PurposeTaking a cognitive perspective of internal auditor independence, the purpose of this study is to develop measures for the concepts of commitment to independence, role conflict and role ambiguity in the context of the internal auditor's work environment, in order to provide evidence of the effects of role conflict and ambiguity, and their sub‐dimensions, on the internal auditor's commitment to independence.Design/methodology/approachTo measure these concepts, scales are developed for a questionnaire by drawing on measures established in the organizational behavior literature and adapting these to the internal auditor's context. The questionnaire is sent to a sample of internal auditors drawn from the database of the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia in which listed companies with an in‐house internal audit function are extracted. There are 101 useable responses.FindingsThe results reveal that both role ambiguity and role conflict are significantly negatively related to commitment to independence. The underlying dimensions found to have the greatest impact on commitment to independence are: first, ambiguity in both the exercise of authority by the internal auditor and time pressure faced by the internal auditor; and second, conflict between the internal auditor's personal values and both management's and their profession's expectations and requirements.Originality/valueThe results extend the literature on internal auditor independence and provide insights for auditing standards setters and corporate governance designers.

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In this research, solid biopolymer electrolytes (SBEs) based on carboxy methylcellulose (CMC) has been prepared by doping different concentration of salicylic acid (SA) via solution casting technique. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy was used to study the interaction between the host and ionic dopant. New peaks were observed at 1700, 2890, 2920 cm-1.The highest ionic conductivity achieved at room temperature is 9.50 × 108 S cm1 for CMC incorporated with 7 wt. % SA. In addition, the temperature dependence of the SBEs exhibit Arrhenius behavior.

Ionic conductivity and dielectric properties of starch based polymer electrolytes doped with silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ) at elevated temperatures were studied. The solid polymer electrolytes were prepared using the solution cast method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis implied that the incorporation of 6 wt.% AgNO 3 increased the amorphous phase of the electrolyte. Temperature dependence conductivity plots showed that electrolyte containing 6 wt.% AgNO 3 obeyed Arrhenius rule with activation energy, E a of 0.71 eV. The effect of temperature on the dielectric properties of the electrolyte was also studied in relation to the conductivity properties. The variation of dielectric loss with frequency was obtained from the power law exponent. Temperature dependence of the power law exponent concluded that the conduction mechanism of the 94 wt.% starch-6 wt.% AgNO 3 electrolyte followed the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model.

The polymer electrolytes were prepared using the solution cast technique. The polymer host consisted of chitosan and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) was added to the blend solution to provide the charge carriers for ionic conduction. The sample containing 40 wt.% NH4NO3 exhibited a conductivity value of 5.83 × 10-4 S cm-1 at 373 K. Conductivity-temperature relationship for all samples obeyed Arrhenius rule and the activation energy of each samples were obtained. The sample containing 40 wt.% NH4NO3 showed the lowest activation energy at 0.29 eV. The conductivity variation for the prepared electrolyte system was explained using the Rice and Roth model. Sample with 40 wt. % NH4NO3 exhibited the highest number density and mobility of charge carriers with values of 1.39 × 1020 cm-3 and 4.60 × 10-6 cm2 V-1 s-1 respectively. The increase in conductivity was attributed to the increase in the number density and mobility of charge carriers.