Investigating the Role of Auditors’ Cognitive Flexibility in Improving Ethical Duty Orientation
Keywords:
Cognitive flexibility, cognitive constructs, mental frameworks, cognitive imperatives, ethical duty orientationAbstract
This study aims to conceptualize auditors’ cognitive flexibility and examine its effect on ethical duty orientation in the auditing profession. This research adopts a developmental–applied and mixed-methods design. In the qualitative phase, thematic analysis of 14 in-depth expert interviews was conducted to extract the dimensions of auditors’ cognitive flexibility, and their reliability was confirmed through the Delphi technique. In the quantitative phase, data were collected from 395 auditors using a researcher-developed cognitive flexibility questionnaire and a standard ethical duty orientation scale, and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Qualitative findings identified three overarching themes, eight organizing themes, and forty-eight basic themes. Inferential results revealed that auditors’ cognitive flexibility has a positive and statistically significant effect on ethical duty orientation at the 95% confidence level. The results demonstrate that cognitive flexibility enhances auditors’ ethical decision-making capacity and strengthens their commitment to ethical duties, thereby contributing to higher audit quality and increased professional credibility.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Moslem Khoon Siavashan (Author); Javad Ramezani (Corresponding author); Mehdi Khalilpour, Ali Fallah (Author)
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