Professional socialization and professional skepticism in auditing: The theory of social identity

Professional socialization is a process in which individuals learn and internalize the particular vocational qualities of their chosen profession. Professional socialization is a process that can be defined by several stages. These steps include the expected phase during the faculty education, the stage of exposure in the first years of the audit profession and the stage of learning after several years of work in the profession has been identified. Professional socialization affects professional skepticism . Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of professional socialization on professional skeptics of auditors. Professional skepticism involves searching for knowledge, interruptions in judgment, self-righteousness, interpersonal understanding, self-confidence, and the mindset of the auditor's questioner. The sample consisted of 218 auditors working in the Audit Organization and the Audit Institutions of the Member of the Association of Iranian Accountants in 2018 , who were randomly selected. The method of this study is descriptive - survey and the tool used in the research is a questionnaire. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method was used to analyze the data and test the research hypotheses using the LISREL software. The results of the research show that there is a positive and significant relationship between professional socialization and professional skepticism of the auditors.