To be Ethical or Unethical in Organisation: The Role of Perceived Personal Values of Financial Accounting Students on their Ethical Behaviours

Abstract

The thrust of the study was to examine the perceived personal values of prospective accountants (financial accounting students) that inform their ethical behaviour. A correlational design was employed to investigate the influence of personal values on the ethical decisions of accounting students at the University of Cape Coast. The study sampled the views of 260 undergraduate accounting students as respondents. Schwartz Portrait Value instrument (PVQ-21) and ethical behaviour scale was adapted to measure personal values and ethical behaviour. It emerged from the study that financial accounting students at the University of Cape Coast were perceived to be highly ethical and demonstrated high levels of openness to change, self-enhancement, self-transcendence, and conservation values. The study findings also revealed that personal value factors openness to change and conversation directly influenced accounting students’ ethical behaviour. However, self-enhancement values negatively correlated with accounting students’ ethical behaviour. Implications are discussed.