Accountants' Sensitivity to Dimensions of Information Integrity

This exploratory study investigates how subjects react to varying levels of information integrity impairment when making performance assessments using information of different information dimensions and quantitative performance. Participants completed a performance evaluation task that relied on performance metrics for four information dimensions based on the popular multi-dimensional Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan 2006). In each information dimension, the effects of four information integrity attributes (completeness, currency, accuracy and authorization) and two levels of quantitative performance (high and low) on performance evaluations and decision maker confidence were examined. Participants assessed the performance of division managers and reported their confidence in their evaluations. We find that the level of information integrity affects both participants' performance evaluations and confidence in their judgments. These effects vary by information dimensions and information integrity attributes. Participants rewarded managers for providing complete and authorized information and they derived confidence from the completeness of the information. Participants' evaluations and confidence judgments were not sensitive to information accuracy; i.e., whether the information was based solely on managers' estimates or based on data provided by the corporate information system. Also, information integrity affected decision makers' performance evaluations and confidence judgments in the financial, customer related and learning and growth dimensions, but not the internal business process dimension, despite the fact that in a business organization it is likely that the level of information integrity would be associated with the quality of internal business processes.