How Does Detection-Risk-Related Anxiety Affect Job Retention among Auditors?

We study whether auditors feel anxiety stemming from detection risk in their work and the<br/>consequences of anxiety for job satisfaction and job retention. Our survey of Finnish auditors and<br/>exploratory factor analysis revealed two factors we label Productive Anxiety and Unproductive Anxiety,<br/>which explain anxiety related to detection risk. We suggest that Productive Anxiety is typical in the<br/>auditing profession and helps cope with detection risk. However, Unproductive Anxiety represents<br/>personal anxiety that may involve elements of fear of the consequences of audit failure and undermine<br/>the intentions to remain in the audit field. We applied structural equation modelling and found a<br/>negative mediation effect from Unproductive Anxiety on job retention via lower job satisfaction. The<br/>open answers in our survey were also qualitatively analysed, and the survey findings and possible<br/>implications were discussed with a professional auditor.