Soft governance and ethical behavior in public universities: the role of mindfulness and managerial support in internal auditing

This study examines how managerial support and mindfulness influence internal auditors’ resilience and reduced audit quality behavior in Indonesian public universities. Survey responses were collected from 126 internal auditors working across multiple state universities. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, the results show that managerial support decreases reduced audit quality behavior (β = −0.277) and increases resilience (β = 0.380). Mindfulness also lowers reduced audit quality behavior (β = −0.330) and strengthens resilience (β = 0.263). Resilience itself does not significantly predict reduced audit quality behavior, suggesting that personal psychological resources require a supportive organizational environment to translate into ethical action. The model explains 24.8 percent of the variance in reduced audit quality behavior and 30 percent in resilience. Multi-group analysis further shows that the beneficial effects of mindfulness are stronger for line auditors than for supervisors. Overall, the findings highlight how organizational and personal resources can work together as soft governance mechanisms to uphold ethical integrity in complex public university systems.