevant for practice as it could help audit firms make informed decisions regarding talent recruitment, workforce assignment to clients, and the professional development of their human capital. By understanding the association between auditors’ personality traits and their behavior, audit quality, and client interactions, firms can match auditors with appropriate tasks, enhance audit outcomes, and improve client relationships. Research on auditors’ personalities provides valuable insights for optimizing the allocation of audit personnel, ultimately benefiting the efficiency and effectiveness of auditing practice.
This article synthesizes research on auditors’ personality traits, aiming to provide insights to audit firms and academics about the current state of knowledge. Research in psychology consistently demonstrates the association between an individual’s personality and their behavior in the workplace. Personality is associated with vocational choices, work performance, and various professional outcomes (such as promotions) (
That said, recent years have witnessed an increase in research demonstrating the influence of individual auditor characteristics on audit outcomes, including audit quality (see e.g.,
Responding to calls for more research on auditors’ personalities (
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. In section 2, we provide a brief background on the above-mentioned personality taxonomies. In section 3, we describe the methodology used for identifying and analyzing research. In section 4, we summarize the findings from our literature review on existing research on personality in the audit profession. We conclude with section 5.
Research on personality traits has a rich tradition. For a comprehensive overview of this extensive body of work, we refer to
It is noteworthy that personality traits have predictive utility across diverse outcomes, including health, mortality, marital dissolution, relationship quality, occupational achievement, and performance across a spectrum of domains (e.g.,
Nevertheless, the study of personality traits does not adhere to a singular, all-encompassing theoretical framework. Consequently, we focus on three widely employed taxonomies for classifying personality traits: the Big Five (also referred to as the ‘five-factor’ model), HEXACO, and the Dark Triad. The Big Five and HEXACO models serve as comprehensive taxonomies for assessing the socially desirable facets of an individual’s personality, with high scores on these traits linking to favorable life outcomes, hence often referred to as ‘bright’ personality traits in the literature (
First, we discuss the ‘bright’ personality traits and their taxonomies. The Big Five and the HEXACO models provide representations of personality traits at a comparable level of analysis. To facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the implications of these personality traits, Table
Personality trait | Characteristics |
---|---|
Big Five | |
Emotional Stability | Calm, contented, relaxed, secure, stable versus angry, anxious, emotional, envious, fearful, moody, nervous, worrying |
Extraversion | Active, assertive, enthusiastic, outgoing, sociable, talkative versus introverted, quiet, reserved, shy, withdrawn |
Agreeableness | Agreeable, cooperative, fair, forgiving, generous, kind, soft-hearted, sympathetic, trusting, warm versus cold, cruel, hard-hearted, rude, selfish, stingy, quarrelsome |
Conscientiousness | Dependable, organized, planful, precise, reliable, responsible, thorough versus careless, frivolous, irresponsible, lazy, negligent |
Openness to experiences | Artistic, creative, curious, imaginative, intelligent versus simple, shallow, unimaginative |
HEXACO | |
Honesty-humility | Faithful/loyal, fair-minded, honest, modest/unassuming, sincere versus boastful, deceitful, greedy, hypocritical, pompous, pretentious, sly |
Emotionality | Brave, independent, self-assured, stable, tough versus anxious, emotional, fearful, oversensitive, sentimental, vulnerable |
Extraversion | Active, cheerful, extraverted, lively, outgoing, sociable, talkative versus introverted, passive, quiet, reserved, shy, withdrawn |
Agreeableness | Agreeable, gentle, lenient, mild, patient, peaceful, tolerant versus choleric, ill-tempered, quarrelsome, stubborn |
Conscientiousness | Careful, diligent, disciplined, organized, precise, thorough versus absent-minded, irresponsible, lazy, negligent, reckless, sloppy |
Openness to experiences | Creative, innovative, intellectual, ironic, unconventional versus conventional, shallow, unimaginative |
The emergence of the Big Five taxonomy represented the first significant milestone in personality psychology. It is the product of rigorous research endeavors spanning several years, during which multiple scholars, employing factor analysis techniques, reached a consensus that personality traits can be meaningfully categorized into five fundamental personality traits (
Subsequently, the HEXACO model has been posited by
Next, we briefly introduce the ‘dark’ personality traits emerging from the Dark Triad taxonomy. This taxonomy encompasses three distinct personality traits: psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism (
Personality trait | Characteristics |
Dark Triad | |
Narcissism | Grandiosity alongside underlying feelings of insecurity ( |
Psychopathy | Impulsivity and a notable deficit in empathy ( |
Machiavellianism | Strategic planning, reputation-building, and coalition formation ( |
Our synthesis aims to obtain a comprehensive overview of existing research, addressing the question: ‘What do we know about auditors’ ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ personality traits and their impact on auditor behavior?’ Therefore, we searched for all research studies that examined the impact of ‘bright’ or ‘dark’ personality traits on the practice of auditing. We searched for such studies through the Web of Science (WoS) and EBSCO databases. Our approach adheres to established guidelines for the systematic literature review process (see e.g.,
Eligibility criteria for review of literature on the role of personality in the audit profession.
