Gender is Not 'A Dummy Variable': A Discussion of Current Gender Research in Accounting

Abstract

There is growing interest among auditing researchers for the idea that certain auditor judgments, decisions, and behaviors (and, thus, audit quality) might differ depending on the auditor being a man or a woman. Although we think this is a genuine line of research, we warn in this article against four methodological pitfalls. First, gender should not be equated to sex. Second, the existence of psychological sex differences is highly questionable. Third, auditors are not a random sample of the general population but a well selected subpopulation. Fourth, the presence of gender differences is context-dependent. Based upon these methodological issues, we make three propositions for future gender research in auditing and related domains. First, we advise careful use of terminology. Second, we urge that sex differences within specific subpopulations are examined instead of assumed. Third, we suggest researchers to look for gender-based (instead of sex-based) explanations. Although the focus in this article is on auditor gender, our propositions offer valuable insights to all accounting, tax, and finance ‘gender’ research.