The effects of personal and organisational attributes on ethical attitudes of professional accountants: evidence from Ghana

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effects of personal attributes (greed and desire for personal gains, behaviour of peers and superiors, personal values, family influences and pressures, religious background, ego strength, etc.), organisational attributes (company policies, codes of conduct and visionary leadership, etc). and the moderating role of ethical codes of conduct on the ethical attitudes of professional accountants. Design/methodology/approach The study uses data from a survey of 340 professional accountants in Ghana, using the ordinary least square regression analysis to test hypothesized relationships. Findings The results suggest that personal attributes collectively have positive and significant influence on ethical attitudes. Similarly, organisational attributes collectively have positive and significant influence on ethical attitudes. Moreover, ethical codes of conduct moderate the positive relationship between personal and organisational attributes and ethical attitudes of accountants. Originality/value In the light of the social contingent theory, the findings imply that personal and organisational attributes, when interacted with professional code of conduct strengthens ethical attitudes of accountants. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first paper to have examined the moderating effect of professional code of conduct on ethical attitudes of accountants from a developing country context.

KONSEP PENDIDIKAN MENURUT AL-QUR’AN HADIS

This research is a literature review, in which the results of the study found that; First, the concept of terbiyah, tazkiyah and ta'dib is a complete unit within the framework of building Islamic education. Tarbiyah contains the content of conscious efforts to maintain, develop all human potential in accordance with their nature and comprehensive protection of their human rights. Meanwhile, tazkiyah cleanses the soul of despicable qualities and fills it with commendable qualities. Ta'dib is a process of developing personality and moral (affective) and ethical attitudes in life. Second, Tarbiyah, tazkiyah and ta'dib essentially both refer to the maintenance, protection and development of the overall potential of human beings towards human perfection itself (insan al-kamil). Therefore, in its application these three things must be able to work together to achieve the goals of Islamic education.

Honesty as a value in the interpersonal relationships in organizations

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has increased interest to the subject of integrity in organizations. The purpose of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the opinions on the value of honesty, broken down by the group of supervisors and subordinates during the crisis caused by COVID-19. The analysis was carried out in Poland among undergraduate students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fields representing disciplines other than management. The paper used a survey method; 102 respondents took part in the survey. 9.52% of men and 5.00% of women in the group of subordinates did not have opinions on this subject. In the group of supervisors, the situation was completely opposite: 6.25% of women and 4.76% of men showed such a result. Significant discrepancies were noticed in the assessment of the importance of honesty depending on the education field of the respondents. The difference between the highest assessments of the importance of this value was 33.70 percentage points in the supervisors’ group, and 38.64 percentage points in the subordinates group. Drawing attention to this problem, which affects all participants of an organization to a different extent, may help to shape the ethical attitudes of future managers and, in consequence, manage their organizations better.

A Storytelling Robot Managing Persuasive and Ethical Stances via ACT-R: An Exploratory Study

We present a storytelling robot, controlled via the ACT-R cognitive architecture, able to adopt different persuasive techniques and ethical stances while conversing about some topics concerning COVID-19. The main contribution of the paper consists in the proposal of a needs-driven model that guides and evaluates, during the dialogue, the use (if any) of persuasive techniques available in the agent procedural memory. The portfolio of persuasive techniques tested in such a model ranges from the use of storytelling to framing techniques and rhetorical-based arguments. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first attempt of building a persuasive agent able to integrate a mix of explicitly grounded cognitive assumptions about dialogue management, storytelling and persuasive techniques as well as ethical attitudes. The paper presents the results of an exploratory evaluation of the system on 63 participants.

THE IMPACT OF JOB SATISFACTION ON VALUERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Professional ethics is one of the two pillars of the valuer’s business practice, alongside expert knowledge. Ethical principles are usually formulated within a code of professional ethics which valuers are obliged to follow. The approach to professional ethics is a complex problem and it is conditioned by several factors. In our study, we pose the question whether higher professional satisfaction of real estate valuers translates into more ethical attitudes regarding work-related dilemmas. We conducted research on property valuation services in two European markets: Austria and Poland. Data for the analysis was drawn from 176 surveys in which valuers were asked to respond to hypothetical work situations corresponding to the principles of the real estate valuer’s code. The results obtained using the ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage last squares (2SLS) regression methods allow us to conclude that higher job satisfaction positively impacts valuers’ ethical attitudes. The segment of the market served is also an important driver. Valuers who mainly work for property developers show a significantly lower level of ethical attitudes. The influence of the country on professional ethics is ambiguous.

"friend-foe" opposition in Ukrainian linguoculture

The friend – foe dichotomy, as a special way of categorising reality, is at the heart of ethnic self-consciousness, building the world around a person. The interpretation "friend" and "foe" is invariably axiological. "Friend" refers to a personal possessor, a socio-cultural group that is identified based on various types of similarity, where "correct", "native", "close", "safe" is perceived as positive. The conceptual model "foe" is the opposition: everything "other", "strange", "unusual", "wrong" is perceived negative. The axiologiness of this opposition is relative and depends on the ethical attitudes of an ethnic group based on the conceptualisation of the friend – foe dichotomy from the standpoint of the binary opposition I – Other; the factors, mechanisms, and results of interaction between the components of the opposition are clarified; the content transformations of the friend – foe dichotomy are traced; the identification function of the latter is updated in the context of modernity. For Ukraine, where the identity development has happened to be incredibly complicated by the incongruity of value, foreign, and political orientations, the issue of borderline, "border strategies", the presence of the "friend" / "foe" dichotomy in the socio-cultural space is extremely relevant.

Preclinical Lectures in Medical Formation: Professionalism, Ethics and Responsibility

"Future doctors are the result of the present-day medical education and they bear the professional and attitudinal imprint of their mentors and instructors. The academic interaction between students and professors represents a key element in the scientific and professional training of future health care providers. Preclinical disciplines represent the foundation of the medical training system, on which the student will develop and integrate clinical skills. Therefore, preclinical topics have to offer accurate and updated information, working paradigms, and approaches to the development of professional values and ethical attitudes. Taking as starting point the teaching experience of the authors, we focused on the analysis of the interaction between three key concepts – professionalism, ethics and responsibility – concerning both the instructor and the student. These interrelated concepts will be approached from the viewpoint of all participants, instructors and students, in the contemporary context of the enormous volume of ever-changing scientific information and of the easy access to it. In order to select accurate data needed today and equally oriented towards future, information should always be filtered. The instructor is responsible not only to provide students with scientific data but also to stimulate and to develop flexibility, openness and critical thinking, while respecting ethical values. Through the offered scientific content, approaches, professional values and ethical attitudes, instructors transmit to the students a model of integrity in profession, ethics and responsibility, which will have consequences on the way they will choose to practice health care and medical research professions. "