Investigating the Effect of Problem-Solving Styles on Auditor Neutrality: A Test of Psychological-Behavioral Theory

Objective: Problem-solving styles are cognitive processes based on which people choose appropriate and effective strategies in dealing with problems and difficulties. These styles, as one of the models of systematization and information processing, lead to appropriate decisions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of problem-solving styles with a psychological-behavioral approach on auditor neutrality. Methods: The Descriptive-Survey method and the standard questionnaire instrument have been used in this research. The statistical sample of the research consisted of 503 auditors working in the auditing institutes of the Iranian Society of Certified Auditors and the audit organization in 2020 and were selected by a simple random sampli‍‍‍ng me‍‍‍‍‍‍thod. Also, research hyp‍‍‍otheses we‍‍re-tes‍‍‍ted by mo‍‍‍‍‍‍deling struct‍‍‍ural equatio‍‍‍‍ns u‍‍‍‍sing PLS so‍‍‍‍‍‍ftware. Results: Research shows that the psychological and behavioral characteristics of people affect the effectiveness of their performance. Thus, the decision-making process and professional judgment of auditors are largely shaped by the application of cognitive and behavioral activities and processes. Therefore, auditors' psychological differences contribute to an overall understanding of their performance in gathering information, impartial evaluation of evidence, and professional judgment. Test evidence shows that there is a significant relationship between problem-solving styles with Cassidy's psychological-behavioral approach and the auditor's neutrality. Also, creative styles, trends, confidence, failure, avoidance, and avoiding have the greatest impact on the auditor's neutrality, respectively. Conclusion: The results show that problem-solving styles affect the auditor's neutrality. Thus, problem-solving styles are effective in information processing, neutral evaluation of evidence, and decision-making and judgment of auditors. Therefore, the results of the research can improve the decision-making and Professional judgment of the auditor and introduce the concepts of Cassidy's psychological-behavioral theory into the behavioral research texts in auditing. The findings of the present study are important because it recognizes impartiality as one of the basic components of auditors' professional judgment influenced by problem-solving styles. Based on the results, it is suggested that to increase the impartiality of independent auditors and thus improve the quality of auditing, auditing firms should evaluate independent auditors based on the type of problem-solving styles for information processing and impartial evaluation of evidence. Also, when hiring new auditors, in addition to focusing on general and professional competencies, the type of cognitive-behavioral styles should be evaluated. Because the existence of matching between auditors' cognitive-behavioral styles and their performance, improves the quality of auditing and increases the credibility of the audit profession in society.