La construction identitaire de l’auditeur: Une dynamique processuelle au coeur de l’institutionnalisation

Lambert Jerman () and Pauline Beau ()
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Lambert Jerman: Toulouse Business School
Pauline Beau: Toulouse Business School

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Abstract: According to Empson and Chapman (2006), Big audit firms' regulation is based on the principle of "Up-or-Out". However, because of the recent economic crisis, Big audit firms appear no longer able to keep their promises of promotion. So, what does it mean to be recognized as a "good" auditor in this new institutional order? One must ask questions about the role of identity work in this institutional change. We attempt to answer the following research question: by what means does auditor identity work help maintain or disrupt institutional order in auditing? The literature often characterizes identity as the consequence of institutional change (Creed et al., 2010; Lok, 2010). But Hwang and Colyvas (2011, p. 63) suggest that the influence of identity construction remains under-examined in analyses of institutional work. To address this gap, we propose to analyze the influence of auditor identity work on institutionalization. Through an ethnographic study and semi-structured interviews with auditors from big audit firms, we analyze an unexamined problematic identity situation: promised professional advancement that was halted by economic problems and that poses identity challenges for the auditors interviewed.

Keywords: Auditors; Identity work; Ethnography.; Institutional work; Auditeurs; Travail identitaire; Travail institutionnel; Ethnographie (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-05-19
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Published in Comptabilité et gouvernance, May 2016, Clermont-Ferrand, France. pp.cd-rom

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