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Accountants’ Value Preferences and Moral Reasoning

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  • Mohammad Abdolmohammadi
  • C. Baker

Abstract

This paper examines relationships between accountants’ personal values and their moral reasoning. In particular, we hypothesize that there is an inverse relationship between accountants’ “Conformityâ€\x9D values and principled moral reasoning. This investigation is important because the literature suggests that conformity with rule-based standards may be one reason for professional accountants’ relatively lower scores on measures of moral reasoning (Abdolmohammadi et al. J Bus Ethics 16 (1997) 1717). We administered the Rokeach Values Survey (RVS) (Rokeach: 1973, The Nature of Human Values (The Free Press, New York)) and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) (Rest: 1979, Development in Judgment Moral Issues (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN)) to164 graduating accounting students enrolled in capstone courses at two universities in the Northeastern United States. As potential entrants into the accounting profession, these subjects bring their values and moral reasoning to bear on attitudes and behaviors in the workplace. We find a highly significant inverse relationship between “Conformityâ€\x9D values and principled moral reasoning (i.e., those who prefer Conformity values have lower levels of moral reasoning). However, we also find that accounting students as a group do not prefer Conformity values above other values such as Self-actualization and Idealism, and we find positive relationships between Self-actualization and Idealism values and moral reasoning. Implications for values and ethics research are discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Abdolmohammadi & C. Baker, 2006. "Accountants’ Value Preferences and Moral Reasoning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(1), pages 11-25, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:69:y:2006:i:1:p:11-25
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9064-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Crosby, Lawrence A. & Bitner, Mary Jo & Gill, James D., 1990. "Organizational structure of values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 123-134, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Eddie W. L. Cheng, 2022. "Revisiting the Concept of Values Taught in Education through Carroll’s Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Soraya Bel Haj Ali, 2008. "Les Facteurs Explicatifs Du Jugement Ethique En Audit : Un Etat De L'Art," Post-Print halshs-00522324, HAL.
    3. Özgür Özmen Uysal, 2010. "Business Ethics Research with an Accounting Focus: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1988 to 2007," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 137-160, April.
    4. Papirakis, Rachel, 2022. "Auditors’ self-actualization and ability to resist client pressure: Evidence from Canada," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).

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