An Examination the Factors Influence on Unethical Behaviour among Jordanian external auditors: Job Satisfaction as a mediator

In the past several years, the auditors’ unethical behaviour has been increasingly highlighted. This is particularly true following the Enron collapse that heralded that the demise of Arthur Andersen LLP and downgraded the confidence of the public on the whole accounting system and firms. The negative publicity stemming from the professional auditing firms with regards to the execution of an efficient audit led efficient auditing, and the reasons and causes behind negative behaviours should be highlighted to eliminate them. This is particularly important as there is a high likelihood of another Enron waiting to happen. Therefore, in this paper, some of the factors influencing the inclination towards engaging in unethical behaviours among Jordanian external auditors were examined. According to recent studies, dysfunctional audit behaviour is an expansive issue and studies to dedicated to the topic has yet to sufficiently shed an insight into the causes/determinants of deviant behaviour among auditors (Donnelly et al., 2011). The present study developed and tested a theoretical model that identifies locus of control, time pressure, and leadership style and job satisfaction as determinants of attitude towards DAB through a path analysis method.