Disentangling the Trait and State Components of Professional Skepticism: Specifying a Process for State Scale Development

Abstract

SUMMARY In recent years, professional skepticism (PS) has drawn extensive attention from both regulators and academics. While prior research theorizes that both stable personality traits and temporary states influence PS (e.g., Hurtt 2010; Nelson 2009), this literature tends to focus on either trait PS or contextual factors that influence judgments and behavior without disentangling the trait and state components of PS. We propose that state PS is a distinct construct from trait PS and provide the first measure of state PS. We validate our process for measuring state PS using rigorous analyses, demonstrating convergent and divergent validity with data collected from both professional and student samples. Furthermore, we replicate the Hurtt (2010) trait PS scale, which forms the basis for our state PS measure. Future researchers can employ our measure or, alternatively, replicate our process for measuring state PS in various experimental contexts. Data Availability: Contact the corresponding author.

FAR Research Project: Professional skepticism: a trending concept in need of understanding

“…as a state) (e.g. Shaub, 1996;Nolder & Kadous, 2017;Robinson et al, 2017). However, academics have also defined professional skepticism in terms of (relative) stable differences between individuals (i.e.…”

“…In addition to being a trait, professional skepticism can also be understood as an emergent state (Grohnert et al 2017;Nolder & Kadous, 2017;Robinson et al, 2017). Emergent states refer to cognitive, motivational, and affective states that are dynamic and vary as a function of situational characteristics as well as inputs, processes, and outcomes (Marks et al, 2001).…”

“…Despite some excellent theoretical work in this area (Hurtt, 2010;Robinson et al, 2017;Nolder & Kadous, 2017) Characteristics of the person…”

The ins and outs of professional skepticism

“…Standard setters typically define professional skepticism as "an attitude that includes a questioning mind and a critical assessment of audit evidence" (ISA 200; AS 1015). Many academics view professional skepticism as an attitude (i.e., as a state) (e.g., Shaub 1996;Nolder and Kadous 2018;Robinson, Curtis, and Robertson 2018). However, academics have also defined professional skepticism in terms of (relative) stable individual differences between individuals (i.e., as a trait) (e.g., Hurtt 2010;Quadackers, Groot, and Wright 2014).…”

“…In addition to being a trait, professional skepticism can also be understood as an emergent state (Grohnert, Meuwissen, and Gijselaers 2018;Nolder and Kadous 2018;Robinson et al 2018). Emergent states refer to cognitive, motivational, and affective states that are dynamic and vary as a function of situational characteristics as well as inputs, processes, and outcomes (Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro 2001).…”