About

Christopher P. Agoglia is the Richard H. Simpson Endowed Professor of Accounting at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has held the inaugural endowed professorship since 2014. He has served as a Professor of Accounting and was the Chair of the Department of Accounting from 2013 to 2017. His academic background includes a PhD in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a BS in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University. His research focuses on examining decision making in accounting and auditing contexts using behavioral decision theory. He has made significant contributions to understanding the auditor-client relationship, audit team time reporting, and the effects of disclosure thresholds, among other topics. Agoglia has received numerous honors, including the Auditing Section Notable Contribution to the Auditing Literature Award and the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Supervisor Award from the American Accounting Association. He has also been recognized for his research in experimental audit studies and has held editorial roles in leading accounting journals.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Psychology
• Business
• Accounting
• Engineering
• Marketing
• Finance
• Public relations
• Engineering ethics
• Law
• Economics
• Management
• Medicine

Selected publications

• The power of small talk: How small talk and psychological ownership influence managers’ communication defensiveness during audit inquiry

  Accounting Organizations and Society · 2025-04-09 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• When Doing Good Backfires: The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility Fit on Long- and Short-Horizon Investors

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The Power of Small Talk: How Small Talk and Psychological Ownership Influence Managers’ Communication Defensiveness during Audit Inquiry

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Effect of Negative Expectancy Violations and Relational Familiarity on Client Managers’ Negotiation Positions

  The Accounting Review · 2023-06-28 · 6 citations

  article

  ABSTRACT During the interactive process of issue resolution, client managers may develop expectations about the auditor’s position. We examine the effect that negative expectancy violations have on managers’ pre-negotiation positions and how relational familiarity can moderate this effect. Through a series of experiments, we find that, when the partner’s proposed adjustment is within the client’s original expectations, managers offer greater concessions to a more familiar partner than to a less familiar partner. However, depending on relational familiarity, client managers react to expectancy violations very differently. Managers react more severely when a more familiar partner violates expectations, offering lower negotiation concessions than when no violation occurs. In contrast, managers tend to ignore violations committed by a less familiar partner, offering similar negotiation concessions whether or not a violation has occurred. Furthermore, we find support for a practical intervention to repair damage from expectancy violations committed by more familiar partners.

  PublisherDOI

• Can Corporate Social Responsibility Counteract Managers’ Incentives to Manage Earnings?

  Journal of Accounting Auditing & Finance · 2022-07-21 · 9 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Many firms engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which aim to serve a broader set of stakeholders (e.g., workforce, communities, environment). These companies often encourage management to consider these stakeholders when making operational and financial decisions. One such decision that managers face involves managing earnings. We conduct an experiment in which experienced managers are placed in the role of a division manager facing an accrual decision. We find that a company’s demonstrated commitment to CSR moderates both upward and downward earnings management attempts. We propose, and find support for, a moderated-mediation model in which the firm’s commitment to CSR influences managers’ consideration of constituents. Managers’ consideration of these stakeholders differentially affects the level of accruals, depending on the direction of the earnings management incentive. Our results provide insight into how CSR may influence individuals’ decisions within the organization, minimizing the impact that incentives have on maximizing one’s self-interest.

  PublisherDOI

• Do Investors Prefer Female CEOs in Activist-Targeted Firms? The Role of CEO Gender, Shareholder Activism Type, and Earnings Guidance Disclosure

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2022-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The effect of team member proximity and assignment length on audit staff reliance on a supervisor's preferences

  Accounting Organizations and Society · 2022 · 11 citations

  • Business
  • Accounting
  • Psychology
  PublisherDOI

• Research Forum on COVID-19: Implications for Audits and the Audit Profession

  Auditing A Journal of Practice & Theory · 2022 · 4 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Public relations
  • Political Science

  This Forum invites authors to submit articles that can directly inform our understanding of how the pandemic might affect audits and the profession. Instead of the common practice of presenting Forum papers in one issue of a journal, we have decided—in view of the timeliness of the topic—to publish accepted articles as they become available. Such articles will be identified as belonging to the body of research relating to this call.This issue contains the first article for this forum. Interestingly, this article highlights the implications of the pandemic for future auditing research. The pandemic has wrought significant changes in audit teamwork and group processes, many of which will persist post-pandemic. Bauer, Humphreys, and Trotman (2022) posit that these changes will create new research questions for audit research and new ways to address existing research questions. The authors provide an insightful discussion of the implications these changes have for group judgment and decision making in auditing (e.g., review process, fraud brainstorming, consultations, and interactions with client management and the audit committee).We hope to publish more papers inspired by this call in forthcoming issues of AJPT.

  PublisherDOI

• The influence of relationship partners on client managers’ negotiation positions

  Accounting Organizations and Society · 2021 · 22 citations

  • Political Science
  • Business
  • Psychology
  PublisherDOI

• How the Sleeper Effect Influences Auditors' Evaluations of Audit Evidence

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2020-01-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Richard C. Hatfield

  University of Alabama

  14 shared

• Joseph F. Brazel

  North Carolina State University

  11 shared

• Maria H. Sanchez

  7 shared

• G. Bradley Bennett

  7 shared

• M. David Piercey

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  7 shared

• George T. Tsakumis

  University of Delaware

  7 shared

• Mary Kate Dodgson

  Lehigh University

  6 shared

• Cathy Beaudoin

  University of Vermont

  5 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Business Administration

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  1999

• Other, Business Administration

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  1993

• B.A., Business Administration

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  1989

Awards & honors

• Auditing Section Notable Contribution to the Auditing Litera…
• Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Supervisor Award, American…
• Ranked #2 Worldwide for Experimental Audit Research in the B…
• Best Paper Award, American Accounting Association Auditing S…
• Emerging Scholar Award, American Accounting Association (201…