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Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision-making: An Empirical Examination of Undergraduate Accounting and Business Students

Author

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  • Breda Sweeney
  • Fiona Costello

Abstract

Ethical decision-making is theorised to consist of four stages: identification of an ethical dilemma, ethical judgement, ethical intentions and ethical actions. The moral intensity of the situation has been found to influence the ethical decision-making process. Using a survey consisting of four scenarios, this study examined the relationship between perceived moral intensity and the first three stages of the ethical decision-making process for undergraduate accounting and other business students. Findings showed that the nature of the ethical dilemma in the scenarios impacted on perceived moral intensity and the ethical decision-making process. Moral intensity was found to be multi-dimensional in the study and the social consensus component of moral intensity demonstrated the strongest relationship with the ethical decision-making process. Differences were found between accounting and non-accounting students, though gender was not found to be significant. Implications of the findings and areas for future research are discussed in the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Breda Sweeney & Fiona Costello, 2009. "Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision-making: An Empirical Examination of Undergraduate Accounting and Business Students," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 75-97.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accted:v:18:y:2009:i:1:p:75-97
    DOI: 10.1080/09639280802009454
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Niamh Brennan, 1998. "Accounting research : a practical guide," Open Access publications 10197/2924, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
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    Cited by:

    1. Robyn Ann Cameron & Conor O'Leary, 2015. "Improving Ethical Attitudes or Simply Teaching Ethical Codes? The Reality of Accounting Ethics Education," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 275-290, August.
    2. Yves Mard & Christelle Chaplais & Sylvain Marsat, 2014. "De la possibilité d'accroître l'éthique de l'auditeur : Le cas d'une formation," Post-Print hal-01899102, HAL.
    3. Luis M. Arciniega & Laura J. Stanley & Diana Puga-Méndez & Dalia Obregón-Schael & Isaac Politi-Salame, 2019. "The Relationship Between Individual Work Values and Unethical Decision-Making and Behavior at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 1133-1148, September.
    4. Heinz, Philip & Patel, Chris & Hellmann, Andreas, 2013. "Some theoretical and methodological suggestions for studies examining accountants' professional judgments and earnings management," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 299-311.
    5. Ahmed Musbah & Christopher J. Cowton & David Tyfa, 2016. "The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 335-358, March.
    6. Christelle Chaplais & Yves Mard & Sylvain Marsat, 2016. "The auditor facing ethical dilemnas: the impact of an ethical training on the compliance with deontological code [L'auditeur face aux dilemmes éthiques : L'impact d'une formation à l'éthique sur la," Post-Print hal-02156617, HAL.
    7. Ziyuan Tian & Xixiang Sun & Jianguo Wang & Weihuan Su & Gen Li, 2022. "Factors Affecting Green Purchase Intention: A Perspective of Ethical Decision Making," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-16, September.
    8. Tracey J. Riley & Kathleen A. Simons, 2016. "The written communication skills that matter most for accountants," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 239-255, June.
    9. Ross Taplin & Abhijeet Singh & Rosemary Kerr & Alina Lee, 2018. "The use of short role-plays for an ethics intervention in university auditing courses," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 383-402, July.
    10. Jana Craft, 2013. "A Review of the Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 2004–2011," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 221-259, October.
    11. Thomas Stöber & Peter Kotzian & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2019. "Design matters: on the impact of compliance program design on corporate ethics," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 383-424, December.
    12. Valentine, Sean & Godkin, Lynn, 2019. "Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 277-288.
    13. Luca Casali, Gian & Perano, Mirko, 2021. "Forty years of research on factors influencing ethical decision making: Establishing a future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 614-630.
    14. Evelyne Rousselet & Bérangère Brial & Romain Cadario & Amina Béji-Bécheur, 2020. "Moral Intensity, Issue Characteristics, and Ethical Issue Recognition in Sales Situations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 347-363, May.
    15. Eugene D. Jaffe & Nonna Kushnirovich & Alexandr Tsimerman, 2018. "The Impact of Acculturation on Immigrants’ Business Ethics Attitudes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(4), pages 821-834, February.
    16. Apostolou, Barbara & Hassell, John M. & Rebele, James E. & Watson, Stephanie F., 2010. "Accounting education literature review (2006–2009)," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 145-197.

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