Moral intensity and ethical decision-making: An empirical examination of undergraduate accounting and business students

Accounting Education

Volumn 18, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 75-97

  Sweeney, Breda ^a   Costello, Fiona ^b  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND   (Ireland)

^b KPMG   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Ethical decision making; Ethics education; Moral intensity; Moral issues

Indexed keywords

EID: 79951544035     PISSN: 09639284     EISSN: 14684489     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09639280802009454     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. Barnett, T. (2001) Dimensions of moral intensity and ethical decision-making: an empirical study, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31(5), pp. 1038-1057.
2. Barnett, T. and Brown, G. (1994) The ethical judgements of college students regarding business issues, Journal of Education for Business, 69, pp. 333-339.
3. Barnett, T. and Valentine, S. (2004) Issue contingencies and marketers' recognition of ethical issues, ethical judgements and behavioral intentions, Journal of Business Research, 57(4), pp. 338-346
4. Borkowski, S. C. and Ugras, Y. J. (1998) Business students and ethics: a meta-analysis, Journal of Business Ethics, 17(X), pp. 1117-1127.
5. Brennan, N. (1998) Accounting Research: A Practical Guide (Dublin: Oak Tree Press)
6. Brown, R. and Hernstein, R. (1975) Psychology (Boston: Little Brown).
7. Browning, R. F. and Zabriskie, R. A. (1983) How ethical are industrial buyers?, Industrial Marketing Management, 12(4), pp. 219-224.
8. Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M. and Wadsworth, L. L. (2002) The impact of moral intensity dimensions on ethical decision making: assessing the relevance of orientation, Journal of Managerial Issues, XIV(1), pp. 15-30
9. Chia, A. and Mee, L. S. (2000) The effects of issue characteristics on the recognition of moral issues, Journal of Business Ethics, 27(3), pp. 255-269.
10. Clarke, P., Hill, N. and Stevens, K. (1996) Ethical reasoning abilities: accountancy practitioners in Ireland, Irish Business and Administrative Research, 17, pp. 94-109.
11. Cohen, J. R., Pant, L. W. and Sharp, D. J. (1998) The effect of gender and academic discipline diversity on the ethical evaluations, intentions and ethical orientation of potential public accounting recruits, Accounting Horizons, 12(3), pp. 250-270.
12. Cohen, J. R., Pant, L. W. and Sharp, D. J. (1996) Measuring the ethical awareness and ethical orientation of Canadian auditors, Behavioral Research in Accounting, 8(Suppl.), pp. 98-119.
13. Cohen, J. R., Pant, L. W. and Sharp, D. J. (2001) An examination of differences in ethical decision-making between Canadian business students and accounting professionals, Journal of Business Ethics, 30(4), pp. 319-336.
14. Cronbach, L. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests, Psychometrika, 16(3), pp. 297-334
15. Davis, M. A., Johnson, N. B. and Ohmer, D. G. (1998) Issue-contingent effects on ethical decision-making: a cross-cultural comparison, Journal of Business Ethics, 17(4), pp. 373-389.
16. Douglas, P., Davidson, R. and Schwartz, B. (2001) The effect of organizational culture and ethical orientation on accountants' ethical judgements, Journal of Business Ethics, 34(2), pp. 101-121.
17. Dubinsky, A. J. and Levy, M. (1985) Ethics in retailing perceptions of retail salespeople, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 13(1), pp. 1-16.
18. Etherington, L. D. and Schulting, L. (1995) Ethical development of accountants: the case of Canadian certified management accountants, Research on Accounting Ethics, 1, pp. 235-251.
19. Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1975) Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley).
20. Flannery, B. L. and May, D. R. (2000) Environmental ethical decision-making in the U.S. metal fishing industry, Academy of Management Journal, 43(4), pp. 642-662.
