**3. Research methodology**

The research philosophy used to identify the impacts of emerging technology on the audit process, audit profession, and the role of an auditor is interpretive in nature [50]. The researcher aims to understand, analyze, and interpret the participants' everyday experiences in specific situations [51]. A qualitative approach was followed, which was based on two qualitative datasets. This allowed the researcher to gain a rich understanding of how impacts on audit were experienced by participants and how these experiences changed over time to support the chosen research philosophy [50]. Data collection for this study was done with a structured literature review (SLR) and semi-structured interviews. An SLR is a process whereby literature is identified and selected based on predefined search criteria designed to address specific topics. It is a comprehensive and transparent search that can be replicated to provide a balanced and impartial view of existing literature coverage based on the search criteria [51]. The SLR was used to identify the impacts of digitalization on auditing from existing academic literature. This is a "comprehensive pre-planned strategy" to identify and review existing literature concluding on what is known and not known in a specific field or covering a specific topic [51]. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the outcome of the SLR. These themed impacts identified were used as focus areas, which were further synthesized into detailed questions during the formulation of the interview guide. The semi-structured interview guide was used during the semi-structured interviews for the collection of the second qualitative dataset used for this study.

Google Scholar was used for the identification of academic literature for this study. The search included "audit AND blockchain", "audit AND artificial intelligence", and "audit AND big data" as keywords. The search was refined by limiting the search to return only articles where keywords appeared in the title, which reduced the search results to 403 matches (145, 83 and 175, respectively) that were selected to be read first. After an initial investigation, the search was further refined to exclude citations and limit considered literature to English articles, excluding popular press and nonpeer-reviewed publications. The total number of matches was 242 (80, 54 and 108 respectively). A screening was completed of the 242 articles, after which 107 studies were identified as eligible for this research. An abstract review was completed on the 107 articles. Preference was given to papers that focused on the impact of digitalization on auditing after or during the implementation and use of these technological capabilities, specifically blockchain, AI and big data analysis. Of the 107 eligible articles, 52 were selected and included in the full article review. The papers were analyzed, impacts identified and themes were created by grouping related impacts. Appendix A depicts and extract of the detailed analysis dataset.

The themes identified as an output of the SLR, were then considered and included in the interview guide created for the semi-structured interviews. Each of the themes was supported by 2-4 questions. Questions were derived from the detailed impact identification from the SLR. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain the second qualitative dataset to assess if and how the themes identified in the SLR have materialized in the South African context. The interview guide consisted of three

sections, the respondent's professional and demographic information, followed by baseline questions, with the last section focusing on the themed impacts of digitalization on auditing as identified in the SLR. The interview guide was used for each interview, and all themes identified were covered with each participant. Flexibility was allowed in the conversation to identify the lived experiences of participants [51].

Purposive sampling was used for the participation selection. Purposive sampling allows the researcher to apply judgment when selecting participants for a study [51]. All participants that participated in this study were selected based on their industry sector, job level, specialty, and experience. Only candidates that work in the financial services sector in South Africa, with a job level of Executive or Senior Management, working in either Internal Audit, External Audit or Risk Management with at least 10-years' experience, were eligible for this study. Prospective participants were screened based on the information available on LinkedIn. Each prospective participant was contacted with a telephone call to confirm the accuracy of the information obtained. After a prospective participant was confirmed to be eligible for the study, the purpose of the research was shared, and the prospective participants had the opportunity to inform the researcher if they would like to participate in the study. Participants that took part in the study were contacted via email, and interviews were scheduled. A total of 12 interviews were conducted [52]. Informed consent was obtained and all interviews were voice recorded and transcribed. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, interviews were conducted via collaboration software, Microsoft Teams.
