Exploring the identity of audit committee members of New Zealand listed companies

We focus on the attributes of audit committee members at an individual level through investigating their role‐based identity ; this approach represents a departure from the traditional approach of measuring their independence and financial expertise. The data revealed that there is a wide range of backgrounds and attributes identified by New Zealand audit committee members as being helpful in performing their responsibilities. Members’ motivation and justification for serving on the audit committees played a significant role in verifying their identity salience in terms of being an audit committee member. Regulators and other corporate governance stakeholders may benefit from a further understanding of the reciprocal relationship between an audit committee mechanism and its members’ identity salience.