Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

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Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance

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Full length article

Gender differences in the auditing stereotype and their influence on

the intention to enter the profession
∗
Josune Amondarain a , , M. Edurne Aldazabal b , Marcela Espinosa-Pike a
a
Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Facultad de Economía y Empresa, Avda. Lehendakari Agirre 83, 48015 Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain
b
Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Facultad de Economía y Empresa (Sección Gipuzkoa), Plaza Oñati s/n, 20009 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study analyses gender differences in the auditing profession stereotype and how these differences
Received 6 June 2022 impact the intention to work in auditing. The results of the study carried out among Spanish business
Received in revised form 27 December 2022 students reveal the existence of relevant gender differences in the perception of the auditing profession
Accepted 28 December 2022
and how factors, such as the perception of auditing as a demanding career or the interest in auditing
Available online 2 January 2023
work, affect men and women differently in their intention to enter the profession. These results
Keywords: contribute to the auditing stereotype as well as gender literature as very few previous studies have
Auditing delved into the existence of gender differences in the auditing stereotype literature. This study has
Gender relevant implications for audit firms. They may apply different strategies for women and men talent
Profession attraction and retention in their organisations, which will reduce present and future voluntary rotation,
Stereotype and may increase the benefits that diversity generates in audit firms.
Business students © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction and Solberg, 2006; Jonnergård et al., 2010; Sweeney et al., 2010),
higher professional scepticism (Gold et al., 2009), and lower in-
Today, attracting talented professionals means incorporating tentions to engage in audit quality reduction behaviours (Itto-
diversity (ACCA, 2020) and in particular, gender diversity. The nen et al., 2013; Khalil and Nehme, 2021; Nehme et al., 2021;
vast majority of studies conducted in recent years reveal the Neidermeyer et al., 2003; Sweeney et al., 2010). The literature
benefits of having an increasing number of women in manage- also suggests higher auditing fees when the partner is a woman
ment and decision-making positions in companies. These benefits mainly due to females’ less risk tolerance and less overconfidence,
refer to increased profitability and financial results (ACCA, 2020; which implies a higher investment in planning and developing
Dhir, 2015; Grant Thorton, 2019; ILO, 2019; Post and Byron, the audit service (Aguilar Agreda et al., 2019; Hardies et al., 2015;
2015), increased innovation and creativity (Cox and Blake, 1991; Ittonen and Peni, 2012).
Fogelberg Eriksson, 2014; Østergaard et al., 2011; Pauli et al., The accounting profession is aware of these benefits and is try-
2020), improved employee relations leading to increased job ing to change the traditional masculinised view towards a more
satisfaction and organisational commitment (Ghani et al., 2018; diverse and inclusive one (Bujaki et al., 2018; Edgley et al., 2016;
Larrieta-Rubín de Celis et al., 2015) and even improved corporate Picard et al., 2014). The literature suggests that the attractiveness
social responsibility (Ben-Amar et al., 2017; Byron and Post, 2016; of the accounting profession for women has increased in recent
Fernandez-Feijoo et al., 2014; Formigoni et al., 2020). At the local years (AICPA, 2019; ICAC, 2018).
government level, a greater presence of female politicians reduces Many public accounting firms and corporate organisations
the risk of debt default (Gómez-Miranda et al., 2022). have established programs and initiatives primarily designed
In the auditing context, the increasing number of women in to attract, promote, and retain female accounting professionals
top positions may have relevant benefits in improving service (Broadbent and Kirkham, 2008; Cohen et al., 2020; Gold et al.,
quality (Cameran et al., 2018; Hardies et al., 2016). Women audi- 2009; Kornberger et al., 2010). Women have achieved significant
tors show a higher level of independence (Bernardi and Arnold, success in the very masculine profession. Indeed, female auditors
1997; Byrnes et al., 1999), more professional due diligence (Huse in audit firms represent nearly 50% of all employees (AICPA, 2019;
ICAC, 2018; ICJCE, 2017). However, males outnumber women in
∗ Corresponding author. audit firms and significantly in leading positions (AICPA, 2020;
E-mail addresses: josune.amondarain@ehu.eus (J. Amondarain),
Broadbent and Kirkham, 2008; Dambrin and Lambert, 2012;
edurne.aldazabal@ehu.eus (M.E. Aldazabal), marcela.espinosa@ehu.eus Edgley et al., 2016; FRC, 2019; Vidwans and Cohen, 2020). Some
(M. Espinosa-Pike). studies show that female auditing professionals represent less

