Is auditors' migration status associated with their performance? - ARC (eaa-online.org)

Education is meant to foster the development of individuals and promote equality. However, in China, the uneven development across regions may undermine this mission. Graduates from universities in less developed areas often face discrimination in the job market, while their peers from more developed regions enjoy unfair advantages. This study investigates this issue, providing evidence of such discrimination.

Specifically, the researchers looked at how the quality of work performed by auditors in China is influenced by where they studied before entering the job market. They found that auditors who moved from less developed to more developed regions generally provided higher-quality audits than those who stayed in their original areas. This finding suggests that employers, during the interviewing and screening of graduates, might have set a higher bar for students graduating from underdeveloped regions, requiring these students to pose higher capabilities to surpass this higher threshold.

Conversely, auditors who moved to less developed regions tended to deliver lower-quality audits, showing that the capabilities of these students have been over-estimated by their employers in the selection process. This underserved advantage lowers the bar for these students to pass.

The difference in audit quality also influenced their career success, with those who moved upwards in economic development doing better in their careers.

Overall, the study highlights how regional disparities can impact professional opportunities and outcomes, shedding light on an important issue in the job market. The researchers call for debiasing in employers’ recruitment process so that students studying in less developed regions can have more opportunities to progress their career, helping to achieve the mission of education.

Wen He (wen.he1@monash.edu), Monash Business School, Monash University

Chao Kevin Li (k.li@adelaide.edu.au), Adelaide Business School, The University of Adelaide

Yi Si (acsiyi@xjtu.edu.cn), The School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University

This blog is based on the paper:

He Wen, Chao Kevin Li, Yi Si. Is auditors’ migration status associated with their performance?. European Accounting Review, Forthcoming. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09638180.2024.2384379