Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Moral Courage on Internal Auditors’ Task Performance in Nigerian Public Sector
This study examines the impact of emotional intelligence and moral courage on the task performance of internal auditors in the Nigerian public sector. This study uses a cross sectional design and survey data of 121 internal auditors in the Nigerian government establishments and applies the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS SEM) to analyse the data. The finding of the study revealed a positive insignificant relationship between emotional intelligence and task performance and a positive significant association between moral courage and task performance of internal auditors in the Nigerian public sector establishments. This indicates that auditors who possess the resilience to uphold professional ethics, even in the face of adversity, tend to perform their roles more effectively. This study provides conceptual and empirical insights into the nexus between moral courage and task performance of internal auditors in the Nigeria context, which tends to benefit accounting and auditing professional bodies in Nigeria and globally in their curriculum development and training process of internal auditors. It also tends to benefit the employers of internal auditors in their recruitment process by taking cognizance of the moral courage of job applicants. Keywords: Emotional intelligence, internal auditor, moral courage, Nigeria, task performance. JEL Classification Codes: M42, M12, M14
Keywords: Task Performance, Internal Auditor, Moral Courage, Emotional Intelligence, Nigeria.
Citation: Oyewumi, H.K., Ismail, A.I., Lateef, S.A. & Nuriein, S.A. (2026). Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Moral Courage on Internal Auditors’ Task Performance in Nigerian Public Sector. International Journal of Innovative Research in Accounting and Sustainability, 11(1), 126-138.