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2022.100784
2214-6350/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
J. Amondarain, M.E. Aldazabal and M. Espinosa-Pike Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

than 25% of all partners in audit firms (AICPA, 2020). In Spain, 2. Literature review and hypotheses development
female auditors represent 18% of individual auditors and 19.5% of
partners in audit firms (ICAC, 2021). 2.1. Gender differences in undergraduate students’ perception of the
This situation may be explained not only by the traditional auditing profession
discrimination against women in audit firms (Bitbol-Saba and
Dambrin, 2019; Carnegie and Napier, 2010; Dalton et al., 2014; How people perceive a particular group is referred as an
Dambrin and Lambert, 2008; Haynes, 2017; Kokot, 2015) but also stereotype. It shows a generalised belief about a particular group
by the idea that women are not as interested as men in remaining of people that share certain characteristics or qualities (Dovidio,
in the accounting profession (Nouri and Parker, 2020). Indeed, the 2010). It is the typical picture about a particular social group
literature reveals that women tend to leave the audit profession (Lippmann, 1922). Stereotypes simplify people’s personalities’
to a higher extent than men (Dalton et al., 2014; Nouri, 2017). complexity by generalising groups and group members’ attributes
The attractiveness of a profession has been studied through and behaviours considered typical (Hilton and von Hippel, 1996).
the stereotype literature. Accounting stereotypes have been widely Some previous studies have shown that people have an stereo-
studied (Arquero and Fernández-Polvillo, 2019; Daoust, 2020; typed perception of accountants. The traditional stereotype per-
Dimnik and Felton, 2006; Durocher et al., 2016; Evans and Fraser, ceive accountants as boring and conservative (Dimnik and Felton,
2012; Friedman and Lyne, 2001; Jeacle, 2008; Picard et al., 2014; 2006; Friedman and Lyne, 2001; Hunt et al., 2004; Picard et al.,
Richardson et al., 2015; Saemann and Crooker, 1999); however, 2014; Richardson et al., 2015) but also as trusted and ethical
few have focused on the possibility of gender differences in this (Bougen, 1994; Caglio et al., 2019; Carnegie and Napier, 2010;
stereotype (Caglio et al., 2019; Gertsson et al., 2017; Heiat et al., Daoust, 2020; Jeacle, 2008; Nga and Wai Mun, 2013). Some recent
2007; Hunt et al., 2009). studies suggest that the image of accounting professionals is
Further, this study focuses on the image of auditors. In the changing towards a multidisciplinary professional being seen not
Spanish context, auditors differ from other accounting profession- just as rigorous and ethical but also as an effective manager,
als as the only part of the profession legally regulated is auditing. leader, and decision-maker (Daoust, 2020; Picard et al., 2014).
This implies that the image of auditors may differ from other Most of the previous studies on accounting stereotypes have
accounting professionals. This situation is different from other not delved into gender differences in the perception of the ac-
European countries where the accounting profession as a whole counting/auditing profession. However, a part of them have done
is not only professionally but also legally regulated. it, and most have found that women show a more positive view
Previous studies have confirmed the influence of stereotypes of the profession than males (Byrne and Willis, 2005; Caglio et al.,
on the intention to join a profession (Albu et al., 2011; Lips, 2019; Caglio and Cameran, 2017; Hunt et al., 2009; Marriott and
1992; King and Robert, 1968; Saemann and Crooker, 1999; Sang Marriott, 2003).
et al., 2009). Therefore, there is a need to understand the gender These results could be explained by the social role theory
differences in the perception of the profession and their influence (Eagly, 1987). Research on gender stereotypes has confirmed the
