The influence of peer attitude and inherent scepticism on auditors' sceptical judgments†

Our study examines whether auditors' sceptical judgments are influenced by peer attitude in the context of a peer providing informal advice to auditors in China. We hypothesise that when peer attitude reflects a high (low) emphasis on professional scepticism, auditors will be more (less) sceptical in their judgments. Our results from a between-subjects experiment support this hypothesis. We further examine whether the effect of peer attitude on sceptical judgments differs between auditors with higher or lower levels of inherent scepticism. Our results show that the effect of peer attitude is stronger among auditors with higher levels of inherent scepticism. The results provide evidence on the potential boundaries of informal peer advice as a mechanism to elevate auditors' professional scepticism. Our findings demonstrate the importance of understanding how peer attitude and inherent scepticism jointly influence their auditors' sceptical judgments.