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Insights Regarding the Applicability of the Defining Issues Test to Advance Ethics Research with Accounting Students: A Meta-analytic Review

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  • Anne Christensen
  • Jane Cote
  • Claire Latham

Abstract

Numerous researchers have investigated accounting students’ levels of moral reasoning, ethical choice and judgment employing the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and using its P score as an indicator of moral reasoning. Not surprisingly, a number of DIT studies report conflicting results. Moreover, despite widespread use of the DIT, there is concern that it may not adequately measure all facets of ethical judgment (cf. Bailey et al., Behav Res Account 22(2):1–26, 2010 ). Thus, we endeavor to provide insight not only into the contradictory results but also about the applicability of the DIT for studying accounting students. To do so, we collect published and unpublished DIT studies employing accounting students as subjects and use meta-analysis to aggregate findings across these studies to quantify their results, examining commonly employed variables. We show significant relationships between P scores and some variables (length of professional experience, choice of major, political ideology, gender, GPA and education level) but not others (age). Further, our findings demonstrate that the DIT provides added insights when exploring questions of ethical choice, and ethics instruction, particularly when the instruction is embedded in an accounting course. Finally, we find that the level of DIT P scores reported in the studies relates to whether the study was published. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Christensen & Jane Cote & Claire Latham, 2016. "Insights Regarding the Applicability of the Defining Issues Test to Advance Ethics Research with Accounting Students: A Meta-analytic Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 141-163, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:133:y:2016:i:1:p:141-163
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2349-7
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. William D. Brink & Tim V. Eaton & Jonathan H. Grenier & Andrew Reffett, 2019. "Deterring Unethical Behavior in Online Labor Markets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 71-88, April.
    2. Alina Beattrice VLADU & Dan Dacian CUZDRIOREAN, 2022. "Considerations on the Improvement of Ethical Decision Making in the Accounting Profession," CECCAR Business Review, Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania (CECCAR), vol. 3(1), pages 44-52, January.
    3. Tamara Poje & Maja Zaman Groff, 2022. "Mapping Ethics Education in Accounting Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 451-472, August.
    4. William F. Miller & Tara J. Shawver, 2018. "An Exploration of the State of Ethics in UK Accounting Education," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1109-1120, December.
    5. Anne Christensen & Jane Cote & Claire Kamm Latham, 2018. "Developing Ethical Confidence: The Impact of Action-Oriented Ethics Instruction in an Accounting Curriculum," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1157-1175, December.
    6. Andersen, Margaret L. & Klamm, Bonnie K., 2018. "Haidt’s social intuitionist model: What are the implications for accounting ethics education?," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 35-46.
    7. Grace Mubako & Kallol Bagchi & Godwin Udo & Marjorie Marinovic, 2021. "Personal Values and Ethical Behavior in Accounting Students," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 161-176, November.

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