Stay In Your Own Lane : Navigating the Challenges of Upward Knowledge Sharing in Hierarchical Audit Teams

Audit quality and efficiency can be improved with the integration of innovative technology solutions. However, the successful implementation of such solutions largely depends on junior auditors' technological expertise and their ability to share knowledge upward to their supervisors on the engagement team. Using a semi-structured interview methodology, we explore the factors that enhance and inhibit junior auditors’ upward knowledge sharing. Following the interpretivist perspective, we find that social exchange theory and self-affirmation theory describe well the data and reveal three novel and important themes. First, the benefits and costs of sharing knowledge depend on the hierarchical distance between the knowledge sharer and recipient. Second, upward knowledge sharing can create conflict when the sharer and recipient have overlapping knowledge domains. Together these themes warn of the potential hazards ahead when junior auditors do not stay in their own lane. However, our third theme suggests that upward knowledge sharing is most effective when the junior auditor has a champion on the engagement team to encourage, support, and pave the way for innovative ideas