Adrian M. Harrell

The effect of information load on decision makers' cue utilization levels and decision quality in a financial distress decision task

Abstract Seventeen practising auditors and sixty-seven accounting students participated in a decision making experiment that examined the effect of increasing amounts of accounting information on cue usage and decision quality. Each participant made financial distress decisions under three levels of information load. Approximately one-third of those participating apparently experienced information overload and exhibited an inverted-U relationship between information usage and information load; the others exhibited patterns of increasing cue usage. The individuals who apparently experienced information overload also reached decisions of lesser quality, as indicated by significantly lower decision making consistency, lesser agreement with a composite judge, and lower consensus.

Modeling effort decisions with behavioral decision theory: Toward an individual differences model of expectancy theory

Abstract Using behavioral decision theory, this paper describes four experiments which tested the multiplicative force model from V. H. Vrooms (1964, Work and Motivation, New York: Wiley) Expectancy Theory. In the first two experiments, the academic course effort decisions of 68 graduate students were examined using a decision-making exercise involving 24 hypothetical courses. Each course was described in terms of three instrumentalities and one expectancy (0, .4, or .8 in the first experiment, and 0, .2, or .6 in the second experiment). Using two different decision-making exercises, the last two experiments captured the decisions of 89 high school and undergraduate students concerning the exertion of effort to get 24 hypothetical jobs. For the third experiment, each job was described in terms of three instrumentalities and one expectancy (.05, .50, or .95). For the fourth experiment, each job was described in terms of four instrumentalities and one expectancy (0, .3, or .6). In each of the four experiments, the instrumentalities and expectancies were presented using factorial designs in order to increase the level of experimental control and to provide a sufficient number of decisions for each subject to facilitate individual within-person analyses of the data. Vrooms multiplicative force model was supported by only a minority of the subjects; a majority supported an additive model. It is hypothesized that the two different models are attributable to individual differences in cognitive processing of probabilistic information. This research demonstrates the theoretical, analytic, and psychometric advantages of the behavioral decision theory modeling approach to testing Expectancy Theory.

The impact of an increase in accounting information level on the judgment quality of individuals and groups

Abstract A judgment modeling experiment which used bank loan officers as participants was performed in a field setting to examine the impact of an increase in information level on the judgments of individuals and groups. The results indicate that, as predicted, groups reached judgments of higher quality than individuals at both information levels. Also as predicted, groups responded more positively (or less negatively) than individuals to increases in information level, resulting in an increase in the judgment quality gap between groups and individuals. Individuals experienced greater information processing difficulties than groups as information level increased.

McClelland's trichotomy of needs theory and the job satisfaction and work performance of CPA firm professionals

Abstract This paper examines the ability of McClellands trichotomy of needs theory (need for affiliation, need for power, need for achievement) to provide a conceptual explanation of the job satisfaction and work performance of CPA firm professionals. Seventy-seven of the 89 professionals at an office of a large international CPA firm participated in the study. For partners and managers, need for affiliation correlated negatively with job satisfaction. For partners and managers, junior-level audit/tax specialists and junior-level management consultants, need for power correlated positively with job satisfaction. Job satisfaction correlated positively with the intent to remain with their current firm for all three categories. Need for achievement correlated positively with hours devoted to work for junior-level audit/tax specialists, and with the firms work performance ratings for partners and managers and junior-level audit/tax specialists. The results suggest that McClellands theory, which has not been previously applied to examine job satisfaction, might provide a conceptual explanation of why some individuals experience relatively high job satisfaction in an environment where their contemporaries experience relatively low job satisfaction.

Using decision modeling to measure second level valences in expectancy theory

Abstract This paper employs a decision modeling approach to measure second level valences in Expectancy Theory. As proposed by J. C. Naylor, R. D. Pritchard and D. R. Ilgen (A theory of behavior in organizations, New York: Academic Press, 1980 ) second-level valences are measured across different levels of an outcome. In the first experiment, the job-preference decisions of 24 under-graduates were examined using a decision making exercise involving 24 hypothetical jobs described in terms of three intrinsic instrumentalities. In the second experiment, the job-preference decisions of 57 undergraduates were examined using a decision-making exercise involving 24 hypothetical jobs described in terms of four extrinsic instrumentalities. Factorial designs were used in both experiments to preserve orthogonality and allow a separate interpretation of each of the second-level valences. A regression model was derived for each subject to block on individuals and provide a within-person analyses of the data. In both experiments, the beta weight measures of the second level valences (1) conformed to the concept of Naylor et al. that second-level valence is a relationship across levels of an outcome; (2) operationalized the within-person property of Expectancy Theory; (3) allowed separate interpretations of each second-level valence; and (4) displayed stable, high internal consistency estimates. Therefore, it appears that decision modeling with beta weight measures of second-level valences offers an innovative approach for Expectancy Theory researchers.

An examination of management's ability to bias the professional objectivity of internal auditors

Abstract Since internal auditors are subject to incentives and sanctions controlled by management, concern exists about their professional objectivity. A decision-making experiment which employed 58 internal auditors from three banks as participants was performed to examine the question: Can a firms management bias the professional objectivity of the firms internal auditors? The results indicate the internal control system evaluations reached by internal auditors who were not members of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) were biased by knowledge of managements desired evaluation outcomes. IIA members, however, resisted managements effort to bias their evaluations. This outcome suggests that IIA membership may be an important determinant of internal auditors professional objectivity, an issue which has not previously been identified in the accounting literature.

Additive Information Processing and the Relationship Between Expectancy of Success and Motivational Force

In this article the authors discuss research they have conducted that examines the relationship between expectancy of success and level of employee motivation. They discuss previous studies that ha...

Need for achievement, need for affiliation and the academic performance and career intentions of accounting students

Abstract Booming enrollments have caused many universities to limit the size of accounting programs, with selection usually being determined by intellectual and past performance variables. It is proposed that two nonintellectual variables, need for achievement and need for affiliation also be considered as selection criteria. In this study, need for achievement correlated positively with overall GPA, the course grade in auditing, and intent to make public accounting a career. Need for affiliation correlated negatively with overall GPA and the course grade in auditing, and positively with time spent socializing with friends.

A CROSS-NATIONAL TEST OF THE ROLE OF SELF-INTEREST ON PROJECT CONTINUATION DECISIONS

Prior escalation research (Harrison & Harrell, 1993; Harrell & Harrison, 1994) has supported the prediction that when a project manager has private information and an incentive to shirk (i.e. To protect his/her reputation) he/she will have a greater tendency to continue an unprofitable project than a manager who faces only one or neither of these conditions. Harrison et al. (1999) extended this line of research across cultures to Chinese nationals in Taiwan. The purpose of this paper is to extend the cross-national direction of this line of research by: (1) determining if Mexican nationals who have private information and an incentive to shirk have this same general propensity to continue an unprofitable project when compared to Mexican nationals who experience neither condition, and (2) comparing this general tendency with a sample of U.S. Subjects. The results of this study indicate that the Mexican subjects in the private information, incentive to shirk group also had a tendency to continue unprofitable projects at a rate similar to their U.S. Counterparts. The implications of these results are discussed.