on individuals’ decision to become a professional accountant, existence of socially constructed rules regarding differences in
which is the main aim of this study. male and female behaviour. These gender roles may inform us
This study addresses the call made by researchers (Caglio differently about how men and women perceive others (Winquist
et al., 2019; Hardies et al., 2015; Haynes, 2017; Khlif and Achek, et al., 1998). The perception of others is not only caused by the
2017) to consider gender differences in accounting research. The target, but also by the characteristics of the perceiver, which are
literature calls for new empirical studies that investigate today’s at least as important as the characteristics of the target (Winquist
perceptions of the accounting profession and, in particular, em- et al., 1998; Xie et al., 2019). The literature reveals that the
pirical research on gender differences regarding the perceptions extent to which perceivers and target characteristics contribute to
of the images of accountants and their consequences in terms of the process of impression formation varies systematically across
the interest in entering the profession. gender and racial boundaries (Winquist et al., 1998; Wood et al.,
Our results reveal a significant gender difference in the stereo- 2010; Xie et al., 2019). Based on social role theory, literature
type of the auditing profession, not only concerning a better suggests that social roles and gender role expectancies lead to
perception of the professionals’ image but also with regard to gender differences in perceptions and, in particular, that due
females considering auditing as a more interesting and more to females’ communal role, women will perceive others more
prestigious profession than males. The study provides evidence favourable (Winquist et al., 1998).
of the influence of gender on the decision to enter the field of This leads us to consider that there could be gender differences
auditing. in the perception of the auditing profession. Considering this
This research has important implications for the auditing pro- social role theory and previous studies on accounting stereotypes,
fession. Understanding female perceptions may help the auditing we state the following hypothesis:
profession and audit firms develop strategies to make auditing a H1: There are gender differences in the auditing profession stereo-
comfortable and attractive career for women. In this sense, this type.
may reduce the high rotation that exists nowadays, mainly among
women, and increase the benefits that diversity generates in any 2.2. Gender differences in the intention to enter the auditing profes-
organisation’s functioning and work outcomes. sion
Finally, this paper contributes to the gender and job literature
as the results suggest that the difficulty of a career, long working Stereotypes literature affirms that one group’s perception may
hours, a career difficult to achieve, and a stressful job, will not determine the interest in belonging to that particular group. In
prevent women from choosing a profession. However, in the case this way, public attitude towards the attractiveness of a profes-
of men the results reveal that these factors affect negatively to sion is influenced by stereotypes (Albu et al., 2011; Fernández
their intention to entering the profession. et al., 2006; Powell et al., 2012; Saemann and Crooker, 1999; Sang
The rest of the document is structured as follows: The sec- et al., 2009).
ond section develops the hypotheses. The third describes the Gender is particularly affected by occupational segregation,
research methodology applied, and in the fourth section the which means that the work area or field is gender specific (Adisa
results obtained. The last section presents the conclusions and et al., 2021) and produces an unequal distribution of males and
recommendations for future research. females among different occupations.
2
J. Amondarain, M.E. Aldazabal and M. Espinosa-Pike Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

