Auditors’ Resilience from the Ontological Perspective of Critical Realism: Audit Firms in Iraq
Keywords:
auditors’ resilience, ontological perspective of critical realism, grounded theoryAbstract
Objective: This study aims to explain the concept and underlying generative mechanisms of auditors’ resilience in Iraqi audit firms through the lens of critical realist ontology.
Methodology: Adopting a qualitative and exploratory design, the study employs a grounded theory approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 experts, including senior academics and managing partners of audit firms in Iraq. Purposeful and snowball sampling were used until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data analysis followed open, axial, and selective coding procedures, complemented by retroductive reasoning to identify empirical, actual, and deep structural layers of auditors’ resilience.
Findings: The findings indicate that auditors’ resilience is a multi-layered phenomenon emerging from the interaction between generative mechanisms—such as professional ethics, cognitive agility, moral courage, and support networks—and macro-level regulatory, economic, and cultural structures. These interactions, when activated by empirical events including professional pressure, institutional uncertainty, and corruption, shape subjective outcomes such as self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and the maintenance of professional independence.
Conclusion: The study concludes that enhancing auditors’ resilience in the complex Iraqi context requires an integrative approach that simultaneously addresses individual capacities and structural conditions; critical realism offers a robust framework for uncovering these dynamics and informing adaptive, context-sensitive strategies.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Kareem Hazn Shiltagh, Reza Nemati Koshteli, Maysam Abd Kazem, Saeid Aliahmadi (Author)
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