Degree
Master of Science in Management
Faculty / School
School of Business Studies (SBS)
Department
Department of Management
Date of Submission
Fall 2024-11-5
Supervisor
Dr. Amer Iqbal Awan, Assistant Professor and Director Undergraduate Program SBS, Department of Management
Committee Member 1
Dr. Muhammad Ayaz, Examiner - I, Department of Management
Committee Member 2
Dr. Ashar Saleem, Program Director MS Management
Project Type
MS Management Research Project
Access Type
Restricted Access
Keywords
Social Identity Theory, Organisatinal Identity, Professional Identity, Decision Making, Internal Auditor, Experimental Design
Abstract
The domain of the internal audit function has expanded to being management consultants along with a continuation of their traditional task of being assurance providers for their organizations. Given the inherent duality in their expanded role, contradictions may arise between audit oversight and management consultation, leading to a role conflict, i.e., demands of the management and the directive of their profession may differ. This can put internal auditors in a decision-making dilemma. This study seeks to broaden the current understanding of the effect of role conflict on the decision-making of internal auditors in light of social identity theory. We demonstrated through an experimental design, by priming one of two identities, that internal auditors with a stronger organizational identity take decisions based on the management’s preference and internal auditors with a stronger professional identity, make their decision keeping an objective and independent view. To ensure a broad spectrum of decision making, the decisions in the experimental setting relate to the three core roles of the internal audit function in an organisation i.e., internal control, risk management, and governance on students and practitioners. Findings show that social identity affects decision making of internal auditors differently in all the three core functions. Additionally, the findings also show that students show a higher degree of professional identity than the practitioners.
Recommended Citation
Batool, A. (2024). Internal Audit Decisions: A Social Identity Perspective (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-mgt/28
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