Mediating role of work stressors between auditor knowledge-sharing activities and job satisfaction in Indonesian small audit firms

Audit businesses encourage their auditors to conduct remote audits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, auditors from small audit firms exchange their skills, viewpoints, and experiences through internet forums. The purpose of this study is to investigate how auditors’ knowledge-sharing activities through a social media community based on the reciprocity standard can prevent stress caused by work stressors, which affect their job satisfaction. The relationship between knowledge-sharing activities, work stressors, and job satisfaction was examined using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method. This survey includes 151 auditors from 27 Indonesian small audit firms. The findings revealed that active involvement in knowledge sharing activities through social media groups boosts auditor motivation by raising good feelings when confronted with work conflict (β = 0.334, p < 0.001) and lowering negative emotions when confronted with work ambiguity (β = –0.407, p < 0.001) and work overload (β = –0.372, p < 0.001). However, only minimizing the negative feelings of work ambiguity (β = –0.331, p < 0.001) and work overload (β = –0.277, p < 0.001) can improve job satisfaction. Furthermore, work ambiguity (β = 0.135, p < 0.001) and overload (β = 0.103, p < 0.01) totally mediate the association between knowledge–sharing activities and auditor job satisfaction. Auditors set the norm for social media reciprocity by sharing their knowledge and expertise with others. As a result, the auditor can reduce negative emotions when facing hindrance stressors, thereby increasing job satisfaction. © Muhammad Subhan, Suyanto Suyanto, 2023