Accounting as a profession has traditionally been viewed as a Finance and Insurance, Commerce, Double degree in Business
male-dominated profession (Del Baldo et al., 2019; Haynes, 2017; Administration and Computer Engineering, Management of SMEs
Jackling and Calero, 2006; Kirkham, 1992; White and White, and Marketing undergraduate students. They were chosen as the
2006), where women have been discriminated against (Bitbol- sample for this study because they may have some knowledge
Saba and Dambrin, 2019; Carnegie and Napier, 2010; Dambrin about the accounting profession and they are possible prospects
and Lambert, 2008; Grey, 1998; Haynes, 2017; Lupu, 2012). These of the profession. In Spain, the degrees related to economics and
views may influence identity and discourage women from enter- business are the most common ones to enter the profession.
ing the profession (Haines et al., 2016; Piosik et al., 2019). Indeed, the degree that has lead traditionally to the accounting
According to the social role theory (Eagly, 1987), gender iden- profession is the Business administration one (Arquero-Montaño
tities and differences are acquired by men and women as a et al., 2009).
result of socialisation, derived from the discrepant distribution Approximately 760 questionnaires were distributed, and we
of men and women in social roles, both at home and work obtained 656 valid responses.
(Eagly, 1987, 1997; Koenig and Eagly, 2014). Gender stereotypes
describe socially prevailing beliefs about the characteristics and 3.2. operationalisation of the variables
attributes associated with each sex (Berndt and Heller, 1986;
Heilman, 2012). These stereotypes affect people’s expectations A literature review conducted to find variables to measure
prior to entry into the workforce (Cheryan et al., 2013; Sang et al., auditor stereotypes revealed three approaches to reflect various
2009). The accounting and auditing professions are more linked to aspects of the auditing profession:
masculine values, inhibiting feminine qualities (Broadbent, 1998). The independent variables consist on three approaches of
When a profession is typically masculine, women may perceive a the auditing stereotype revealed by previous literature: auditing
‘lack of fit’ between their attributes and those required to succeed profession or career, auditors’ work, and the auditors themselves
in the occupation and its organisational positions (Heilman, 1983, (Bekoe et al., 2018; Caglio et al., 2019; Espinosa-Pike et al., 2021;
2012; Steele, 1997). This may explain that women self-allocate Gertsson et al., 2017; Jackling et al., 2012; Marriott and Marriott,
to occupations with which they identify (Akerlof and Kranton, 2003; Mcdowall and Jackling, 2010; Richardson et al., 2015).
2010). Auditing career. It refers to the perception of auditing as a
However, some studies reveal that the gender of the student professional career. The instrument includes 7 items related to
does not affect the intention to become an accountant (Jackling the opportunities that the auditing career offers for professional
and Calero, 2006; Sugahara et al., 2009). Indeed, more females development and others related to the difficulty of succeeding
typically choose male occupations than males typically choose in the career. These were selected based on instruments previ-
women’s occupations (Simpson, 2005; Twenge, 1997, 2001). Ex- ously used in the academic literature on accounting and auditing
pected behaviours are changing to a less normative model, and (Gertsson et al., 2017; Marriott and Marriott, 2003; Mcdowall and
women are shifting to behaving according to individual choices Jackling, 2010).
rather than cultural norms (Haines et al., 2016; Khilji and Pumroy, Auditing work. This scale included 10 items related to the kind
2019). of work auditors carry out, which was derived from previous
This reasoning leads us to propose the following hypothesis: studies (Bekoe et al., 2018; Jackling et al., 2012; Marriott and
H2: There are no gender differences in the intention to become Marriott, 2003; Mcdowall and Jackling, 2010).
an auditor. Auditors’ image. This variable concerns auditor image as in-
Previous research suggests that males tend to stereotype more telligent, boring, interesting, trusty, and so on. This 16 items
in their judgments about occupations than females (Clarke, 1990; scale was drawn from previous studies of accountant stereotypes
Jessell and Beymer, 1992). Lips (1992) studied the scientist stereo- (Caglio and Cameran, 2017; Nga and Wai Mun, 2013).
type and its influence on women and men’s academic and vo- The final questionnaire contained 33 questions related to the
cational choices. The perception of the sociability of scientists auditing career, auditing work, and auditor image. Participants
influences both groups in the pursuit of the scientist career. had to indicate their agreement with different questions using a
However, the stereotype had a lower influence on women’s Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 indicated ‘completely
intention to pursue the career than in the case of men, indicating disagree’, and 5 indicated ‘completely agree’.
that the influence of the profession’s stereotype on academic and The original language of the items included in the question-
vocational choices seems to be lower in the case of women. naire was English. The items from the questionnaire were trans-
In the particular case of the accounting profession, Caglio et al. lated into Spanish by the authors and they were tested among
(2019) and Hunt et al. (2009) found similar results and concluded people from the population of interest to ensure that there was
that the negative representation of the accountant stereotype has no mistranslations to be adjusted. After this process, the ques-
a lower influence on women’s than men’s intention to enter the tionnaire was distributed among the sample.
accounting profession.
Taking into account these lines of research, we state the fol- 3.3. Respondents’ characteristics
lowing hypothesis:
H3: There are gender differences in the influence of the auditing In total, 656 responses were examined in this study. The
stereotype on the intention to become an auditor. general characteristics of the respondents are listed in Table 1.
Respondents’ average age was 23 years, and 61% of the sample
3. Research methodology was female. As can be seen in Table 1, students were enrolled in
different degrees related to business and economics. In particular,
3.1. Data collection 69% of the students were enrolled in Business Administration,
18% in Finance and Accounting, 9% in Double degree in Business
The study sample comprises undergraduate students in the Administration and Law, and 4% in other degrees. In this last
third and fourth years of their degree, from 21 Spanish Economic category (Others), we have included students enrolled in Finance
and Business Higher Institutions. The data were collected through and Insurance, Commerce, Economics, Double degree in Business
a survey to Business Administration, Finance and Accounting, Administration and Computer Engineering, SME Management,
Double degree in Business Administration and Law, Economics, and Marketing.
3
J. Amondarain, M.E. Aldazabal and M. Espinosa-Pike Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

