IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v49y2017i6p594-607.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How do mentoring rewards influence experienced auditors?

Author

Listed:
  • Diaz, Michelle Chandler
  • Loraas, Tina M.
  • Apostolou, Barbara

Abstract

The benefits of mentoring are well documented, and include lower employee turnover, heightened employee success, and higher employee satisfaction. In an effort to acquire these benefits, audit firms are structuring rewards for mentoring. However, we predict that rewarding mentors can prove problematic, leaving needy young auditors without a mentor or perhaps receiving advice that might prove detrimental. We test our expectations in an experiment with 111 Big 4 auditor participants. As expected, we find that in the presence of mentoring rewards, experienced auditors are less willing to mentor the young auditors who likely would benefit the most. We also find that in the presence of mentoring rewards, experienced auditors are more likely to provide advice that might be counterproductive. Yet interestingly, in our study, when rewards are absent, experienced auditors are more willing to mentor and more likely to provide beneficial advice. Our results inform the audit mentoring literature though our focus on mentor behavior, as opposed to protégé behavior. Our results also have implications for audit firms as they consider the structure of mentoring rewards, training on mentoring advice, and the effects of this advice.

Suggested Citation

  • Diaz, Michelle Chandler & Loraas, Tina M. & Apostolou, Barbara, 2017. "How do mentoring rewards influence experienced auditors?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 594-607.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:49:y:2017:i:6:p:594-607
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2017.09.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838917300598
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2017.09.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scandura, T. A. & Viator, R. E., 1994. "Mentoring in public accounting firms: An analysis of mentor-protege relationships, mentorship functions, and protege turnover intentions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 717-734, November.
    2. Herbohn, K., 2004. "Informal mentoring relationships and the career processes of public accountants," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 369-393.
    3. Dirsmith, Mark W. & Covaleski, Mark A., 1985. "Informal communications, nonformal communications and mentoring in public accounting firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 149-169, April.
    4. Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2009. "Mentoring and turnover intentions in public accounting firms: A research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 695-704, August.
    5. Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2009. "Mentoring and turnover intentions in public accounting firms: a research note," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28924, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Viator, Ralph E. & Pasewark, William R., 2005. "Mentorship separation tension in the accounting profession: the consequences of delayed structural separation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 371-387, May.
    7. Lisa McManus & Nava Subramaniam & Gary Monroe, 2014. "Organisational and professional commitment of early career accountants: do mentoring and organisational ethical climate matter?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(4), pages 1231-1261, December.
    8. Viator, Ralph E., 2001. "The association of formal and informal public accounting mentoring with role stress and related job outcomes," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 73-93, January.
    9. Nouri, Hossein & Parker, Robert J., 2013. "Career growth opportunities and employee turnover intentions in public accounting firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 138-148.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Single, Louise & Donald, Stephen & Almer, Elizabeth, 2018. "The relationship of advocacy and mentorship with female accountants' career success," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 12-21.
    2. Nouri, Hossein & Parker, Robert J., 2013. "Career growth opportunities and employee turnover intentions in public accounting firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 138-148.
    3. Fogarty, Timothy J. & Reinstein, Alan & Heath, Rebekah A. & Sinason, David H., 2017. "Why mentoring does not always reduce turnover: The intervening roles of value congruence, organizational knowledge and supervisory satisfaction," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 63-74.
    4. Eileen Z. Taylor & Mary B. Curtis, 2018. "Mentoring: A Path to Prosocial Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1133-1148, November.
    5. Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2009. "Mentoring and turnover intentions in public accounting firms: a research note," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28924, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Dierynck, Bart & Kadous, Kathryn & Peters, Christian P. H., 2024. "Learning in the auditing profession: A framework and future directions," Other publications TiSEM eb74c8e4-bc4a-4b71-b88a-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Daoust, Laurence & Malsch, Bertrand, 2019. "How ex-auditors remember their past: The transformation of audit experience into cultural memory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2009. "Mentoring and turnover intentions in public accounting firms: A research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 695-704, August.
    9. Cathleen L. Miller & Philip H. Siegel & Alan Reinstein, 2011. "Auditor and non-mentor supervisor relationships: Effects of mentoring and organizational justice," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 26(1), pages 5-31, January.
    10. Kennedy, Frances A. & Widener, Sally K., 2019. "Socialization mechanisms and goal congruence," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 32-49.
    11. Viator, Ralph E. & Pasewark, William R., 2005. "Mentorship separation tension in the accounting profession: the consequences of delayed structural separation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 371-387, May.
    12. Herbohn, K., 2004. "Informal mentoring relationships and the career processes of public accountants," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 369-393.
    13. Shalini Srivastava, 2016. "Mentoring and Psychological Empowerment: Relationship with Turnover Intentions of Managers: A Study on Private Sector Banks of Delhi-NCR Region," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 5(2), pages 145-156, December.
    14. Steven J. Johnson, 2013. "Toward a Useful Model for Group Mentoring in Public Accounting Firms," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 3(6), pages 1-7, June.
    15. Donna Bobek & Amy Hageman & Robin Radtke, 2015. "The Influence of Roles and Organizational Fit on Accounting Professionals’ Perceptions of their Firms’ Ethical Environment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 125-141, January.
    16. Viator, Ralph E., 2001. "The association of formal and informal public accounting mentoring with role stress and related job outcomes," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 73-93, January.
    17. Iyer, Venkataraman M. & Bamber, E. Michael & Barefield, Russell M., 1997. "Identification of accounting firm alumni with their former firm: Antecedents and outcomes," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(3-4), pages 315-336.
    18. Amondarain, Josune & Aldazabal, M. Edurne & Espinosa-Pike, Marcela, 2023. "Gender differences in the auditing stereotype and their influence on the intention to enter the profession," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    19. Hall, Matthew, 2011. "Do comprehensive performance measurement systems help or hinder managers' mental model development?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 36703, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Beau, Pauline & Jerman, Lambert, 2022. "Bonding forged in “auditing hell”: The emotional qualities of Big Four auditors," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:49:y:2017:i:6:p:594-607. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.