Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to examine the attitudes of Portuguese chartered accountants with respect to questions of ethical nature that can arise in their professional activity. Respondents were asked to respond to the Ethics Position Questionnaire developed by Forsyth (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39(1), 175–184, 1980), in order to determine their idealism and relativism levels. Subsequently, they answered questions about five scenarios related to accounting practices, with the objective of measuring their ethical judgments. Based on the idealism and relativism levels of our respondents, they were classified into one of four groups, representing different ethical ideologies (absolutism, exceptionism, subjectivism, and situationism). The results indicated that age was the major determinant of relativism. Contrary to previous research, older respondents revealed themselves significantly more relativistic than younger ones. Gender seems to be the most important determinant of ethical judgments; against expectations, men evidenced significantly stricter judgments than women in two of the five scenarios. Findings also indicated that respondents’ ethical judgments did not differ significantly based on their ethical ideology, supporting the idea that ethical ideology is not an important determinant of ethical judgments.
Article PDF
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Akaah, I. (1989). Differences in Research Ethics Judgments Between Male and Female Marketing Professionals. Journal of Business Ethics, 8(5), 375–381. doi:10.1007/BF00381729
Barnett T., K. Bass, G. Brown. (1994). Ethical Ideology and Ethical Judgment Regarding Ethical Issues in Business. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(6), 469–480. doi:10.1007/BF00881456
Barnett T., K. Bass, G. Brown. (1996). Religiosity, Ethical Ideology, and Intentions to Report a Peer’s Wrongdoing. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(11), 1161–1174. doi:10.1007/BF00412815
Barnett T., K. Bass, G. Brown, F. Hebert. (1998). Ethical Ideology and the Ethical Judgments of Marketing Professionals. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(7), 715–723. doi:10.1023/A:1005736404300
Bass K., T. Barnett, G. Brown. (1998). The Moral Philosophy of Sales Managers and Its Influence on Ethical Decision Making. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 18(2), 1–17
Browning J., N. Zabriskie. (1983). How Ethical are Industrial Buyers? Industrial Marketing Management, 12(4), 219–224
Cohen J., L. Pant, D. Sharp. (2001). An Examination of Differences in Ethical Decision Making Between Canadian Business Students and Accounting Professionals. Journal of Business Ethics, 30(4), 319–336. doi:10.1023/A:1010745425675
Dawson, L. (1997). Ethical Differences Between Men and Women in the Sales Profession. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(11), 1143–1152. doi:10.1023/A:1005721916646
Deshpande, S. (1997). Managers’ Perception of Proper Ethical Conduct: The Effect of Sex, Age, and Level of Education. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(1), 79–85. doi:10.1023/A:1017917420433
Douglas P., R. Davidson, B. Schwartz. (2001). The Effect of Organizational Culture and Ethical Orientation on Accountants’ Ethical Judgments. Journal of Business Ethics, 34(2), 101–121. doi:10.1023/A:1012261900281
Dubinsky A., T. Ingram. (1984). Correlates of Salespeople’s Ethical Conflict: An Exploratory Investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 3(4), 343–353. doi:10.1007/BF00381759
Forsyth, D. (1980). A Taxonomy of Ethical Ideologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(1), 175–184. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.1.175
Forsyth, D. (1992). Judging the Morality of Business Practices: The Influence of Personal Moral Philosophies. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(5–6), 461–470. doi:10.1007/BF00870557
Forsyth D., J. Nye, K. Kelley. (1988). Idealism, Relativism, and the Ethic of Caring. The Journal of Psychology, 122(3), 243–248
Hartikainen O., S. Torstila. (2004). Job-Related Ethical Judgment in the Finance Profession. Journal of Applied Finance (JAF), 14(1), 62–76
Ho F., S. Vitell, J. Barnes, R. Desborde. (1997). Ethical Correlates of Role Conflict and Ambiguity in Marketing: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Moral Development. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25(2), 117–126. doi:10.1007/BF02894347
Jones, T.: 1991, `Ethical Decision-Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model', Academy of Management Review 16, 366–395
Jones T., F. Gautschi. (1988). Will the Ethics of Business Change? A Survey of Future Executives. Journal of Business Ethics, 7(4), 231–248. doi:10.1007/BF00381827