Table 1 was a high correlation among variables of each group of items;

Characteristics of participants. the relationship among variables was strong. The correlation ma-
Gender N % trix determinant was close to zero, Bartlett’s test of Sphericity
Male 257 39% p-value<0.001, and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of
Female 399 61%
sampling adequacy was higher than 0.7. These sample adequacy
Age N % tests indicate that the data are adequate for the factored analysis.
Mean: 23.17 The results of a principal component factor analysis using the
<21 years 28 4% Varimax rotation are shown in Table 2. All factors comprised at
21–24 years 507 77% least three items, and all of them were loaded above 0.5 for each
25–30 years 99 15% factor. Cronbach’s alpha for all components exceeds the value of
>31 years 22 4%
0.6. According to Loewenthal and Lewis (2001), Cronbach’s alpha
Degree N %
coefficients of approximately 0.60 are considered acceptable for
Business Administration 454 69.2% scales containing fewer than 10 items.
Finance and Accounting 120 18,3
With respect to the auditing career, the results of a princi-
Double degree Business Administration and Law 58 8,8
Others 24 3.7% pal component factor analysis revealed two factors (Professional
development and Demanding career) that explain nearly 63%
Total 656 100%
of the variance with eigenvalues greater than one. Professional
development comprises four items reflecting opportunities for
professional development during an auditing career. Demanding
3.4. Research design career included three items related to the difficulty and stress of
the career.
Using the principal component analysis technique, we reduced With respect to auditing work, the factor solution of the prin-
the 33 items that capture the image of auditing and its pro- cipal component factor analysis revealed that three factors had
fessionals into 8 factors. Then, in order to detect differences eigenvalues greater than one. These three factors accounted for
between male and female students in the perception of the audit 65% of the variance. The first factor, rigorous/responsibility in-
career, audit professionals and the work they do, we carried out cludes three items presenting auditing work as rigorous and
a comparison between the means of the 8 factors of both groups. responsibility-driven. The second factor, solitary, revolves around
Before carrying out the t-test, we performed the Levenne test to the perception of auditors’ work as involving strict compliance
identify the presence of homoscedasticity. In this way we were to rules and being solitary. The third factor, interesting, includes
able to verify whether hypothesis 1 is fulfilled. four items referring to auditing as an interesting activity that
Next, we performed a Chi-square test to detect whether there contributes to society.
are differences between male and female students in the inten- Finally, concerning the auditor’s image, the factor analysis
tion to enter the profession and thus validate our hypothesis results revealed that three factors had eigenvalues greater than 1.
2. These three factors accounted for nearly 58% of the variance. The
Finally, to test our third hypothesis and to examine whether first factor, competent, includes seven items reflecting auditors’
male and female students were influenced differently by their competence and skills. Factor 2, ethical, includes six items that
perceptions of the profession and audit professionals in their refer to auditors as ethical, trustworthy, and compliant with
decision to enter the profession, we constructed successive bi- the law. The third factor, negative image, revolves around some
nary logistic regression models. The dependent variable was the auditors’ negative perceptions, such as boring people or easily
intention to enter the profession, a dummy variable with yes or influenced.
no answers. The initial independent variables were gender and
the 8 factors obtained previously. Next, we built the same model 4.2. Gender differences in auditing stereotype and intention to enter
splitting the sample into men and women, in order to identify the profession
differences in their behaviour. Finally, we constructed a model
incorporating the interactions between the variables and gender Once the factors describing the auditor stereotype was con-
to identify whether the observed differences were significant. structed, the differences between men and women are pre-
In order to carry out the binary logistic regression, we selected sented in Table 3. Levenne’s test was carried out to detect non-
those students who answered affirmatively or negatively to the homoscedasticity and to adjust the t-test.
question about their intention to enter auditing. We discarded The results obtained with the t-test revealed that there were
those who did not answer or those who expressed doubts about gender differences in the factors related to auditor stereotype.
the answer, which represented 33.4% of the total sample. Of With respect to the auditing career, the results revealed gender
the remaining students, only those who answered the 33 items significant differences. In particular, women showed a significant
used to construct the factors in the principal component analysis positive difference in the perception of auditing as a career that
were finally included. Those who did not answer any item were offers professional development. Women had better perception of
excluded from the final sample. The selected cases included in the the opportunities for professional development, of the possibility
logistic regression analysis were 192: 77 males and 115 females. of achieving an excellent long-term salary and a good profes-
sional training, and higher perception of auditing as a prestigious
4. Results profession than men.
The results also revealed gender differences with respect to
4.1. Exploratory factor analysis audit work. In particular, women showed a significant positive
difference in the perception of auditing as an interesting work.
As a preliminary step, to study the relationship between the Women had better perception of the variety of tasks that the
perception of the audit profession and the intention to enter the auditing work implies, and their contribution to society than men.
profession, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis in order Finally, with respect to auditor’s image, there were also signif-
to reduce the number of variables that collect information about icant gender differences. In this sense, women showed a signif-
the stereotype into a smaller number of underlying factors. There icant positive difference in the perception of auditor’s image as
4
J. Amondarain, M.E. Aldazabal and M. Espinosa-Pike Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

