Big Data Analytics Adoption and Professional Skepticism: The Role of Auditors’ Experience, Self-Efficacy, and Trust

Abstract

This paper addresses the gap in the literature regarding the adoption of Big Data Analytics (BDA) by auditors and its impact on professional skepticism (PS). It explores how auditors’ personal traits, such as prior experience, self-efficacy, and trust, influence their perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) of BDA. Additionally, it examines how these perceptions affect their behavioral intentions (BI) to adopt BDA tools, whether this leads to actual usage (AU), and subsequently investigates whether the AU of BDA impacts PS. A questionnaire was prepared and distributed to 94 external auditors from the Big Four auditing firms in Palestine (86% response rate) by adopting the census method. The findings indicate that certain auditors’ characteristics positively influence perceptions of BDA’s usefulness and ease of use, subsequently affecting adoption intentions and actual adoption. However, not all auditors’ characteristics show this positive influence. Furthermore, the AU of BDA is found to significantly impact PS, suggesting that BDA tools could enhance audit quality. The study’s results emphasize the importance of keeping PS strong as technology evolves. These findings are essential for audit firms looking to use BDA to improve audit quality.