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Can multitasking influence professional scepticism?
Author(s) -
Fehrenbacher Dennis D.,
Triki Anis,
Weisner Martin Michael
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
accounting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.645
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-629X
pISSN - 0810-5391
DOI - 10.1111/acfi.12627
Subject(s) - skepticism , human multitasking , mindset , audit , set (abstract data type) , task (project management) , psychology , cognitive psychology , computer science , applied psychology , social psychology , accounting , business , epistemology , management , artificial intelligence , economics , philosophy , programming language
Motivated by concerns about the adverse effects of multitasking in audit practice and research that highlights the effects of mindset orientation on professional scepticism, we investigate how the performance of tasks consistent with different mindset orientations affects auditors’ professional scepticism in a subsequent, unrelated task. Results show that auditors who first complete a task that requires concrete (abstract) thinking display greater professional scepticism during a subsequent, unrelated task that involves evaluating a narrow and complete set of evidence (a broad and incomplete set of evidence). We discuss the implications for professional scepticism in multitasking environments.