The Impact of Organizational Trauma on Audit Quality Considering the Mediating Role of Auditors’ Narcissistic and Machiavellian Personalities in Auditors

The present study is thus concerned with the traumatic impact of organizational trauma on auditing quality considering the mediating role of auditors’ narcissistic and Machiavellian personalities in auditors. The present study is a piece of descriptive-survey applied research in terms of research goal. The statistical population included the members of the official Iranian auditors’ community in 2023, and a total of 318 people were selected as the statistical sample through convenient sampling using Cochran's sample size formula. The data collection tool was a standard questionnaire whose reliability and validity were examined and confirmed. Data analysis and hypothesis tests were performed through descriptive and analytical statistics using structural equation modeling in SPSS and SmartPLS statistical software. Results revealed that organizational trauma left negative and significant impacts on auditing quality while leaving positive and significant effects on narcissistic and Machiavellian personality types. Results also suggested that narcissistic and Machiavellian personalities left negative and significant influences on auditing quality and a strong and aggravating mediating role between organizational trauma and auditing quality. Results of the present study indicated the paramount significance of organizational trauma and its destructive impacts in auditing institutions and organizations, requiring the special attention of authorities in this field to prevent the manifestation of negative personality types in organizations to promote auditing professional merits and auditing quality.