Table 2
PCA Rotated component matrix. Rotation method: Varimax.
Factor
Auditing career 1 2
Professional development
Auditing career offers good professional training 0.789 0.270
Auditing is a prestigious profession 0.774 0.159
Auditing career offers great opportunities for professional development 0.757 0.020
The auditing career offers the possibility of achieving a good long-term salary 0.699 0.371
Demanding career
Auditing is a very stressful job 0.015 0.836
In the auditing career, many hours are worked 0.238 0.778
The auditing career is difficult to achieve 0.392 0.576
% of variance explained 35.62% 26.74%
Cronbach’s Alpha 0.73 0.63
Auditing work 1 2 3
Rigorous/Responsibility
Auditing implies great responsibility 0.830 −0.091 0.194
Auditing is a very precise activity that works the information in depth 0.808 −0.014 0.251
Auditing involves very structured work, following very defined processes 0.804 0.113 0.156
Solitary
Auditors are number-crunchers; they seldom work with people −0.031 0.845 0.001
Auditors work alone more than they work with people 0.058 0.836 −0.163
Auditing involves a lot of fixed rules; it does not involve conceptual skills or judgment −0.005 0.818 0.11
Interesting
Auditing involves a variety of tasks 0.069 −0.027 0.769
Auditing is interesting 0.135 0.050 0.736
Auditing requires working as a team 0.284 −0.170 0.652
Auditing contributes significantly to society 0.390 0.095 0.637
% of variance explained 22.48% 21.46% 21.28%
Cronbach’s Alpha 0.78 0.79 0.70
Auditors image 1 2 3
Competent
Auditors have prestige 0.729 0.182 0.000
Auditors are ambitious 0.698 −0.011 0.124
Auditors have leadership ability 0.689 0.215 0.145
Auditors are achievers 0.668 0.271 0.239
Auditors are intelligent 0.664 0.196 −0.105
Auditors are experts 0.663 0.251 −0.216
Auditors are hard workers 0.652 0.313 −0.177
Ethical
Auditors behave ethically 0.213 0.807 −0.073
Auditors comply with the law 0.255 0.754 −0.143
Auditors are honest 0.182 0.753 0.001
Auditors are trustworthy 0.311 0.728 −0.142
Auditors are incorruptible 0.024 0.704 0.199
Auditors are aware of their duty 0.416 0.604 −0.151
Negative Image
Auditors do not have social skills −0.046 0.163 0.781
Auditors are easily influenced 0.145 −0.138 0.736
Auditors are boring people −0.058 −0.064 0.707
% of variance explained 22.96% 22.38% 12.02%
Cronbach’s Alpha 0.81 0.84 0.66

