Should I Stay or Should I Go?: The Joint Effects of Valuation Specialists’ Knowledge Domain and Employer Type on Perceptions of Organizational-Professional Conflict

Abstract

Despite specialists’ role in producing fair value measurements, they often encounter tensions that give rise to conflict between the specialists and both their organizational and professional demands. This study surveyed 222 highly qualified specialists to examine how differences in specialists’ domain knowledge and their employer type influence perceptions of a particular type of conflict—organizational-professional conflict (OPC). First, we find that specialists who primarily value financial instruments and are employed by non-professional services firms (e.g., banks) report significantly higher OPC levels, lower job satisfaction, and higher turnover intentions. Next, we find that prior experience in an organization like one’s current employer mitigates your perceived OPC level. Lastly, we find that specialists who have a dual role in working with auditors and management report higher OPC levels when they spend more of their time assisting auditors in evaluating fair value measurements’ reasonableness.