Feeling well by being together: study of Swedish auditors

As guardians of the public interest, auditors represent a unique occupational group. The paper explores organizational culture as an antecedent of auditors’ well-being, which is assumed to have important consequences for the quality of auditors’ work.This study is based on a survey of 207 Swedish auditors. Using established and validated instruments measuring aspects of organizational culture and personal well-being, the study employed correlations and multiple regression analysis in testing the relationship between the two.The results of the study suggest that increasing the degree of collectivistic organizational culture has a positive effect on three aspects of well-being: job satisfaction, life balance and life satisfaction.This study is the first attempt to explore well-being of auditors and its antecedents represented by organizational culture. Contrary to the expectation that auditors take an individualistic approach to their work, this study establishes that auditors feel best in a work environment characterized by a collectivist organizational culture.