Category | Inclusion | Exclusion | Justification |
---|---|---|---|
Review question | Papers related to personality in auditing using the personality traits included in the Big Five, HEXACO, or Dark Triad | Papers related to personality in auditing using Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or other measures for personality | Scholars such as |
Papers related to external auditing | Papers related to internal auditing | ||
Study design | Empirical papers | Non-empirical papers | We exclude non-empirical papers to maintain our focus and papers that cause uncertainty about their results ( |
Papers that cause uncertainty about their results | |||
Publication status | Published studies | Retracted studies | We exclude these studies to avoid concerns about the quality of unpublished papers (see e.g., |
Unpublished studies that either (a) have been cited by published papers, (b) are coauthored by at least one author who has published about the topic before, or (c) have been presented at a top accounting conference | Unpublished studies that have neither (a) been cited by published papers, nor (b) are coauthored by at least one author who has published about the topic before, nor (c) have been presented at a top accounting conference | ||
Publication year | All years | None | Since personality traits are relatively stable over time ( |
Language | English | Languages other than English | We focus on studies in English because the vast majority of accounting research is published in English |
Panel A: Search Strings and Limiters | |
WoS (Social Sciences Citation Index) | Search string: (TS = (audit* AND “[Search term]”) OR AB = (audit* AND “[Search term]”) OR TI = (audit* AND “[Search term]”) AND (SO = journal) AND (WC = “Business, Finance” OR WC = “Business” OR WC = “Management” OR WC = “Economics”) |
EBSCO (Business Source Complete) | Search string: SU(audit* AND “[Search term]”) OR AB(audit* AND “[Search term]”) OR TI(audit* AND “[Search term]”) |
Limiters: Publication Type: Academic Journal; Language: English | |
Panel B: Search Terms | |
Personality traits | |
Personality | |
HEXACO | |
Big Five | |
Dark Triad | |
Honesty-humility | |
Emotionality | |
Emotional stability | |
Neuroticism | |
Extraversion | |
Extroversion | |
Agreeableness | |
Conscientiousness | |
Openness | |
Openness to experience | |
Narcissism | |
Psychopathy | |
Machiavellianism |
The electronic searches took place during November 2023 and resulted in the first author identifying 129 (WoS) and 289 (EBSCO) records, respectively. After removing 64 duplicates, 354 potentially relevant records remained for screening. Subsequently, we first screened the papers’ titles and abstracts to determine their relevance. In this part, 325 papers were excluded for reasons included in our eligibility criteria (see Table
In this section, we synthesize research from the 34 studies in our sample on the role of personality in the audit profession. We discuss research on the ‘bright’ personality traits in Section 4.1 and the ‘dark’ personality traits in Section 4.2.
Our review yields significant insights into the personality characteristics prevalent among auditors and other professionals in the accounting and auditing domain. Most research studying personality in this context has focused on accounting students. This line of research suggests some interesting relationships between personality traits and career preferences. Notably, individuals scoring lower on openness to experiences are more inclined to pursue a master’s degree in accounting (
Research has also observed that individuals scoring lower on openness to experiences show a preference for careers in auditing (
Recent investigations have expanded the exploration of personality traits among auditors, examining them in contrast with professionals from other occupational backgrounds. Auditors, as a cohort, exhibit higher levels of conscientiousness but have lower scores on openness to experiences, emotional stability, agreeableness, and extraversion compared to their counterparts in other vocations (
Moreover, research documents distinctions in personality traits across hierarchical levels within the Big 4 accounting firms. Managerial positions manifest higher levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experiences relative to their counterparts in non-Big 4 entities (
Next, the intricate interplay between personality traits, audit behaviors, and audit outcomes has received substantial attention. Traits such as emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experiences correlate positively with auditors’ career satisfaction (
Auditors’ personality traits also have implications for fraud detection and fraudulent behavior. Auditors demonstrating high conscientiousness exhibit greater acumen in fraud detection (
Finally,
Overall, a nuanced understanding emerges in synthesizing the comprehensive body of evidence concerning auditors’ bright personality traits and their effect on behavior and outcomes. Specifically, the body of research indicates that within the audit profession notable bright personality traits are openness to experiences, extraversion, and conscientiousness, as they are associated with professional skepticism, fraud detection, and technical skills. As such, individuals scoring high on these traits are likely to exhibit behaviors and achieve outcomes that increase audit quality.
