IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v131y2015i3p557-566.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are There Gender Differences When Professional Accountants Evaluate Moral Intensity for Earnings Management?

Author

Listed:
  • Tara Shawver
  • Lynn Clements

Abstract

Gender differences in ethical evaluations may vary across types of behaviors. This controlled experiment explores gender differences in ethical evaluations, moral judgment, moral intentions, and moral intensity evaluations by surveying a group of professional accountants to elicit their views on a common earnings management technique. We find that there are no significant differences between male and female professional accountants when they make an ethical evaluation involving earnings management by shipping product early to meet a quarterly bonus. Both male and female professional accountants made a similar moral judgment that this action should not be completed and indicated similar moral intentions to report this type of behavior. Further, we find that male and female professional accountants made similar moral intensity evaluations when product is shipped early to meet a quarterly bonus. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Tara Shawver & Lynn Clements, 2015. "Are There Gender Differences When Professional Accountants Evaluate Moral Intensity for Earnings Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 557-566, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:131:y:2015:i:3:p:557-566
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2293-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-014-2293-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2293-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey R. Cohen & Nonna Martinov Bennie, 2006. "The Applicability of a Contingent Factors Model to Accounting Ethics Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 68(1), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Derek Dalton & Marc Ortegren, 2011. "Gender Differences in Ethics Research: The Importance of Controlling for the Social Desirability Response Bias," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 73-93, September.
    3. Robin, Donald & Babin, Laurie, 1997. "Making Sense of The Research on Gender and Ethics in Business: A Critical Analysis and Extension," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(4), pages 61-90, October.
    4. Daulatram Lund, 2008. "Gender Differences in Ethics Judgment of Marketing Professionals in the United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(4), pages 501-515, February.
    5. Richard A. Bernardi & Donald F. Arnold, 1997. "An Examination of Moral Development within Public Accounting by Gender, Staff Level, and Firm," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 653-668, December.
    6. Sean Valentine & Terri Rittenburg, 2007. "The Ethical Decision Making of Men and Women Executives in International Business Situations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 125-134, March.
    7. Vadera, Abhijeet K. & Aguilera, Ruth V. & Caza, Brianna B., 2009. "Making Sense of Whistle-Blowing's Antecedents: Learning from Research on Identity and Ethics Programs," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 553-586, October.
    8. Steven Kaplan & Kurt Pany & Janet Samuels & Jian Zhang, 2009. "An Examination of the Association Between Gender and Reporting Intentions for Fraudulent Financial Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 15-30, June.
    9. Antonis Stylianou & Susan Winter & Yuan Niu & Robert Giacalone & Matt Campbell, 2013. "Understanding the Behavioral Intention to Report Unethical Information Technology Practices: The Role of Machiavellianism, Gender, and Computer Expertise," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 333-343, October.
    10. Singhapakdi, Anusorn & Vitell, Scott J. & Kraft, Kenneth L., 1996. "Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision-Making of Marketing Professionals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 245-255, July.
    11. P. Cassematis & R. Wortley, 2013. "Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 615-634, October.
    12. Dawson, Leslie M., 1995. "Women and men, morality and ethics," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 61-68.
    13. Leda Nath & Lori Holder-Webb & Jeffrey Cohen, 2013. "Will Women Lead the Way? Differences in Demand for Corporate Social Responsibility Information for Investment Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 85-102, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vladan Pavlovic & Goranka Knezevic & Radica Bojicic, 2023. "Do the Profitability, the Volume of Assets, and Equity of Public Enterprises Have Any Role in Local Authorities' Gender and Age Policy? – A Case Study of Belgrade," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 172-191.
    2. Hengky Latan & Christian M. Ringle & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour, 2018. "Whistleblowing Intentions Among Public Accountants in Indonesia: Testing for the Moderation Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 573-588, October.