21. Flory, S. M. and Phillips, T. J. (1992) A multidimensional analysis of selected issues in accounting, The Accounting Review, 67(2), pp. 284-302.
22. Gibbs, J. C. (1979) Kohnberg's moral stage theory: a Piagetian revision, Human development, 22, pp. 89-112
23. Gilligan, C. (1982) In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's development (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).
24. Guertin, M. R. (1986) Beyond a unidimensional theory of moral development: An analysis of Jung's personality typology and Kohlberg's theory of moral stages comparing career military officer's wives and civilian women. PhD dissertation, George Washington University.
25. Habermas, J. (1979) Moral development and ego identity, in: J. Habermas, (Ed.) Communication and the Evolution of Society, pp. 69-94 (Boston: Beacon Press).
26. Harrington, S. J. (1997) A test of a person-issue contingent model of ethical decision-making in organizations, Journal of Business Ethics, 16(4), pp. 363-375.
27. Hegarty, W. H. and Sims, H. P. (1978) Some determinants of unethical decision behaviour: an experiment, Journal of Applied Psychology, 63(4), pp. 451-457.
28. Hull, A., Wright, M. and Ennew, C. (1999) Professional Ethics and Accountancy Training (London: ICAEW)
29. Jones, T. M. (1991) Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: an issue contingent model, Academy of Management Review, 16(2), pp. 366-395.
30. Jones, T. M. and Huber, V. L. (1992) Issue-contingency in ethical decision-making. Paper presented at the 3rd annual conference of the International Association for Business and Society, Leuven, Belgium.
31. Jones, J., Massey, D. W. and Thorne, L. (2003) Auditors' ethical reasoning: Insights from past research and implications for the future, Journal of Accounting Literature, 22, pp. 45-103.
32. Kohlberg, L. (1969) Stage and sequence: the cognitive-developmental approach to socialization, in: D. A. Goslin (Ed.) Handbook of Socialisation Theory and Research, pp. 347-480 (Chicago: Rand McNally)
33. Leitsch, D. L. (2006) Using dimensions of moral intensity to predict ethical decision-making in accounting, Accounting Education: an international journal, 15(2), pp. 135-149.
34. Leitsch, D. L. (2004) Differences in the perceptions of moral intensity in the moral decision process: an empirical examination of accounting students, Journal of Business Ethics, 53(4), pp. 313-323
35. Loe, T., Ferrell, L. and Mansfield, P. (2000) A review of empirical studies assessing ethical decision-making in business, Journal of Business Ethics, 25(3), pp. 185-204.
36. McPhail, K. (2006) Ethics and the Individual Professional Accountant: A Literature Review (Edinburgh: ICAS)
37. Marshall, B. and Dewe, P. (1997) An investigation of the components of moral intensity, Journal of Business Ethics, 16(5), pp. 521-530.
38. May, D. R. and Pauli, K. P. (2002) The role of moral intensity in ethical decision-making: a review and investigation of moral recognition, evaluation, and intention, Business and Society, 41(1), pp. 85-118
39. Morris, S. and McDonald, R. A. (1995) The role of moral intensity in moral judgements: an empirical investigation, Journal of Business Ethics, 14(9), pp. 715-726.
40. Nisbett, R. and Ross, L. (1980) Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgement (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall).
41. Nunnally, J. C. (1967) Psychometric Theory (New York: McGraw-Hill).
42. Pallant, J. (2001) SPSS Survival Manual: A Step-by-Step Guide to Data Analysis using SPSS for Windows (Version 10) (Buckingham: Open University Press).
43. Pierce, A. (2007) Ethics and the Professional Accounting Firm: A Literature Review (Edinburgh: ICAS).
44. Pierce, A. and O'Gorman, D. (2004) Ethical training of professional accountants in Ireland: an exploratory study. Paper presented at the 27th annual congress of the European Accounting Association, Prague, 1-3 April 2004.
45. Pierce, B. and Sweeney, B. (2006) Perceived adverse consequences of quality threatening behaviour in audit firms, International Journal of Auditing, 10(1), pp. 19-39.
