The quality of audit recommendation: The effect of role conflict, role ambiguity and work stress

Abstract

This research examines the effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on internal auditor's work stress and the quality of audit recommendations. These relationships were tested based on the survey taken from 96 internal auditors who served at several state universities in Indonesia. The hypothesis testing technique used SmartPLS analysis. The results showed that role conflict has a positive effect on the quality of audit recommendations while role ambiguity has a negative effect. Role conflict and role ambiguity have a positive and significant effect on work stress. Other test results show that internal auditor work stress does not show an effect on the quality of audit recommendations. The practical implication of this research is that to reduce ambiguity in carrying out audit tasks and to improve the quality of audit recommendations, it is necessary to consider an adequate work environment, especially the availability and adequacy of information needed by internal auditors in completing monitoring tasks. The role of conflict due to the presence of more than one task can cause work stress, although it does not interfere with the quality of audit recommendations. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the allocation of work time that is not carried out at the same time so that the workload causes work stress.