Emotions are an important underlying factor that may interact with pressure and other situational variables to influence auditors’ judgments and decisions. This study seeks to identify emotional intelligence (EI) as a key factor in dealing with emotions and pressures in an audit context. In this paper, I focus on how EI may influence the relation between job pressures (i.e., time budget pressure and client incentive pressure) on the auditor’s judgment. Specifically, I investigate the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on auditor judgments when auditors experience both internal and external pressures. The results suggest that the moderating influence of EI on auditor judgments can effectively reduce auditors’ tendency to engage in dysfunctional behavior in order to improve audit quality. Furthermore, there is a positive relation between EI and professional skepticism suggesting that auditors with high EI are more skeptical and assess higher risk than auditors with low EI. Finally, moderation analysis suggests that EI is a significant mechanism which drives the joint effects of different type of pressures on auditor judgments.
","abstract_html":"<p>Emotions are an important underlying factor that may interact with pressure and other situational variables to influence auditors’ judgments and decisions. This study seeks to identify emotional intelligence (EI) as a key factor in dealing with emotions and pressures in an audit context. In this paper, I focus on how EI may influence the relation between job pressures (i.e., time budget pressure and client incentive pressure) on the auditor’s judgment. Specifically, I investigate the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on auditor judgments when auditors experience both internal and external pressures. The results suggest that the moderating influence of EI on auditor judgments can effectively reduce auditors’ tendency to engage in dysfunctional behavior in order to improve audit quality. Furthermore, there is a positive relation between EI and professional skepticism suggesting that auditors with high EI are more skeptical and assess higher risk than auditors with low EI. Finally, moderation analysis suggests that EI is a significant mechanism which drives the joint effects of different type of pressures on auditor judgments.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ling, Yang"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Business","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Alisa Brink","Benson Wier"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:54:02Z","subjects":["Emotion intelligence","Time budget pressure","Client pressure","Auditor judgment","Business"],"languages":[],"rights":["© The Author"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/509"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/509","href":"https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/509","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.25772/Q8ZK-Z950","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Alisa Brink","Benson Wier"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ling, Yang"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-05-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Business"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Emotion intelligence","Time budget pressure","Client pressure","Auditor judgment","Business"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© The Author"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.25772/Q8ZK-Z950","https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/509"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Emotions are an important underlying factor that may interact with pressure and other situational variables to influence auditors’ judgments and decisions. This study seeks to identify emotional intelligence (EI) as a key factor in dealing with emotions and pressures in an audit context. In this paper, I focus on how EI may influence the relation between job pressures (i.e., time budget pressure and client incentive pressure) on the auditor’s judgment. Specifically, I investigate the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on auditor judgments when auditors experience both internal and external pressures. The results suggest that the moderating influence of EI on auditor judgments can effectively reduce auditors’ tendency to engage in dysfunctional behavior in order to improve audit quality. Furthermore, there is a positive relation between EI and professional skepticism suggesting that auditors with high EI are more skeptical and assess higher risk than auditors with low EI. Finally, moderation analysis suggests that EI is a significant mechanism which drives the joint effects of different type of pressures on auditor judgments.
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