Deficiencies identified in complex audit tasks suggest room for improvement in audit judgments. I propose that aligning an auditor’s focus (prevention/promotion) and mindset (concrete/abstract) in a compatible way can induce an experience of “regulatory fit” that improves judgments compared to “regulatory non-fit”. Results are more complex than previously thought. I find that fit versus non-fit improves judgments, but only for auditors who are initially less engaged in the judgment task. For auditors who are initially more engaged, non-fit versus fit improves judgments. A second experiment provides converging evidence. Prior research finds strong evidence that fit improves performance versus non-fit. The possibility that non-fit could improve performance has received little attention. By conceptualizing initial task engagement and identifying it as a key moderator, my study suggests that non-fit also has value, and that assessing auditor pre-existing conditions before prescribing interventions is important for improving judgments.

中文翻译：

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初始任务参与：解锁适合和不适合的价值以改进审计判断

在复杂的审计任务中发现的缺陷表明审计判断有改进的余地。我建议以一种兼容的方式调整审计师的重点（预防/促进）和思维方式（具体/抽象），可以产生一种“监管契合”的体验，与“监管不契合”相比，这种经验可以提高判断力。结果比以前想象的要复杂。我发现适合与不适合可以改善判断，但仅适用于最初较少参与判断任务的审计师。对于最初更敬业的审计师来说，不合适与合适可以提高判断力。第二个实验提供了一致的证据。先前的研究发现强有力的证据表明，适合与不适合相比可以提高性能。不适合可以提高性能的可能性很少受到关注。