Journal of Business Ethics 34 (2):101 - 121 (2001)
Abstract |
This paper examines the relationship between organizational ethical culture in two large international CPA firms, auditors'' personal values and the ethical orientation that those values dictate, and judgments in ethical dilemmas typical of those that accountants face. Using an experimental task consisting of multiple judgments designed to vary in "moral intensity" (Jones, 1991), and unique as well as tried-and-true approaches to variable measurements, this study examined the judgments of more than three hundred participants in our study. ANCOVA and path analysis results indicate that: (1) Ethical judgments in situations of high moral intensity are affected by personal values and by environmental variables, such as the professional code of conduct (direct and indirect effects) and previous ethics instruction (direct effect only). (2) Corporate ethical culture, and a relatively strong firm rules-orientation, affect auditors'' idealism but not relativism, and therefore indirectly affect ethical judgments. Jones'' (1991) moral intensity argument is supported: differences in the characteristics of specific judgment tasks apparently result in different decision processes.
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Keywords | ethics ethical judgment ethical orientation moral intensity organizational ethical culture personal values |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
Reprint years | 2004 |
DOI | 10.1023/A:1012261900281 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Challenge of Ethical Behavior in Organizations.Ronald R. Sims - 1992 - Journal of Business Ethics 11 (7):505 - 513.
Ethical Problems in Public Accounting: The View From the Top. [REVIEW]Don W. Finn, Lawrence B. Chonko & Shelby D. Hunt - 1988 - Journal of Business Ethics 7 (8):605 - 615.
Citations of this work BETA
A Review of The Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 1996–2003. [REVIEW]Michael J. O’Fallon & Kenneth D. Butterfield - 2005 - Journal of Business Ethics 59 (4):375 - 413.
A Review of The Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 1996–2003. [REVIEW]Michael J. O’Fallon & Kenneth D. Butterfield - 2005 - Journal of Business Ethics 59 (4):375-413.
East Meets West: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Cultural Variations in Idealism and Relativism.Donelson R. Forsyth, Ernest H. O’Boyle & Michael A. McDaniel - 2008 - Journal of Business Ethics 83 (4):813-833.
A Cognitive–Intuitionist Model of Moral Judgment.Adenekan Dedeke - 2015 - Journal of Business Ethics 126 (3):1-21.
The Impact of Perceived Ethical Culture of the Firm and Demographic Variables on Auditors' Ethical Evaluation and Intention to Act Decisions.Breda Sweeney, Don Arnold & Bernard Pierce - 2010 - Journal of Business Ethics 93 (4):531 - 551.
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