Abstract

Auditors face strong incentives to execute tasks efficiently and meet deadlines; these conditions are both conducive to – and rewarding of – implemental mindsets. However, an implemental mindset may deprioritize careful analysis and thoughtful decision-making, leading to suboptimal performance and audit quality. Conversely, deliberative mindsets promote critical thinking and open-mindedness – and research suggests auditors in a deliberative mindset perform complex tasks more effectively than auditors in an implemental mindset. Additionally, auditors encounter frequent reminders about the consequences of audit failures. This study examines how these factors (i.e., mindsets and consequence reminders) jointly influence auditors' performance on complex tasks. I predict that consequence reminders will be helpful to auditors in an implemental mindset but counter-productive to auditors in a deliberative mindset. Consistent with theory, results from a 2x2 experiment reveal that undergraduate student participants in a deliberative mindset outperform those in an implemental mindset in an error identification task. However, I find no evidence that a consequence reminder influences performance or moderates the effect of mindsets in this task. My results contribute to the emerging literature on the benefits of deliberative mindsets and can help guide future research in this area.

Thesis Completion

2023

Semester

Fall

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Dennis, Sean

Degree

Bachelor Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A.)

College

College of Business Administration

Department

Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting

Degree Program

Accounting

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

12-15-2023

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Included in

Accounting Commons

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