A relatively extensive body of research has relied on the Dark Triad framework to examine the personality characteristics of auditors and their ramifications across various dimensions of the auditor’s behavior.
One finding that clearly emerges from this literature is the disparity in personality traits between accounting students and their counterparts from other academic disciplines. Notably, studies have consistently shown that accounting students have lower levels of narcissism and psychopathy compared to students from other academic backgrounds (J
Recent investigations into auditors’ personalities have revealed intriguing patterns and distinctions compared to professionals in other domains. In particular, research shows that auditors have lower levels of Machiavellianism than individuals pursuing alternative career paths (
Research on the implications of auditors’ personalities has predominantly centered on narcissism. This body of research documents relationships between narcissism and various facets of auditing practice. Notably, narcissistic auditors have been found to harbor aspirations toward becoming audit partners at a higher rate than their non-narcissistic counterparts (
Research by
Research on auditors’ narcissism has extended beyond traditional metrics of audit quality, fees, and reporting decisions, delving into its broader implications. For instance, evidence suggests that narcissistic auditors may withhold knowledge from their peers, thereby impeding knowledge sharing and underestimating client risk (
Research also explored the role of other ‘dark’ personality traits in shaping audit behaviors and outcomes. Notably, while narcissism is positively associated with professional skepticism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy exhibit an inverse relationship with reduced professional skepticism (
Our systematic literature review provides a comprehensive synthesis of research examining ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ personality traits among auditors. Employing established taxonomies such as the Big Five and HEXACO model for ‘bright’ personality traits and the Dark Triad model for ‘dark’ personality traits, scholars have examined the personality of auditors to gain insights with implications for academic discourse and auditing practice. While research on ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ personality traits among auditors is expanding and becoming increasingly important in the academic auditing literature, evidence also shows that personality only has limited explanatory power in explaining the variance in audit outcomes. This observation is, however, not surprising as it is impossible for numerous independent variables to all have large effects on a single outcome (
Conversely, the investigation into ‘dark’ personality traits unveils a shadow on auditors’ personality traits. Researchers have investigated the intricate dynamics underlying these traits, revealing their nuanced influence on auditors’ behaviors and professional outcomes. Notable revelations include the divergence in ‘dark’ personality trait prevalence between auditors affiliated with the Big 4 and those in smaller accounting firms (
Overall, these findings offer valuable insights for auditing practice. The results suggest that recruiters should seek potential employees scoring high on ‘bright’ personality traits such as conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experiences, but also those scoring high on the ‘dark’ personality trait of narcissism. The existing research suggests that these personality traits lead to preferable outcomes in the audit profession. Notwithstanding, it is important to note that ‘bright’ (‘dark’) personality traits can have a dark (bright) side as well (
This systematic literature review has several limitations. First, publication bias (i.e., studies with statistically significant results are more likely to be published than those with null or non-significant findings) may influence the comprehensiveness and representativeness of the reviewed literature, potentially skewing the overall findings and conclusions of the review. However, we tried to avoid this by including high-quality unpublished papers. Second, although we made the inclusion criteria as broad as possible, our review’s scope and inclusion criteria may inadvertently exclude relevant studies, leading to gaps in the coverage of the literature. Nevertheless, we tried to avoid this as much as possible by also using a citation search. Third, assessing the quality of included studies is critical, and multiple authors did this in this paper. However, variations in study quality, methodology, and reporting standards across the included studies may introduce bias or uncertainty in the review findings. Furthermore, the heterogeneity in methods complicates the synthesis and comparison of findings across studies and limits our ability to draw definitive conclusions. Despite increased attention in recent years, research on personality traits in auditing literature remains rather limited.
We conclude this paper by proposing several avenues for future research. First, given the well-known differences in personality traits across cultures (
Prof. dr. Kerckhofs – Linde is an assistant professor in Accounting at the IÉSEG School of Management, France. Linde’s research focusses on auditing, with a specific interest in auditors’ personalities and the quality of audit services.
