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Tang_Dissertation_120721_final.pdf (1.74 MB)

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THREE STUDIES OF UNEXPECTED ORGANIZATIONAL DECISIONS: SOME COMMONALITIES IN DECISIONS TO REPORT WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND DECISIONS OF SCOPE IN AUDIT TESTING FOR COMPLEX IT ENVIRONMENTS

Tang, Simon
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2665-104X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1638895630403985

Abstract Details

2021, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Management.
This research explores difficult decisions by victims to report an incident of workplace violence, and difficult audit scope decisions made by auditors. It includes a qualitative study revealing the role of fear in reporting incidents of workplace violence, showing fear can deter individuals from doing the right thing, and the financial auditors’ scope of testing of information technology (IT) in an integrated audit. The notion of fear in the workplace was further studied with an experimental design to measure the auditors’ assessment of scope for testing when facing complex IT environments with highly skilled and hostile client teams, and a third experimental design exploring how systems thinking can be an intervention. The findings indicate that less experienced and younger individuals are more prone to fear due to seniority and authority gaps. Such fear may deter them from reporting workplace violence when they are victims or witnesses. Similarly, fear causes unskilled auditors to perform less testing on IT controls and components despite common logic and guidelines from auditing standards when faced with highly complex IT environments. The findings also reveal that systems thinking can be an intervention to counter, or in certain cases, reverse, such an effect. When provided during the auditor’s audit scope planning phase, systems thinking training causes auditors to perform the same or greater level of IT testing in a complex IT environment compared to non-systems thinking, or “reductionist thinking” auditors. When used appropriately, systems thinking skills can enhance an auditor’s judgment in complex situations. This implies that systems thinking can be applied to other complex audit situations.
Anthony C. Bucaro (Committee Chair)
Richard J. Boland, Jr. (Committee Member)
Philip A. Cola (Committee Member)
James E. Gaskin (Committee Member)
199 p.
Accounting; Information Technology; Management; Organizational Behavior
fear, workplace violence, victims, accounting, auditing, auditor, IT audit, audit scope, audit testing, technology, information technology, complex, systems thinking, intervention,

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Tang, S. (2021). THREE STUDIES OF UNEXPECTED ORGANIZATIONAL DECISIONS: SOME COMMONALITIES IN DECISIONS TO REPORT WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND DECISIONS OF SCOPE IN AUDIT TESTING FOR COMPLEX IT ENVIRONMENTS [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1638895630403985

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Tang, Simon. THREE STUDIES OF UNEXPECTED ORGANIZATIONAL DECISIONS: SOME COMMONALITIES IN DECISIONS TO REPORT WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND DECISIONS OF SCOPE IN AUDIT TESTING FOR COMPLEX IT ENVIRONMENTS . 2021. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1638895630403985.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Tang, Simon. "THREE STUDIES OF UNEXPECTED ORGANIZATIONAL DECISIONS: SOME COMMONALITIES IN DECISIONS TO REPORT WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND DECISIONS OF SCOPE IN AUDIT TESTING FOR COMPLEX IT ENVIRONMENTS ." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1638895630403985

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1638895630403985
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This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.