A Matter of Motivation - The Influence of Risk Preference, Liability Limitation, & Complexity on the Auditor´s Motivation

This paper examines whether, & how several audit-specific attributes influence auditor's motivation. Following the literature, the research project focuses mainly on the impact of risk preference, task complexity, & the liability situation in this issue. A 2x2 mixed-subjects case-based experiment was conducted to gain data for in-depth insights. In sum 209 master students with a major in accounting, & auditing participated in the experiment. The results indicate that increased risk aversion leads to a higher observed task motivation. Regarding the task complexity, data analysis show that increasing task complexity lowers auditor´s motivation. No effects were found regarding the current liability regime. This study contributes to the stream of judgment, & decision making literature, & offers new insights to the relationship, & dependence of inherent auditor-specific factors.

本研究旨在探究多项审计专属特征是否以及如何影响审计师的工作动机。基于既有学术文献，本项目主要聚焦于风险偏好、任务复杂度与责任情境对该问题的影响。为获取可供深入分析的实验数据，本研究采用2×2混合被试间案例实验范式开展研究。总计共有209名会计学与审计学专业的硕士研究生参与了本次实验。实验结果表明，审计师的风险规避倾向越强，其观测到的任务动机水平越高。针对任务复杂度维度，数据分析显示任务复杂度的提升会降低审计师的工作动机。而当前的责任制度未表现出显著影响。本研究丰富了判断与决策领域的相关文献，并为审计师固有专属因素之间的关联与依存关系提供了全新的研究洞见。