Effect of Selected Psychological Characteristics upon Choice-Shift Patterns Found within Hierarchical Groups of Public Accountants

Abstract

The goals of this study were to examine, first, the relationship between choice shift and three psychological variables (social desirability, locus of control, and moral reasoning) and, second, the influence of these and subjects' employment position on the choice-shift phenomenon within the context of a professional accounting setting. The sample of 60 subjects (four auditors per group, each holding different employment ranks within their firms, yielding 15 groups, each from a different small to medium size CPA firm), participated in three group decision-making tasks related to common accounting and auditing risk-assessment issues. The exercise consisted of three iterations of a standard choice-shift exercise followed by three standardized tests to measure the selected psychological characteristics. Analysis indicated that choice shifts were not significantly affected by subjects' psychological characteristics. Instead, subjects' position in an organization influenced choice shift, and the higher the position, the less absolute shift shown.