Religious control to decrease auditor turnover in public accountant firms in Indonesia

Abstract

Highly qualified auditors have been considered essential in an accountant firm; however, the higher their competence are, the higher the tendency they move to another organization. The aim of the research was to analyze the role of religious control in mediating the effects of professional commitment and organizational commitment to auditors’ turnover working in public accountant firms in Indonesia. The research sample was 401 respondents chosen by accidental sampling based on their answers sent by emails. The tool of analysis was structural equations model calculated by using SPSS program. The results show that religious control reduced auditors’ turnover directly and mediated the effect of professional commitment on auditors’ turnover. Professional commitment and organizational commitment could not reduce auditor turnover, and religious control was not able to mediate the influence of organizational commitment on turnover of the auditors. The theoretical implications of this research enriching behavioral accounting and auditing literature and the practical implications of giving policy consideration to the head of the public accounting firm.