The effect of experience on auditors' belief revisions in the defense contract environment Available to Purchase

This study investigates the effect of decision-maker experience on certain Hogarth and Einhorn (1992) belief-adjustment model predictions. Evidence order, evidence strength, and response mode were systematically varied within a defective pricing audit context involving federal defense contract auditors to ascertain the effects of auditor experience on decisions. Results indicate that the assessed strength, the assigned order, and the confirmatory nature of the evidence had a strong predicted influence on the degree of belief adjustment among experienced (EAs) and inexperienced (IAs) auditors, alike. The end-ofsequence response mode created sub-optimal belief-revisions among the IAs, inconsistent with expert decisions.