IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/ijfr11/v11y2020i5p93-104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cognitive Moral Development, Organizational Situation and Ethical Decision Making in Business and Accounting

Author

Listed:
  • Abdul Hamid Habbe
  • Andi Kusumawati
  • Alimuddin
  • Yohanis Rura
  • Iskandar Muda

Abstract

This study examines the effect of the interaction between cognitive moral development (pragmatic, accommodating, and autonomous) and an organizational situation (agency and stewardship) in business ethical decision making (earnings management and expropriation). This research employed a laboratory experiment design of full factorial factor 3x2 between-within subjects. There were 97 postgraduate students of Hasanuddin University that acted as participants. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and t-test. The results showed that the level of cognitive moral development is positively related to the degree of ethical decisions in accounting and expropriation. The higher the level of cognitive moral development, the more managers act ethically in decisions relating to accounting and expropriation. Meanwhile, the agency and stewardship situation have no effect on the differences in ethical decision making both in accounting and expropriation. Similarly, the exposure to an organizational situation has no impact on the relationship between levels of cognitive moral development and ethical decision making. The assumption stating that cognitive moral development of each participant has been an anchor and not easily changed to the different or the opposite situations is empirically proven.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdul Hamid Habbe & Andi Kusumawati & Alimuddin & Yohanis Rura & Iskandar Muda, 2020. "Cognitive Moral Development, Organizational Situation and Ethical Decision Making in Business and Accounting," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 11(5), pages 93-104, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:ijfr11:v:11:y:2020:i:5:p:93-104
    DOI: 10.5430/ijfr.v11n5p93
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijfr/article/view/17860/11643
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijfr/article/view/17860
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5430/ijfr.v11n5p93?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    2. Windsor, Carolyn A. & Ashkanasy, Neal M., 1995. "The effect of client management bargaining power, moral reasoning development, and belief in a just world on auditor independence," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(7-8), pages 701-720.
    3. Abdul Hamid Habbe, 2017. "Estimation Error of Earnings Information: A Test of Representativeness and Anchoring-adjustment Heuristic," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 224-233.
    4. Ashkanasy, Neal M. & Windsor, Carolyn A. & Treviño, Linda K., 2006. "Bad Apples in Bad Barrels Revisited: Cognitive Moral Development, Just World Beliefs, Rewards, and Ethical Decision-Making," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 449-473, October.
    5. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klapper, Leora F. & Love, Inessa, 2004. "Corporate governance, investor protection, and performance in emerging markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 703-728, November.
    2. Jongmoo Jay Choi & Hoje Jo & Jimi Kim & Moo Sung Kim, 2018. "Business Groups and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 931-954, December.
    3. Gabriel Donleavy & Kit-Chun Lam & Simon Ho, 2008. "Does East Meet West in Business Ethics: An Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 1-8, April.
    4. Franklin Allen & Jun & Chenying Zhang & Mengxin Zhao, 2012. "China's Financial System: Opportunities and Challenges," NBER Chapters, in: Capitalizing China, pages 63-143, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Z. Jun Lin & Shengqiang Liu & Fangcheng Sun, 2017. "The Impact of Financing Constraints and Agency Costs on Corporate R&D Investment: Evidence from China," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 17(1), pages 3-42, March.
    6. Xiaodong Teng & Kun-Shan Wu & Lopin Kuo & Bao-Guang Chang, 2023. "Investigating the double-edged sword effect of environmental, social and governance practices on corporate risk-taking in the high-tech industry," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 14(2), pages 511-549, June.
    7. Emmanuel Chuke Nwude & Musa Sani Zakirai & Comfort Amaka Nwude, 2023. "Ownership Structure and Bank Performance in Emerging Market Economy: Evidence From Nigerian Listed Deposit Money Banks," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    8. Michael Carney, 2005. "Corporate Governance and Competitive Advantage in Family–Controlled Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(3), pages 249-265, May.
    9. Yun Song & Hongqu He & Caiyu Yan, 2022. "Impacts of top management team fault‐line on firm's innovation—Financial slack over‐investment and underinvestment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3348-3360, December.
    10. Henrik Cronqvist & Fredrik Heyman & Mattias Nilsson & Helena Svaleryd & Jonas Vlachos, 2009. "Do Entrenched Managers Pay Their Workers More?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 309-339, February.
    11. Maroun, Warren & Solomon, Jill, 2014. "Whistle-blowing by external auditors: Seeking legitimacy for the South African Audit Profession?," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 109-121.
    12. Neupane, Biwesh & Thapa, Chandra & Marshall, Andrew & Neupane, Suman & Shrestha, Chaman, 2024. "Do foreign institutional investors improve board monitoring?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Filatotchev, Igor & Poulsen, Annette & Bell, R. Greg, 2019. "Corporate governance of a multinational enterprise: Firm, industry and institutional perspectives," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-8.
    14. Adongo, Jonathan O., 2017. "Legal jurisdiction, director liability law, and venture capitalists’ equity stakes in Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 78-93.
    15. Boubaker, Sabri & Labégorre, Florence, 2008. "Ownership structure, corporate governance and analyst following: A study of French listed firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 961-976, June.
    16. Mara Faccio & Maria-Teresa Marchica & Roberto Mura, 2011. "Large Shareholder Diversification and Corporate Risk-Taking," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(11), pages 3601-3641.
    17. Imen Derouiche & Majdi Hassan & Sarra Amdouni, 2018. "Ownership structure and investment-cash flow sensitivity," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(1), pages 31-54, March.
    18. Ghosh, Saibal, 2007. "Leverage, managerial monitoring and firm valuation: A simultaneous equation approach," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 84-98, June.
    19. Sabri Boubaker & Riadh Manita & Wael Rouatbi, 2021. "Large shareholders, control contestability and firm productive efficiency," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 296(1), pages 591-614, January.
    20. Chen, Anlin & Kao, Lanfeng & Lu, Cheng-Shou, 2014. "Controlling ownership and firm performance in Taiwan: The role of external competition and internal governance," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 219-238.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jfr:ijfr11:v:11:y:2020:i:5:p:93-104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gina Perry (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://ijfr.sciedupress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.