An Investigation of Knowledge-based Systems' Use to Promote Judgment Consistency in Multicultural Firm Environments

Knowledge-based systems (KBS) have long been advocated as a method for promoting consistency in judgment across professional service organizations such as accountancy firms. Recent movements toward unification of standards for accounting, auditing and insolvency have increased the pressure on these firms to further enhance judgment consistency across firm locations throughout the world. Yet, little is known about the usefulness and/or impact of KBS in promoting judgment consistency in multicultural firm environments. This paper reports the results of a study that examines the use of a KBS in a cross-cultural experimental environment. Participants included 239 insolvency professionals from Australia and Singapore representing two diverse cultures—i.e., Anglo-American and Chinese, respectively. The results of the study provide some evidence in support of both the perceived differences in focus on positive versus negative information and on the influence of a KBS in reducing these differences. However, the KBS did not significantly close the differences in judgment between the two sets of insolvency professionals.