Prof. dr. M. Vandenhaute – Marie-Laure is an assistant professor of Accounting and Auditing at the Solvay Business School, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Marie-Laure’s areas of research interest include audit firm’s compensation and incentive structures (such as equity ownership), auditor going concern reporting and the auditor selection process. Her research focuses particularly on the quality of audit services.
Prof. dr. K Hardies – Kris is a professor in the Department of Accountancy and Finance at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Kris’s research interests include gender inequality, personality and individual differences among auditors, auditors’ and investors’ judgment and decision-making, and research methods and metascience.
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Professional service firms are knowledge-intensive organizations with a professionalized workforce and low capital intensity (
We recognize that audits are typically done by teams. However, to the best of our knowledge,
It is important to note that
Although psychology researchers disagree on whether ‘bright’ personality traits are best measured by five or six factors, both the Big Five and the HEXACO model are frequently used and validated in research. Nevertheless, some argue that ‘bright’ personality traits can be measured with just two or a single higher-order factor (e.g.,
During the period between data collection and the publication of this article, all working papers sourced from SSRN were published in a scientific journal.
Authors + Year | Journal | Country of Research | Short Summary | Research Method | Taxonomies used |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Working paper | Estonia | The paper systematically compares personality traits across 263 professions using a comprehensive personality assessment in a large sample. | Survey | Big Five |
|
Critical Perspectives on Accounting | The Netherlands | The paper examines personality trait diversity in audit firms. The study finds that auditors within the same firm type or experience level exhibit a significant degree of homogeneity in personality traits. | Experiment | Big Five |
|
Journal of Accounting Education | USA | This paper investigates the levels of psychopathy among accounting students and its correlation with attitudes regarding unethical professional practices. | Survey | Dark Triad (psychopathy) |
Brown J et al. (2013) | American Journal of Business Education | USA | This paper investigates the levels of narcissism among accounting students and its potential impact on their leadership style and careers. | Survey | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
Brown TA et al. (2010) | Journal of Education for Business | USA | The paper examines the relationship between personality traits, particularly empathy and narcissism, and ethical decision-making in business students. The study finds that empathetic and narcissistic personality traits significantly influence ethical decision-making. | Survey | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
|
The Accounting Review | Taiwan | This paper measures partner narcissism in audit reports in Taiwan through the size of partner signatures and finds that audit quality increases with higher partner narcissism levels. | Archival | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
|
Contemporary Accounting Research | China | This paper presents the results of three studies (archival, experimental, and qualitative) examining the impact of auditor narcissism on auditor-client negotiations in China. The research suggests that narcissistic auditors tend to be more competitive and resolute in negotiations, which can extend the negotiation process but lead to more conservative outcomes. | Archival + experiment | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
|
The CPA Journal | USA | The paper addresses the decline in accounting enrollment by surveying first-year students in accounting principles courses to understand their perceptions of accountants compared to the average person in terms of personality traits. | Survey | Big Five |
Dalton et al. (2014) | Accounting Horizons | USA | This paper investigates the factors influencing accounting students’ career decisions between audit and tax tracks. The paper also indicates that professionals sometimes hold different perceptions, suggesting potential misimpressions among students about the accounting practice. | Survey | Big Five |
|
Maandblad Voor Accountancy en Bedrijfseconomie | The Netherlands | This study explores the role of personality characteristics in shaping students’ preferences for a master’s degree in accountancy. It also investigates whether the personality traits of accountancy students align with those driving individuals towards public service or entrepreneurial aspirations. | Survey | HEXACO |
|
Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting | USA | This study demonstrates a significant connection between the perception of an auditor’s personality traits and how the auditor is believed to assess and respond to audit evidence. Auditors perceived as conscientious are considered to have a notably higher ability to detect fraud compared to their less conscientious counterparts. | Experiment | Big Five (conscientiousness) |
|
Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting | Canada | This study delves into the personality predictors of propensity for fraudulent activities. The results show that honesty and Machiavellianism are the most significant predictors of fraud propensity. | Experiment | HEXACO + Dark Triad |
|
Working paper | The Netherlands | This study combines existing models of auditors’ professional skepticism with the Theory of Planned Behavior to create a testable model explaining the relationship between trait skepticism and skeptical actions. The research finds that partners and managers tend to exhibit higher levels of skepticism compared to seniors and staff. Additionally, personality traits like agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, narcissism, and psychopathy are associated with varying levels of trait skepticism. | Survey | Big Five + Dark Triad |
