Being comfortable : Auditors’ self-perception of their professional identity

This study investigates how auditors achieve a sense of comfort in their professional identity amid the ongoing transformation of the auditing profession. The research problem stems from a lack of attention in the existing literature on the internal, emotional, and psychological aspects of auditors' professional identity, particularly in relation to comfort, a concept previously limited to the audit process. Understanding this intersection is of growing importance, as auditors navigate shifting regulatory frameworks, technological advancements, and evolving societal expectations. Drawing on comfort theory (Kolcaba & Kolcaba, 1991; Carrington & Catasús, 2007), this study adopted a qualitative, interpretivist approach. Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted with auditors at various career stages in Sweden selected through purposive and snowball sampling. The empirical material was analysed abductively using thematic analysis. The findings show that auditors achieve comfort in their professional identity through different aspects, such as experience, time and responsibility, career ladder and transformation, networks, and documents. Our findings further show that overwhelming discomfort results in an auditor leaving the profession, as their professional identity diminishes. The main argument is that comfort is a critical component of auditor self-perception and identity formation. This study contributes to the sociology of professions by integrating emotional and psychological dimensions into discussions of auditors’ professional identities. It also extends comfort theory in auditing into a new conceptual terrain, illustrating its applicability beyond the audit process. Future research could extend this study by exploring how auditors experience and construct comfort across diverse organisational, cultural, and social contexts, such as different career paths, interpersonal dynamics, and identity factors such as gender or ethnicity, to better understand how comfort is produced, disrupted, and embodied in professional identity.