Accounting academics’ teaching self-efficacy and ethics integration in accounting courses

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which ethics education is incorporated in the curriculum by accounting academics (EXTENT) and its relationship with the following four factors: accounting academics’ attitudes towards ethics education (ATTDE); head of department support (HODS); peer support (PEERS); and accounting academics’ ethics teaching self-efficacy (ETSE). Design/methodology/approach - The study utilises data from a questionnaire survey of 117 accounting academics in Malaysia and engages path analysis to test various hypothesised relationships. Findings - The results indicate that ATTDE, HODS and PEERS have a significant and positive impact on accounting academics’ ETSE. The findings also suggest that ETSE and PEERS have a direct and positive impact on EXTENT. Overall, ETSE is found to be a significant mediating variable in the relationship between ATTDE, HODS, PEERS and EXTENT. Research limitations/implications - The relatively small sample of 117 Malaysian accounting academics and the limited number of factors studied as drivers of ETSE, which limits generalisability of the results. Practical implications - This paper is particularly useful for informing heads of departments and the regulatory and professional bodies of resourcing and fostering a work environment that supports peer support and interactions as well as knowledge resources that facilitate individual accounting academics’ to integrate ethics content in their courses or units. Originality/value - The study is guided by Bandura’s (1977, 1997) self-efficacy theory and adapts Tschannen-Moran and Hoy’s (2001) teacher efficacy construct in understanding how accounting academic’s belief in one’s ability to complete tasks and achieve goals affects the level of integration of ethics in their courses.