ESCP Europe

Langue

English

Publication year

01/12/2021

We explore an empirical puzzle regarding error management theory. While previous research has stressed the role of self-efficacy in explaining who adopts an error management orientation (EMO), our findings from three empirical studies in an auditing context indicate another powerful yet neglected individual difference: humility. In Study 1, we draw on qualitative data collected through 18 months of participant observations and 38 interviews to reveal the role of humility in adopting an EMO. In Study 2, we refine our findings by quantitatively exploring and testing the relationships of both humility and self-efficacy with various facets of an EMO. We find positive relations of humility with all examined facets, and find that humility predicts these facets over and above selfefficacy. In Study 3, we replicate and extend our findings by drawing on an additional sample and by exploring the role of past performance for these relationships. Again, we find that humility is a robust predictor of key EMO facets over and above self-efficacy as well as past performance. The discovery of the role of humility challenges the predominant consideration of self-efficacy, and has implications for studying error orientation, error management training, and error management culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]