The effect of dark personality traits on the professional judgment of auditors: emphasizing the mediating role of moral values

The aim of the current research was the effect of dark personality traits on the professional judgment of auditors, emphasizing the mediating role of moral values. The current research is one of the applied researches in terms of its purpose, and in terms of data collection, it is descriptive and survey type. To collect information from the standard questionnaire of dark personality traits of Jones and Palhes (2014), the standard questionnaire of professional judgment by Kaplan and Rickers (1995), the standard questionnaire of professional (individual) ethics by Paino et al. (2017) and also the standard questionnaire of corporate ethics by Hunt and Wood. and Chunko (2015) was used. The statistical population of the current research was all the certified accountants who were members of the certified accountants society of Iran and the auditing organization in 1402. Using Cochran's formula, the statistical sample of the research was 384 people, and the non-probability sampling method was used for sampling, and due to not receiving or completing all the questionnaires, first the questionnaires were sent online through email and WhatsApp messengers. Telegram was provided to the key respondents (community members with 10 years of experience) and these people introduced the next respondents (in a snowball way) and finally, 256 complete and usable questionnaires were received. Using structural equations and Smart PLS3 software, the research hypotheses were tested and the results of the hypothesis test showed that the dark characteristics of the auditors' personality have a negative and significant effect on their professional judgment. In examining the mediating role of ethical values on the effect of dark personality traits of auditors on their professional judgment, the results showed that 35% of the total effect of dark personality traits of auditors on their professional judgment is indirectly explained by the mediating variable of corporate ethics. 27% of the total effect of auditors' dark personality traits on their professional judgment is indirectly explained by the mediating variable of individual ethics. Similarly, the results showed that corporate ethics has a positive and significant effect on auditors' individual ethics.