The potential of using psychometric tests in Polish accounting research

Abstract

Purpose: To demonstrate the rationale for using psychometric tests in accounting research and show the spectrum of possibilities for such research in the context of skepticism towards them in Polish academia. Methodology/approach: Deduction and a scoping literature review. Findings: We confirm that personality traits and states of the human mind affect the accounting process, and psychometrics is a field with strong theoretical foundations and well-developed empirical tools. This means that the use of psychometric tests in accounting research indisputably makes sense. Thereby, the skepticism towards psychometric research in accounting in Polish academic accounting society is questioned. Originality/value: We conducted an extensive review of the accounting research that used psychometric tests. We demonstrate the rationale for the use of psychometric testing in accounting.

Keywords

• psychometrics
• psychological tests
• accounting
• behavioral accounting