Jornal de Noticias: 2007, ‹Descoberta Contabilidade Paralela em 400 Restaurantes’, http://jn.sapo.pt/2007/01/03/policia_e_tribunais/descoberta_contabilidade_paralela_40.html
Kidwell J., R. Stevens, A. Bethke. (1987). Differences in the Ethical Perceptions Between Male and Female Managers: Myth or Reality. Journal of Business Ethics, 6(6), 489–493. doi:10.1007/BF00383291
McHoskey, J. (1996). Authoritarianism and Ethical Ideology. The Journal of Social Psychology, 136(6), 709–717
Merritt, S. (1991). Marketing Ethics and Education: Some Empirical Findings. Journal of Business Ethics, 10(8), 625–632. doi:10.1007/BF00382883
Observatory of European SMEs: 2003, ‹Highlights from the 2003 Observatory’, 8
Radtke, R. (2000). The Effects of Gender and Setting on Accountants’ Ethically Sensitive Decisions. Journal of Business Ethics, 24(4), 299–312. doi:10.1023/A:1006277331803
Razzaque M., T. Hwee. (2002). Ethics and Purchasing Dilemma: A Singaporean View. Journal of Business Ethics, 35(4), 307–326. doi:10.1023/A:1013853021571
Reidenbach R., D. Robin. (1988). Some Initial Steps Toward Improving the Measurement of Ethical Evaluations of Marketing Activities. Journal of Business Ethics, 7(11), 871–880. doi:10.1007/BF00383050
Reidenbach R., D. Robin. (1990). Toward the Development of a Multidimensional Scale for Improving Evaluations of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(8), 639–653. doi:10.1007/BF00383391
Roozen I., P. Pelsmacker, F. Bostyn. (2001). The Ethical Dimensions of Decision Processes of Employees. Journal of Business Ethics, 33(2), 87–99. doi:10.1023/A:1017536222355
Ruegger D., E. King. (1992). A Study of the Effect of Age and Gender upon Student Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(3), 179–186. doi:10.1007/BF00871965
Sankaran S., T. Bui. (2003). Ethical Attitudes Among Accounting Majors: An Empirical Study. The Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 3(1–2), 71–77
Schlenker B., D. Forsyth. (1977). On the Ethics of Psychological Research. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13(4), 369–396. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(77)90006-3
Schneider, F.: 2002, ‹Size and Measurement of the Informal Economy in 110 Countries Around the World’. Paper presented at a Workshop of Australian National Tax Centre, ANU, Canberra, Australia
Serwinek, P. (1992). Demographic and Related Differences in Ethical Views Among Small Businesses. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(7), 555–566. doi:10.1007/BF00881448
Shafer W., R. Morris, A. Ketchand. (2001). Effects of Personal Values on Auditors’ Ethical Decisions. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 14(3), 254–277. doi:10.1108/EUM0000000005517
Sikula A., A. Costa. (1994). Are Women More Ethical Than Men? Journal of Business Ethics, 13(11), 859–871. doi:10.1007/BF00871700
Singhapakdi A., S. Vitell. (1994). Ethical Ideologies of Future Marketers: The Relative Influences of Machiavellianism and Gender. Journal of Marketing Education, 16(1), 34–42. doi:10.1177/027347539401600105
Singhapakdi A., S. Vitell, G. Franke. (1999). Antecedents, Consequences, and Mediating Effects of Perceived Moral Intensity and Personal Moral Philosophies. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27(1), 19–36. doi:10.1177/0092070399271002
Stanga K., R. Turpen. (1991). Ethical Judgments on Selected Accounting Issues: An Empirical Study. Journal of Business Ethics, 10(10), 739–747. doi:10.1007/BF00705708
Tansey R., G. Brown, M. Hyman, L. Dawson. (1994). Personal Moral Philosophies and the Moral Judgments of Salespeople. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 14(1), 59–76
Tsalikis J., M. Ortiz-Buonafina. (1990). Ethical Beliefs’ Differences of Males and Females. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(6), 509–517. doi:10.1007/BF00382844
Weber J. (1992). Scenarios in Business Ethics Research: Review, Critical Assessment, and Recommendations. Business Ethics Quarterly, 2(2), 137–160. doi:10.2307/3857568
Weeks W., C. Moore, J. McKinney, J. Longenecker. (1999). The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment. Journal of Business Ethics, 20(4), 301–313. doi:10.1023/A:1005955501120
Acknowledgements
We thank the Portuguese Chamber of Chartered Accountants for all the assistance provided in the data collection process and also all the chartered accountants who answered the questionnaire.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marques, P.A., Azevedo-Pereira, J. Ethical Ideology and Ethical Judgments in the Portuguese Accounting Profession. J Bus Ethics 86, 227–242 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9845-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9845-6