competent. Women perceived auditors as harder workers, more 4.3. Logistic regression
expert and intelligent, more ambitious and prestigious, and with
higher leadership ability than did males. Further, women had a This section tests the third hypothesis developed in this study
significantly lower perception of a negative image of auditors as using logistic regression. The dependent variable is the intention
boring or lacking in social skills than did males. to enter the auditing profession, taking two values: yes or no.
The results support the confirmation of hypothesis 1, which The independent variables are the eight factors obtained from
states that there are gender differences in the auditing profession the principal component analysis: professional development, de-
stereotype. manding career, rigorous work, solitary work, interesting work,
Concerning the intention to enter the auditing profession, the competent, ethical and negative image, and gender. The results
results shown in Table 4 reveal that nearly 35% of the participants are presented in Table 5.
did not intend to work as auditors, while almost 31% intended The results showed that the perception of auditing influences
to do so. Further, the results show that there are no gender the intention to enter the profession. Indeed, three factors con-
differences in this intention. This leads us to accept hypothesis firm this influence. In particular, the variable that has the greatest
2. influence on the intention to work in auditing is the perception of
5
J. Amondarain, M.E. Aldazabal and M. Espinosa-Pike Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

Table 3
Descriptive statistics and independence test.

Table 4
Intention to work in auditing. Frequencies and Chi Square test.

Table 5
Binary logistic regression models.
Variables in the equation N= 192 Male N=77 Female N= 115
95% C.I.for 95% C.I.for 95% C.I.for
Sig. Exp(B) Sig. Exp(B) Sig. Exp(B)
EXP(B) EXP(B) EXP(B)
Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper
Gender (Female) .569 0.798 .366 1.737
Professional .594 1.189 .630 2.243 .374 1.669 .539 5.167 .757 1.148 .479 2.752
Development
Intention to
Demanding .028 0.600 .381 .946 .035 0.416 .184 .941 .413 0.789 .448 1.391
entering the
career**/**/
auditing
Rigorous/Responsibility .429 1.240 .728 2.114 .415 0.637 .215 1.884 .075 1.843 .940 3.611
profession
demanding
(Yes)
Solitary .296 1.283 .804 2.048 .879 0.943 .445 1.998 .158 1.574 .839 2.953
Interesting***/**/*** <.001 4.455 2.434 8.153 .029 3.383 1.129 10.134 <.001 5.594 2.420 12.935
Competent .361 1.301 .740 2.287 .436 1.465 .561 3.825 .797 1.111 .497 2.486
Ethical .095 1.482 .934 2.352 .109 1.860 .871 3.969 .498 1.244 .661 2.342
Negative Image***// .030 0.601 .379 .952 .144 0.562 .260 1.218 .057 0.551 .298 1.019
Constant .532 1.175 .576 2.730 .400 1.329 .659 1.128
Cox & Snell R2 38.2% 39.7% 42.1%
Nagelkerke R2 51.1% 53.0% 56.7%
Hosmer and Lemeshow Test Sig. = 0.507 Sig. = 0.428 Sig. =0.854
Classification% 79.6% 77.6% 80.9%

The reference category is: NO intention.

Significance ** p < 0.05 *** p < 0.01.

auditing as interesting work. In this sense, the probability of being gender differences in the perception of the auditing career, audit-
willing to work in auditing multiplies 4.4 times when auditing ing work, and auditor’s image, we may guess that the factors that
is considered interesting. On the contrary, the intention to work influence the decision may be different for males and females.
in auditing decreases by nearly 40% when auditing is seen as a In an attempt to identify these differences, we performed a sep-
difficult career and when the image of the auditors is a negative arate logistic regression for males and females. The results are
one. presented in Table 5.
Gender was not a significant variable in this decision. How- The results revealed that the significant factors for the inten-
ever, as the results of the student’s t-test revealed significant tion to work in auditing are not the same for males and females.
6
J. Amondarain, M.E. Aldazabal and M. Espinosa-Pike Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

Table 6
Binary logistic regression model with the interaction of gender and interesting work, and gender
and demanding career*.
Variables in the equation Sig. Exp(B)
Intention to entering the Gender (Female)r .528
auditing profession (Yes) Professional Development .661
Demanding career .004
Rigorous/Responsibility demanding .319
Solitary .303
Interesting .001
Competent .422
Ethical .146
Negative Image .025
Female and Demanding career** .030 2.645
Female and interesting work .978 1.016
Constant .223
Cox & Snell R2 39.9%
Nagelkerke R2 53.5%
Hosmer and Lemeshow Test Sig. = 0.217
Classification% 79.6%

The reference category is NO intention.

