Abstract:

This study investigated the impact of knowledge and experience (individual factors) of Saudi banks employees on the Audit Expectation Gap (AEG) and inquire if the gap can mediate the relationship between individual criteria and loan decision performance. To validate the hypothesis of the research, a survey was sent to 300 employees working in Saudi Arabia's top 10 Islamic banks. Only 159 responses were validated. We used the AMOS, PLS, and SPSS software to analyze the collected data. Results exhibit an absence of AEG on Saudi banks; knowledge and experience were found to eliminate the area of the gap.  Precisely, this study shows a very significant negative relationship between the audit expectation gap and loan decision performance of the Saudi bank officers. The results also indicate that the AEG mediates the relations ship between individual factors and loan performance. These results can inform us about the mechanisms of reducing the AEG among the employees of Saudi banks, through the recruitment of employees with high qualifications and deep experience.