The success of business firms and other organizations relies on the trustworthiness of reports and other documents prepared by management accountants. This study examines the personal ethical values and ethical value types of management accountants. Data were obtained from a survey of members of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). The survey, composed of the Rokeach Values Survey and demographic questions, was delivered by the IMA Research Lab to membership samples. Importantly, the results indicated that the highest-ranked values were consistent (...) with values included in the IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice. That management accountants hold high ethical values better enables them to provide reliable and meaningful work to business firms and other organizations. Another important finding is that older management accountants are more concerned with moral values than their younger colleagues. This finding has notable implications for the future of the profession. (shrink)

The importance of spiritual capital of individuals can be traced back to the resistance of independent auditors in the face of client manager power in ethical dilemma situations. This capital which is defined as a component of intellectual capital is integrated to auditors’ livelihood. This research found some related individual factors in auditing area and classified them under SpCi. Morals, ethics, personal values, and culture are the four most related factors which are applied as dimensions of SpCi in auditing area. (...) Hence, this paper attempts to investigate into the effect of SpCi and its four dimensions on an independent auditor’s opinion. The respondents of this research were 321 Iranian audit managers and partners. The data were collected through questionnaires, and multiple regressions were applied to analyze the data. The results showed that the SpCi and its dimensions affect an independent auditor’s opinion. (shrink)

Most business ethics scholars interested in understanding individual moral cognition or reasoning rely on the Defining Issues Test. They typically report that managers and business students exhibit a relatively high percentage of principled moral reasoning when resolving ethical dilemmas. This article applies neurocognitive processes and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, and its more recent revision, as theoretical foundations to explore whether differences emerge when using a recognition of learning task, such as the DIT or similar instruments, versus a formulation of (...) knowledge task, such as the Moral Judgment Interview or similar instruments, to assess individual moral reasoning. The data show that significantly different levels of moral reasoning are detected when using a recognition-based versus formulation-based moral reasoning instrument. As expected, the recognition-based approach reports an inflated, higher moral reasoning score for subjects compared with using a formulation-based instrument. Implications of these results for understanding an individual’s moral reasoning are discussed. (shrink)

Managers’ commitment to contribute to sustainable development holds the key to their long-term business success and may be a source of competitive advantage. The managerial perception of business ethics is influenced by the level of moral development and personal characteristics of managers. These perceptions are also shaped by forces existing in the environment of the firm, including available resources, societal expectations, sector, and regulations. The resource-based perspective can thus contribute to the analysis of ethical issues offering important insights on how (...) they can influence the environmental strategy of the firm. The findings of this study show that firm resources have a strong influence on business managers’ ethical attitudes. In addition, the application of resource-based rationales to ethical issues can be justified in the following several ways: it influences a managerial perception of natural environment as a competitive opportunity, it requires investments of financial and human resources, flexibility and speed in the adaptation to environmental changes, and it creates new resource-based opportunities through changes in prevention pollution technology, policy process, and market forces. (shrink)

This article uses bibliometric analysis to empirically examine research on business ethics published in a broad set of journals, focused over the period 1988-2007. We consider those journals with an emphasis on accounting. First, we determine the citation frequencies of documents to identify the core articles in accounting research with an ethics focus as well as the contributions of influential fields included in the research sphere of these journals. We also employ document co-citation analysis to analyze the scholarly communication patterns (...) that exist within the realm of the specified articles. Second, we utilize social network analysis tools to profile the centrality features of the co-citation network of these documents. (shrink)

Focusing on millennials, individuals born between 1980 and 2000 and representing the largest generational population in our history, this research seeks to understand their ethical decision-making processes by exploring the distinctive, yet interconnected, theories of personal values and cognitive moral reasoning. Utilizing a decision-making framework introduced in the 1990s, we discover that there is a statistically supported relationship between a millennial’s personal value orientation and stage of cognitive moral reasoning. Moreover, we discover a strong relationship between three of the four (...) value orientations and a corresponding stage of cognitive moral reasoning. The theoretical and practical research implications of our discovery about millennials’ decision making are discussed. (shrink)

This study uses the Schwartz Values Questionnaire and version 2 of the Defining Issues Test to investigate the values, value types (clusters of related values) and level of moral reasoning of a sample of 108 MBA students in a Canadian university. There are no statistically significant differences in the levels of moral reasoning attributed to gender. Male and female MBA students rank 'family security' and 'healthy' as their two most important values. For males, hedonism, achievement and self-direction are the three (...) most important value types, while for females they are benevolence, hedonism and security, respectively. There are statistically significant gender differences for the value types hedonism, achievement, stimulation and power. Overall, however, there are more similarities than differences between the male and the female students. Regression analysis indicates a statistically significant positive association between the postconventional level of moral reasoning as measured by P-scores and the value-type universalism. The findings provide further evidence that value types affect the postconventional level of moral reasoning. (shrink)

Accountants are neither devoid of ethical dilemmas nor are they immune from financial scandals. In order to improve the credibility of the profession, it is important to study the personal values that qualified and trainee accountants consider important. Using Maccoby's instrument, which measures ‘head’ and ‘heart’ values, qualified accountants (chartered and certified) and trainee accountants were surveyed for the first time in a European Union member country (Cyprus) to ascertain their character ethical traits/personal values. Accountants were found to value ‘head’ (...) more than ‘heart’ traits and there were no gender differences. For male respondents, age and years of professional experience were significant correlates of the importance attributed to head traits, while having religious beliefs was associated with valuing heart traits more. Finally, the implications for accounting education and the professional bodies are considered. (shrink)

This study uses the Schwartz Values Questionnaire and version 2 of the Defining Issues Test to investigate the values, value types (clusters of related values) and level of moral reasoning of a sample of 108 MBA students in a Canadian university. There are no statistically significant differences in the levels of moral reasoning attributed to gender. Male and female MBA students rank ‘family security’ and ‘healthy’ as their two most important values. For males, hedonism, achievement and self‐direction are the three (...) most important value types, while for females they are benevolence, hedonism and security, respectively. There are statistically significant gender differences for the value types hedonism, achievement, stimulation and power. Overall, however, there are more similarities than differences between the male and the female students. Regression analysis indicates a statistically significant positive association between the postconventional level of moral reasoning as measured by P‐scores and the value‐type universalism. The findings provide further evidence that value types affect the postconventional level of moral reasoning. (shrink)