The Effect of Professional Commitment on Auditors' Ethical Whistleblowing: Moderating Role of Gender and Age

The auditing profession has a critical contribution in upgrading information transparency, economic health, and confidence in the community. With the spread of financial corruption, ethical whistleblowing as a control mechanism and part of corporate governance was raised as an essential approach to prevent and identify immoral behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of professional commitment on auditors' ethical whistleblowing, emphasizing the moderating role of gender and age variables.

The method of the present study is descriptive-survey in terms of data collection, and applied from the point of view of purpose. The statistical population of this study includes all auditors working in private institutions under the membership of the Society of Certified Public Accountants. The statistical sample consisted of 392 participants selected using simple random sampling method and via the Cochran's formula. The data of the study were collected using a standard questionnaire tool. To investigate the effect of research variables on moral warning and also to fit the proposed model, the structural equation modeling method was performed using   the   Smart PLS software.

The research results indicated that professional commitment has a positive effect on ethical whistleblowing. The variables of gender and age also have a moderating effect on the relationship between professional commitment and the level of independent auditors' ethical whistleblowing.

In accordance with the findings of this study, strengthening professional commitment leads to the development of ethics and ethical whistleblowing and health the economic atmosphere.