Significance: ** p < 0.05.

Demanding career and interesting factors are significant for males’ 2005; Hunt et al., 2009; Marriott and Marriott, 2003; Mcdowall
intention to work in auditing while only the interesting factor and Jackling, 2010).
affects females’ intention. Further, for females, the influence of However, contrary to what could be expected, this better
the perception of auditing work as interesting on the intention perception does not imply a higher willingness to enter the
to enter the auditing profession is higher than for males. profession among females. The results reveal that the factors
To identify an interaction effect, we developed a binary logistic that influence this intention differ between males and females.
regression with two more independent variables, the interaction Both genders are highly influenced by their intention to work in
between gender and interesting work and the interaction between the auditing field due to their interest in the work, which is a
gender and demanding career. The results are presented in Table 6. relevant result that could be taken into account in the attraction
The results in Table 6 show the significant relevance of the and retention policies. Previous studies (ACCA and IFAC, 2021;
interaction between gender and the perception of the auditing Arquero-Montaño et al., 2009; Bebbington et al., 1997; Byrne
career as a demanding one. In particular, the results show that the et al., 2012; Nelson et al., 2008) conclude that the focus of the
perception of auditing as a demanding career is only significant attraction of the accounting profession has been placed on the
for males in their intention to work in auditing and not for fe- possibilities of professional development, salary, availability of
males. However, the interaction between gender and interesting jobs, the prestige of the profession, and relevance of the training
work does not significantly relate to the intention to work in received in the auditing context. However, our study reveals that
auditing. undergraduate business students place a higher relevance on
These results confirm our hypothesis 3, which states that there questions such as the variety of tasks in the auditing work, the
are gender differences in the influence of the auditing stereotype interest in the work itself, working as a team, and the profession’s
on the intention to become an auditor. contribution to society.
Our results confirm previous literature about the negative in-
5. Discussion of the results and conclusions fluence of perceiving auditing professionals as boring and lacking
social skills on the intention to work in the auditing profession
This study analyses the current perception of the auditing (Arquero and Fernández-Polvillo, 2019; Hermanson et al., 1995;
profession stereotype on the part of those who have to decide Saemann and Crooker, 1999).
their career in their near future and the possible existence of The third factor that negatively influences the profession’s at-
gender differences in this perception. Further, this paper delves tractiveness is the perception of auditing as a demanding career.
into how these differences influence the individuals’ intention to However, this influence is not the same for both genders. The
entering the profession. results revealed a lack of influence in the case of females. It could
The results obtained in this study suggest that a negative have been expected in the auditing context and, in general, in
view of the profession can be overcome. Undergraduate business the business context, that the difficulty of a career, which implies
students have a positive view of the auditing profession. Stu- long working hours, a career difficult to achieve, and a stressful
dents consider auditing a great responsibility that involves very job, will prevent women from entering the profession mainly
structured and precise work carried out by expert, intelligent, because of the difficulty to achieve a work-life balance in such
and trustworthy people. Further, they view auditing as offering jobs. However, our results do not support this hypothesis. On the
the possibility of achieving a good long-term salary and as a contrary, this difficulty prevents male students from working in
prestigious career with good opportunities for professional de- auditing, but not female students. This is a relevant result not
velopment. Our results also reveal the perception of auditing as previously studied.
a demanding and stressful career requiring long hours of work. These results have relevant implications for the auditing pro-
The results obtained reveal the existence of gender differences fession and the policies that could be implemented to attract and
in the perception of the auditing profession. The differences ex- retain the best talent. It is key for developing successful strategies
ist in the perception of the auditing career, auditing work, and for talent attraction and retention in audit firms to know the
auditors’ image. Although both genders show a good perception factors that influence the willingness to enter the profession and
of the profession, these results confirm previous research where how these factors affect differently to women and men’s inten-
females show a better perception than males (Byrne and Willis, tion. The relevance of the interest in the auditing work stresses
7
J. Amondarain, M.E. Aldazabal and M. Espinosa-Pike Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 37 (2023) 100784

the necessity to focus attention on the prospects of learning about References

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