The Effects of Personal and Organizational Factors on Role Ambiguity amongst Internal Auditors

Abstract

Increasing concerns about company failures has given rise to the significant role of risk management in organizations. The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has introduced a new framework which specifies that internal auditors' responsibilities include managing risks. This change from traditional to modern obligation may cause internal auditors to be uncertain regarding this function. This study investigates the effects of personal and organizational factors on role ambiguity amongst internal auditors in Malaysia. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 202 internal auditors. The results of this study provide insight into how individual and organizational factors impact the role ambiguity of internal auditors. The findings suggest that individuals with higher competency and autonomy experience lower levels of ambiguity. Furthermore, highly structured companies with in-house internal audit create lower ambiguity for internal auditors in Malaysian companies.

Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity on Local Government Internal Auditors: The Determinant and Impacts

“…Results of previous studies show that role conflict and role ambiguity occur in external auditors in public accounting firms in Australia (Chong and Monroe, 2015), United States (Jones et al, 2012;Jones et al, 2010;Viator, 2001), Thailand (Ussahawanitchakit, 2008), and New Zealand (Fisher, 2001). Results of previous studies also show that role conflict and role ambiguity occurs in internal auditors in companies listed on the Malaysian stock exchange (Aghghaleh et al, 2014;Ahmad and Taylor, 2009) and internal auditors who are members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Larson, 2004). Role conflict may arise for local government internal auditors because of their role in providing audit oversight to local government agencies as well as providing consulting services to the management of local government agencies.…”

“…The results showed that formalization 69 is negatively related to role ambiguity. Aghghaleh (2014) examined the relationship between mechanistic structure organizations (organizations with a high degree of formalization) with role ambiguity for internal auditors in private companies. The results indicate that a mechanistic organizational structure is negatively related to role ambiguity.…”

“…Aghghaleh et al (2014), Podsakoff et al (1986), Rogers and Molnar (1976), and Rizzo et al (1970) showed that formalization is negatively related to role conflict and role ambiguity. Agarwal (1999) showed that formalization is positively related to role conflict and role ambiguity.…”

“…This study will examine empirically the phenomena of role conflict and role ambiguity, especially related to its determinants and impacts. Previous research has studied the phenomena of role conflict and role ambiguity by using a sample of internal auditors who were working at private companies (Aghghaleh et al, 2014;Ahmad and Taylor, 2009). This study attempts to find out whether the results of 66 Journal of Indonesian Economy and Business January previous research on the determinants and impacts of role conflict and role ambiguity on the internal auditors in the private sector can be generalized in different types of organizations.…”

Deciding factors in cooperation and trust between internal and external auditors in organizations: An exploratory analysis

“…The majority of auditors are aged between 36 and 45, and higher education has now increased to over 92% (Aghghaleh, Mohamed, & Ahmad, 2015;IIA, 2015). Professional experience is concentrated between 11 and 20 years, whereas in Europe and worldwide (CBOK: IIA) the average is around 10 years.…”