Investigation the Effect of Audit Firm’s Ethical Culture and Auditors Personality Types on Auditor Objectivity

Legislators have enacted laws and standards such as the Code of Professional Conduct to develop the ethical conduct among auditors. However, unethical behaviors among auditors still take place. The assumption of the effect of organizational culture on the auditor's behavior justifies further studies on the potential impact of ethical culture on the auditor's ineffective behavior. On the other hand, auditors' behavior reflects their personality traits, and personality traits have an impact on their behavioral motivation. Therefore, in this research, the influence of the ethical culture of the audit firm and the personality types of auditors on the auditor objectivity was examined. The statistical population of this research is the managers of the audit organization and audit institutions. The research data were collected using a questionnaire. The results indicate that the ethical culture of the audit firm has a positive and significant effect on the auditor's objectivity. Also, the conscientiousness as a personality type also has a positive and significant impact on the auditor's objectivity. In addition, the findings show that the ethical culture of the audit firm affects the relationship between the auditors' personality types and the auditor's objectivity. Therefore, improving the ethical culture of the audit firms is an important step towards the improvement of the audit profession and can increase the auditor's objectivity and should therefore be considered by the managers and partners of the audit firms.