The Effects of Professional Role, Decision Context, and Gender on the Ethical Decision Making of Public Accounting Professionals

ABSTRACT This study investigates the degree to which professional role (auditor or tax professional), decision context (an audit or tax environment), and gender influence the ethical decision making of public accounting professionals. The primary analysis, including all 134 accounting professionals who participated in our experiment, indicates that these participants are both less likely to indicate they would concede to a client in a contentious situation and less likely to recommend conceding when they are in an audit as opposed to tax context. Furthermore, work experience in auditing (as opposed to tax) is associated with a decreased likelihood of conceding to the client in both contexts. However, when data for males and females are analyzed separately, professional role, context, and moral intensity are significantly related to males' decision making, but are not significant with respect to females' decisions. This suggests that males and females may use different decision-making processes. Possible theoretical explanations for these findings are discussed.

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Auditor ethics: do experience and gender influence auditors’ moral awareness?

Managerial Auditing Journal ◽

10.1108/maj-07-2020-2745 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Nieves Carrera ◽

Berend Van Der Kolk

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Work Experience ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Moral Dilemmas ◽

Future Research ◽

Moral Awareness ◽

Content Type ◽

And Gender ◽

General Business

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how experience and gender relate to the auditors’ moral awareness. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are informed by a neurocognitive approach to ethical decision-making and tested using survey data from 191 auditors of a Big Four audit firm in The Netherlands. Findings The main findings indicate that more experienced auditors (i.e. those with more years of work experience, a higher rank and a higher age) show higher levels of moral awareness. This positive relationship is stronger for morally questionable situations related to accounting and auditing, compared to general business moral dilemmas. In addition, the results support the expectation that on average, female auditors have higher moral awareness than their male counterparts. Originality/value To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study that considers a neurocognitive approach to inform hypotheses about the antecedents of auditors’ moral awareness. The findings suggest that the involvement of experienced auditors in ethical decision-making processes may be beneficial given their enhanced ability to identify ethically disputable situations as such. Furthermore, increasing the number of women in senior positions may positively affect ethical decision-making in audit firms. Finally, this paper presents directions for future research.

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A Cross-Cultural Study of the Influence of Country of Origin, Justice, Power Distance, and Gender on Ethical Decision Making

Journal of International Accounting Research ◽

10.2308/jiar-10213 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 5-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Mary B. Curtis ◽

Teresa L. Conover ◽

Lawrence C. Chui

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Behavioral Intentions ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Distance Perception ◽

Power Distance ◽

Country Of Origin ◽

Justice Perceptions ◽

And Gender ◽

The Impact

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of national culture on ethical decision making. We theorize and test a mediation model where country of origin influences perceptions of justice and power distance, which in turn influence behavioral intentions in regard to ethical dilemmas. Our sample includes accounting students from four countries: China, Japan, Mexico, and the U.S. We find that country of origin, justice perceptions, power distance perception, and gender are all related to ethical decision making. We investigate these relationships with two different ethical scenarios, and find that these relationships differ between the two contexts. Additionally, power distance and justice partially mediate the relationship between country of origin and ethical decision making. We find that gender is significantly related to ethical decision making in one of the two scenarios, and explore gender differences in all of the measured constructs across countries. Finally, we contrast the various measures of justice, power distance, and agreement with behavioral intentions in the two ethical scenarios between countries. We find that the two eastern countries (China and Japan) and the two western countries (U.S. and Mexico) demonstrate expected East-West patterns in power distance. However, this East-versus-West pattern is not supported when considering between-country differences in justice, agreement with the layoff decision, and agreement with whistleblowing.

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Ethical Decisions and Gender Differences of European Hospitality Students

Tourism and Hospitality Research ◽

10.1057/palgrave.thr.6050055 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 7 (3-4) ◽

pp. 230-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

LaChelle R. Wilborn ◽

Robert A. Brymer ◽

Ray Schmidgall

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Decision Making ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Business Management ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Ethical Behaviour ◽

Hospitality Students ◽

Ethical Decisions ◽

And Gender

The purpose of this paper is to assess the sources influencing an ethical decision-making process of European hospitality students. Ten scenarios were used (1) to indicate whether the action posed was ‘ethical’, ‘unethical’, or ‘not a question of ethics’ and (2) to indicate what they would do if they were in this situation. We found that of the nearly 400 European hospitality students, 54 per cent females and 46 per cent males, both genders indicated that parents, close friends, and business management courses influenced their ethical beliefs the most. Additionally, we found that responses were significantly different for only one of the ten scenarios with regards to gender. The action responses to the proposed scenarios were, however, statistically significant for five scenarios; four of these five were business scenarios. Female European hospitality students were more likely to engage in ethical behaviour and are generally less tolerant of questionable practices than their male peers.

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