This content links to another destination. Please follow the button below to be taken directly there.
Assistant Professor of Accountancy Dr. Brad Trinkle was featured as the cover story for the Spring 2016 edition of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario's D & A Magazine.
The article, titled "Nudge: How to Persuade a Professional Accountant," interviews Trinkle on his research regarding behavioral accounting, exploring different influence tactics used by CPA managers and the effects they have on the motivation of their employees. Below is an excerpt of the article:
"Managers tend to use the tactics they believe work best. In one study, conducted through a survey of Certified Public Accountants in the Southeastern United States, Trinkle found that professional accountants work in environments where soft influence tactics (e.g., consultation, rational persuasion, integration) are the norm. Indeed, legitimization, a hard tactic that influences through reference to rules and procedures, places no higher than sixth on Trinkle's list of most often used tactics.
The ultimate goal of any influence tactic, says Trinkle, is to gain an employee's commitment to his or her tasks, 'rather than mere compliance and or even resistance.' Conversely, as studies have noted, subordinate resistance is a measure of managerial ineffectiveness. One's performance as a manager depends on whether one's employees internalize or become sympathetic to the goals associated with any given task. The overwhelming use of soft influence tactics suggests that most CPAs prefer a 'nudge' to a 'push.'
Trinkle's research, however, has uncovered a particular kind of nudge that resonates with professional accountants, one based on the level of commitment shown by employees to their organization: organizational appeal."
For the full story, visit