How do CPAs think? Thinking styles of certified public accountants in the Philippines using a structural equation model

• Main Author: Butac, Donna Mae D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Accountants—Philippines—Psychology; Accountants—Rating of —Philippines; Accounting
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_acc/6; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=etdm_acc
• Institution: De La Salle University

Thinking style is not an ability rather it is the way how individuals used the abilities they have, as a result, thinking style reveals how individuals perceive, think, solve the problem, learn, and communicate. It is an intricate notion that affects people’s behavior towards their day-to-day life. In an organizational setting, the way of thinking of an individual may contribute to the process-interaction in the workplace since thinking styles relate to the characteristics of an individual in terms of processing and evaluating information, solving problems and making decisions. The topic of thinking styles has not been much disseminated but based on research numerous studies have been piloted to explore such a notion. Throughout the years, there have been existing works of literature addressing the relationship between thinking styles and different factors. There are studies that strongly suggest that thinking styles forecast both the quality and quantity of performance, however, only a few have essentially related the concept of thinking styles with Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), or in the field of accounting, in general. This paper studied the moderating effect of demographic factors, which include ages, gender, ethnicity, educational attainment, work position, and tenure on the impact of thinking styles on individual work performance. Thus, the specific objectives of this study were (1) to identify the thinking styles among CPAs in the Philippines; (2) to identify the effect of thinking styles on the individual work performance; (2) to identify the moderating effect of (a) age, (b) gender, (c) ethnicity, (d) educational attainment, (e) work position, and (f) tenure on the impact stated on the third objective. The main method used to determine the thinking style among CPAs was through a survey using the Thinking Style Inventory (TSI) and the self-rating Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ). Furthermore, to examine the model of the study, Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized. The findings of the study presented statistical evidence on the impact of thinking styles on the individual work performance of the CPAs in the Philippines. It showed that thinking preferences have a significant influence on individual work performance. Thinking styles predict the quantity and quality of individual work performance, hence, using different thinking styles on different types of tasks are more beneficial than others in certain situations or for particular tasks. Furthermore, the demographic factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, educational attainment, work position, and tenure show a significant moderating effect on the relationship between dimensions of thinking styles and individual work performance.