Investigation of the Effect of Public Internal Auditors' Perceptions of Professional Independence on the Perception of Professional Commitment: A Case of Universities

Abstract

This research aims to reveal the factors affecting the professional commitment of internal auditors working in public universities in Turkey. The survey form prepared based on the variables of the created model was applied to internal auditors working at state universities in Turkey via Google Forms and 118 data were obtained. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was performed to test the relationships between the variables in the research model, and one-way ANOVA test was performed to determine whether internal auditors' perceptions of the variables differed according to their demographic characteristics. As a result of the SEM analysis, it was found that the perception of professional ethics has an impact on the perception of professional independence; It has been revealed that professional independence has statistically significant and positive effects on professional commitment. According to the t test results, internal auditors' professional ethics perceptions, professional independence perceptions and professional commitments do not differ statistically according to their gender; It was concluded that perceptions of professional ethics and professional independence differ statistically significantly according to marital status, whereas professional commitments do not differ statistically. At the same time, as a result of the one-way ANOVA test, it was determined that internal auditors' perceptions of professional ethics, perceptions of professional independence and professional commitment did not differ statistically according to their age, education level and experience period.