Does Congruence between Audit Structure and Auditors' Locus of Control Affect Job Performance?

This study examines how auditors' job performance is affected by the interaction between individual auditors' locus of control and the extent to which the employing audit firm uses a structured audit technology. We distributed an instrument that measures locus of control (quot;internalquot; vs. quot;externalquot;) and other key constructs to staff and senior-level auditors from the two most structured and the two least structured (former) Big-6 accounting firms. Results indicate that supervisor-assessed job performance is positively associated with the quot;fitquot; between individual auditors' locus of control and the employing firm's audit structure. Specifically, auditors who have an internal locus of control perform at a higher level at unstructured than at structured firms, on average, while auditors who have an external locus of control perform better at structured than at unstructured firms. These findings are relevant to audit firms and individual auditors seeking a match between personal and firm characteristics, and to firms seeking to determine the potential impact of audit reengineering that may alter the level of structure in their audit approaches