Download This PaperMitigating the Influence of Motivated Reasoning on Auditor Judgment
50 Pages Posted: 6 Mar 2018 Last revised: 10 Feb 2026
Date Written: December 12, 2025
Abstract
Auditing standards require auditors to base their judgments on underlying audit evidence. However, incentives inherent in the auditing environment can motivate auditors to favor audit conclusions that align with their incentives over those best supported by evidence, a biased cognitive process known as motivated reasoning. Motivated reasoning undermines audit quality and is prevalent in practice, yet evidence on how to mitigate its impact remains limited. Informed by prior research identifying selective exposure as a root cause of motivated reasoning, I predict and find that making auditors’ intrinsic motivation for their work salient prompts auditors to consider more evidence that contradicts their incentive-preferred conclusions, leading to audit judgments that are less influenced by incentives. The results highlight that focusing auditors on the intrinsic aspects and process of a task is a promising approach to counteracting the impact of motivated reasoning on audit quality, a persistent concern for regulators, practitioners, and academics.
Keywords: motivated reasoning; intrinsic motivation; information processing; auditor incentive; audit judgment, intrinsic motivation, information processing, auditor incentive, audit judgment
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