46. Ponemon, L. A. and Gabhart, D. (1993) Ethical Reasoning in Accounting and Auditing, Research Monograph Number 21, CGA-Canada Research Foundation.
47. Randall, D. and Fernandes, M. (1991) The social desirability response bias in ethics research, Journal of Business Ethics, 10(11), pp. 805-817.
48. Rest, J. R. (1979) Development in Judging Moral Issues (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).
49. Rest, J. R. (1986) Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory (New York: Praeger).
50. Robin, D. P., Reidenbach, R. E. and Forrest, P. J. (1996) The perceived importance of an ethical issue as an influence on the ethical decision-making of advertising managers, Journal of Business Research, 35(1), pp. 17-28.
51. Roslender, R. (1992) Sociological Perspectives on Modern Accountancy (London: Routledge).
52. Serwinek, P. (1992) Demographic and related differences in ethical views among small businesses, Journal of Business Ethics, 11(7), pp. 555-566.
53. Shafer, W. E., Morris, R. E. and Ketchland, A. A. (2001) Effects of personal values on auditors' ethical decisions, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 14(3), pp. 254-277.
54. Shaub, M. K. (1994) An analysis of the association of traditional demographic variables with the moral reasoning of auditing students and auditors, Journal of Accounting Education, 12(1), pp. 1-26
55. Sikula, A. and Costa, A. (1994) Are age and ethics related?, The Journal of Psychology, 128(6), pp. 659-665
56. Silver, L. and Valentine, S. (2001) College students' perceptions of moral intensity in sales situations, Journal of Education for Business, 75(6), pp. 309-314.
57. Singer, M. S. and Singer, A. E. (1997) Observer judgements about moral agents' ethical decisions: the role of scope of justice and moral intensity, Journal of Business Ethics, 16(5), pp. 473-484
58. Singhapakdi, A. and Vitell, S. J. (1990) Marketing ethics: Factors influencing perceptions of ethical problems and alternatives, Journal of Macromarketing, 12(1), pp. 4-18.
59. Singhapakdi, A., Vitell, S. J. and Kraft, K. L. (1996) Moral intensity and ethical decision-making of marketing professionals, Journal of Business Research, 36(3), pp. 245-255.
60. Snell, R. S. (1996) Complementing Kohlberg: mapping the ethical reasoning used by managers for their own dilemma cases, Human Relations, 49(1), pp. 23-49.
61. Sullivan, E. V. (1977) A study of Kohlberg's structure theory of moral development: a critique of liberal social science ideology, Human development, 20, pp. 352-376.
62. Sweeney, B. and Pierce, B. (2004) Management control in audit firms: a qualitative investigation, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 17(5), pp. 779-812.
63. Thorne, L. (1999) An analysis of the association of demographic variables with the cognitive moral development of Canadian accounting students: an examination of the applicability of American-based findings to the Canadian context, Journal of Accounting Education, 17(2), pp. 157-174.
64. Trevino, L. K. (1986) Ethical decision-making in organizations: a person-situation interactionist model, Academy of Management Review, 11(3), pp. 601-617.
65. Valentine, S. L. and Silver, L. (2001) Assessing the dimensionality of the Singhapakdi, Vitell and Kraft measure of moral intensity, Psychological Reports, 88(1), pp. 291-294.
66. Van de Ven, A. H. and Ferry, D. L. (1980) Measuring and Assessing Organizations (New York: Wiley).
67. Weber, J. (1990) Managers' moral reasoning: assessing their responses to three moral dilemmas, Human Relations, 43, pp. 687-702.
68. White, R. D. Jr (1999) Are women more ethical? Recent findings on the effects of gender upon moral development, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 3, pp. 459-471.
69. Wright, G. B., Cullinan, C. P. and Bline, D. M. (1997) The relationship between an individual's value and perceptions of moral intensity: an empirical study, Behavioral Research in Accounting, 9, pp. 26-41.