|
Contemporary Accounting Research | USA | The paper explores the relationship between auditor personality traits, specifically the Dark Triad traits, and the impact of social interaction on professional skepticism. | Experiment | Dark Triad |
|
Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations (Book) | USA | This study investigates how accounting students’ personality traits influence their career interests in auditing. The research identifies a “trait gap” between students’ own personality traits and their perceptions of the ideal auditor. | Survey | Big Five |
|
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy | USA | The paper investigates the impact of narcissism among client and audit professionals on the gatekeeper function of auditors in ensuring the integrity of corporate financial reports. | Experiment | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
|
Accounting Horizons | Belgium | This study investigates the influence of personality traits on graduate business students’ decisions regarding starting their careers in the accounting profession, and at the Big 4 versus non-Big 4 firms. | Survey | HEXACO + Dark Triad |
|
Working paper | Belgium | This study explores the factors (including personality traits) influencing auditors’ aspirations to become audit partners and assesses their engagement in organizational citizenship behaviors and self-interested behaviors. | Survey | Big Five + Dark Triad |
|
International Journal of Auditing | Belgium | This study explores the relationship between audit engagement partners’ narcissism and their audit reporting decisions and audit pricing. | Archival | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
|
Individual Differences Research | USA | The study examines the connection between personality traits and career satisfaction among accountants and compares the personality traits of accountants to those of other professionals. | Archival | Big Five |
|
Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting | USA | This paper investigates the impact of several factors (including personality traits) on professional skepticism and how this professional skepticism affects accounting students’ performance in cybersecurity tasks. | Survey | Big Five |
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Journal of Education and Research in Accounting | Brazil | This paper aims to examine the impact of Dark Triad personality traits on professional skepticism among independent auditors in Brazil. | Survey | Dark Triad |
|
Working paper | The Netherlands | This paper examines the relationship between auditors’ personality traits, skills, and job performance. | Survey | Big Five + Dark Triad |
|
International Journal of Business and Society | Indonesia | This study investigates the moderating effects of public accounting firm size, personality traits, and locus of control on the association between role conflict and auditor judgment bias. | Survey | Big Five |
|
Asian Review of Accounting | Iran | This study explores the relationship between Iranian auditors’ narcissism and their professional skepticism. The research finds that higher levels of narcissism are associated with increased professional skepticism. | Survey | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
Sajedi et al. (2022) | Journal of Business Research | Iran | This study focuses on the prediction of professional skepticism components among Iranian auditing partners based on their Big Five personality traits. | Survey | Big Five |
|
Management Decision | Iran | This study investigates the impact of auditors’ self-esteem and narcissism on their knowledge-sharing behavior. | Survey | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
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Journal of Productivity and Performance Management | Iran | The paper explores the impact of managers’ and auditors’ narcissism on the stability of management teams and corporate relative performance. | Archival | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
Samagaio and Felíci (2022) | Journal of Business Research | Portugal | This study investigates the impact of auditors’ personality on audit quality. The results indicate that traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness are positively associated with professional skepticism in auditors, while conscientiousness and neuroticism negatively affect reduced audit quality practices. | Survey | Big Five |
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Business Ethics: A European Review | Canada | In this study, Canadian public accountants, including those working in both Big 4 and non-Big 4 firms, were surveyed to assess their orientation towards Machiavellianism. | Survey | Dark Triad (Machiavellianism) |
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Journal of Career Assessment | N/A | This article introduces a measurement tool for six personality styles, including Narcissistic, Paranoid, Obsessive, Hysterical, Depressive, and Impulsive, to investigate occupational choice and leisure activity in survey research among typical populations. | Survey | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
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International Journal of Auditing | Japan | This paper examines the relationship between the narcissism of audit partners and income-increasing earnings management of client firms and how this partner narcissism has an impact on the audit team. | Archival | Dark Triad (narcissism) |
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Journal of Financial Crime | Indonesia | This study aims to investigate the impact of whistleblowing systems on fraud intention, the influence of Machiavellianism personality on fraud intention, and the interactive effect between whistleblowing systems, Machiavellianism personality, and fraud intention. | Experiment | Dark Triad (Machiavellianism) |
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Behavioral Research in Accounting | USA | This study investigates the influence of the Machiavellian personality trait on accountants’ career choices and workplace behavior. | Survey | Dark Triad (Machiavellianism) |