Confirmatory behaviors in accounting: Exploring what may lead to differences in how advisors search for and evaluate information, and the subsequent results

Prior research in accounting has provided evidence that accounting professionals engage in confirmatory behaviors; that is, they conduct information searches and information evaluations in a way that tends to favor the client-preferred outcome. In this study, I explore factors which factors (which can vary depending on circumstances of the specific decision task) have the greatest overall influence on predicting the extent of confirmatory behaviors engaged in by advisors. The factors examined are: specific advisor role (whether the advisor is offering a recommendation for the client to consider or making a decision for the client), perceived accountability with respect to the final decision, perceived accountability with respect to the information search process, perceived ease of the overall decision task, the strength of the initial preference before beginning research, advocacy, and concerns about accuracy. Additional analyses also explore how these factors and the extent of confirmatory behaviors can be used to predict differences in subsequent perceptions and judgments with respect to the client's preferred position, specifically: the perceived likelihood of judicial success, how strongly the advisor would recommend the position, how confident the advisor is with respect to the client's preferred position being the most appropriate, and whether or not the advisor chooses the client's preferred position. The results of the study indicate that various situational factors are useful in predicting differences in confirmatory behaviors, as well as differences in subsequent perceptions and judgments.