    3. Vladan Pavlovic & Goranka Knezevic & Radica Bojicic, 2022. "The Impact of Gender and Age on Earnings Management Practices of Public Enterprises – A Case Study of Belgrade," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 130-148.
    4. Harris, Oneil & Karl, J. Bradley & Lawrence, Ericka, 2019. "CEO compensation and earnings management: Does gender really matters?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-14.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valentine, Sean & Godkin, Lynn, 2019. "Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 277-288.
    2. Lim, Weng Marc & O'Connor, Peter & Nair, Sumesh & Soleimani, Samaneh & Rasul, Tareq, 2023. "A foundational theory of ethical decision-making: The case of marketing professionals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Michael McCuddy & Musa Pinar & Ibrahim Birkin & Metin Kozak, 2009. "Gender and Perceived Fundamental Moral Orientations: An Empirical Study of the Turkish Hotel Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(3), pages 331-349, October.
    4. Lee, Gladys & Xiao, Xinning, 2018. "Whistleblowing on accounting-related misconduct: A synthesis of the literature," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 22-46.
    5. Jin-hui Luo & Zeyue Huang & Xue Li & Xiaojing Lin, 2018. "Are Women CEOs Valuable in Terms of Bank Loan Costs? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 337-355, December.
    6. Liz Wang & Lisa Calvano, 2015. "Is Business Ethics Education Effective? An Analysis of Gender, Personal Ethical Perspectives, and Moral Judgment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(4), pages 591-602, February.
    7. Bartuli, Jenny & Djawadi, Behnud Mir & Fahr, René, 2016. "Business Ethics in Organizations: An Experimental Examination of Whistleblowing and Personality," IZA Discussion Papers 10190, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Agnès Paradas & Christophe Revelli & Caroline Debray & Jean-Marie Courrent & Martine Spence, 2017. "Pratiques responsables des dirigeants de PME : influence du profil du dirigeant," Post-Print hal-02425528, HAL.
    9. Barbara Culiberg & Katarina Katja Mihelič, 2017. "The Evolution of Whistleblowing Studies: A Critical Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(4), pages 787-803, December.
    10. Wayne Decker & Thomas Calo, 2007. "Observers’ Impressions of Unethical Persons and Whistleblowers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(3), pages 309-318, December.
    11. Zou, Lili Wenli & Chan, Ricky Y.K., 2019. "Why and when do consumers perform green behaviors? An examination of regulatory focus and ethical ideology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 113-127.
    12. Alaa Mansour Zalata & Collins Ntim & Ahmed Aboud & Ernest Gyapong, 2019. "Female CEOs and Core Earnings Quality: New Evidence on the Ethics Versus Risk-Aversion Puzzle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 515-534, December.
    13. Federico Ceschel & Alessandro Hinna & Fabian Homberg, 2022. "Public Sector Strategies in Curbing Corruption: A Review of the Literature," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 571-591, September.
    14. Kate Kenny & Marianna Fotaki, 2023. "The Costs and Labour of Whistleblowing: Bodily Vulnerability and Post-disclosure Survival," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(2), pages 341-364, January.
    15. Breda Sweeney & Don Arnold & Bernard Pierce, 2010. "The Impact of Perceived Ethical Culture of the Firm and Demographic Variables on Auditors’ Ethical Evaluation and Intention to Act Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(4), pages 531-551, June.
    16. Tara J. Shawver & William F. Miller, 2017. "Moral Intensity Revisited: Measuring the Benefit of Accounting Ethics Interventions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 587-603, March.
    17. Saera R. Khan & Lauren C. Howe, 2021. "Concern for the Transgressor’s Consequences: An Explanation for Why Wrongdoing Remains Unreported," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 325-344, October.
    18. Hanousek, Jan & Shamshur, Anastasiya & Tresl, Jiri, 2019. "Firm efficiency, foreign ownership and CEO gender in corrupt environments," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 344-360.
    19. Peter Mudrack & E. Mason, 2013. "Dilemmas, Conspiracies, and Sophie’s Choice: Vignette Themes and Ethical Judgments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 639-653, December.
    20. Abbasi, Kaleemullah & Alam, Ashraful & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin, 2020. "Audit committees, female directors and the types of female and male financial experts: Further evidence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 186-197.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:131:y:2015:i:3:p:557-566. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.