ABSTRACT Numerous social media influencers (SMIs) are involved in personal controversies that may lead to their followers’ negative word of mouth (NWOM) and public relations crises. NWOM spreads more rapidly than positive recommendations, necessitating effective communication strategies to prevent it. This study examined the antecedents of NWOM from the perspectives of the followers’ moral intensity, two aspects of moral ideologies (idealism and relativism), and three aspects of moral reasoning strategies (moral coupling, moral decoupling, and moral rationalization). An online questionnaire survey was conducted, yielding 476 valid responses that were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Both moral intensity and idealism were positively associated with moral coupling but negatively associated with moral decoupling and rationalization. Moral coupling and decoupling were also positively associated with NWOM, whereas moral rationalization was negatively associated with NWOM. These findings enhance the theoretical understanding of NWOM’s antecedents and provide essential insights for SMI marketers to develop strategies to mitigate NWOM by focusing on the followers’ moral intensity and ideologies.

Les auditeurs sont confrontés dans le cadre de leur prise de décision à des dilemmes éthiques. Cette étude a pour objectif d’étudier si le niveau perçu de l’intensité morale influence le processus de décision éthique de l’auditeur externe lorsqu’il est confronté à des situations impliquant des dilemmes éthiques. Les données nécessaires à la conduite de l’étude ont été collectées par questionnaire auprès de 55 cabinets d’audit exerçant au Cameroun entre les mois de juillet et octobre 2021. Ces données ont été ensuite analysées à l’aide d’une technique de régression linéaire. L’analyse des résultats a permis de faire un certain nombre de constats. Premièrement, nous constatons que l’intensité morale du dilemme est bien un facteur explicatif du raisonnement éthique de l’auditeur externe. Deuxièmement, les résultats révèlent que parmi les caractéristiques de l’intensité morale du dilemme, l’importance des conséquences, le consensus social et la proximité des effets influencent positivement le processus de décision éthique de l’auditeur face au problème. La concentration des effets d’autre part, a un impact négatif et significatif sur le processus de décision éthique de l’auditeur.

Ethical issues in accounting practice continue to raise concerns about professional judgment and integrity, underscoring the importance of understanding the behavioral determinants of ethical decision-making. This study aims to synthesize prior empirical Research examining the role of ethical climate and moral intensity in shaping accountants' behavioral responses. Using a systematic literature review approach guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework, this study analyzes 20 peer-reviewed empirical articles published between 2020 and 2025. The review is complemented by bibliometric mapping using VOSviewer to identify dominant themes and Research gaps. The findings indicate that ethical climate is a key organizational-level determinant of ethical judgment, ethical intention, and whistleblowing behavior, particularly in caring, rules, and law-and-code climates. Moral intensity emerges as a critical issue-specific factor that shapes ethical awareness and moderates the effect of ethical climate, especially through the magnitude of consequences and social consensus. However, the literature remains dominated by cross-sectional designs and intention-based outcomes, with limited attention to actual ethical behavior. This study contributes an integrative perspective that links organizational ethical context with moral cognition and underscores the need for future Research employing behavioral measures, multilevel designs, and cross-cultural approaches to strengthen the understanding of ethical decision-making in accounting practice in Organizational Management.

This article explores Paul Ricœur’s philosophical reflections on the intersection of rhetoric and historiography, with particular attention to how narrative configuration and imagination play a central role in the representation of historical reality. Drawing primarily from La Métaphore vive, Temps et récit, and La Mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli, the article examines how Ricœur conceives of the narrative act as a synthesis of epistemological rigor and rhetorical strategy. Ricœur argues that historical discourse cannot be reduced to mere factual reconstruction or to narrative artifice; rather, it involves a dynamic interplay between proof (documentary evidence), explanation and persuasion (rhetorical imagination, narrative configuration). The article emphasizes the ethical and cognitive function of rhetoric, especially through the concept of faire voir—the act of “making see”—which grants narrative its emotional and moral intensity. Drawing on Aristotle’s enargeia/energeia, as well as insights from Louis Marin and Hayden White, Ricœur discusses the visual and affective power of metaphor and narrative in shaping historical understanding. Particular attention is given to how historiography deals with singular, traumatic events such as the Holocaust, where the vividness and visibility afforded by narrative imagination serve both mnemonic and ethical purposes. The article ultimately contends that Ricœur offers a robust epistemological framework for understanding the unique referentiality of historical discourse—one that resists both naïve realism and radical constructivism. In times marked by post-truth and disinformation, Ricœur’s insistence on the bond between narrative, reference, and truth proves more relevant than ever. His thought warns against rhetorical closure and highlights the responsibility of historians to maintain both critical distance and ethical engagement through narrative representation.

This study examines ethical decision-making among physicians within the evolving Tunisian healthcare context, marked by rising healthcare expenditures, structural transitions, and the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethical challenges in medical practice are amplified by the complexity of patient–provider interactions, the urgency of clinical decisions, and the sociocultural environment in which practitioners operate. While international literature provides extensive insights into ethics in marketing and management, empirical research focusing on medical ethics, particularly in North African contexts, remains limited. To address this gap, a qualitative exploratory study was conducted with 11 physicians representing diverse specialties, sectors, and professional backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed through thematic content analysis to identify the variables influencing ethical decision-making. The findings reveal that medical ethics is perceived as a set of intrinsic values guiding physicians in navigating dilemmas under time-sensitive and high-stakes conditions. Two overarching categories of determinants emerged. Individual variables include academic background, experience, religiosity, personal values, socioeconomic conditions, emotional states, moral power, and all dimensions of moral intensity. Situational variables encompass professional dynamics such as peer support and interpersonal relationships, organizational resources and culture, and external influences including patients, families, social norms, and the judicial and industrial environments. Several novel factors, particularly personal values, socioeconomic pressures, organizational resource constraints, and judicial influence, highlight the specificity of the Tunisian context. The study contributes a contextualized framework for understanding ethical decision-making among healthcare providers. It offers practical implications for communication strategies, organizational leadership, and ethical governance, while emphasizing the need for future quantitative investigations to validate and extend these findings.

Purpose This study aims to assess how accountants evaluate the moral intensity of an ethical situation and how it influences their compliance with the ethical code of conduct (ECC). Design/methodology/approach Primary data were collected from 289 accountants with a scenario-based, self-completed questionnaire containing Jones’ (1991) moral intensity components and three scenarios on integrity, objectivity and independence. Harman’s single-factor test, Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression were used to analyse the data. Findings The results revealed that accountants who compromise integrity, objectivity and independence are in the minority, and their assessment of the moral intensity of ECC is average. Also, the results revealed that each component of moral intensity positively associates with ECC, suggesting that accountants with a sound assessment of the moral intensity of an ethical situation will comply with the principles of integrity, objectivity and independence. Research limitations/implications The data used in this study were obtained from a single developing African country with weak and compromised government institutions. Future research will benefit from a cross-country study involving multiple developing countries, which would provide all-inclusive results. Practical implications The study shows that moral intensity is an important psychological factor that should be considered in establishing measures to improve accountants’ ethical competence. Originality/value This study provides a rare insight into how accountants evaluate the moral imperative of ECC and its effect on their compliance with integrity, objectivity and independence within a developing country’s context. The evidence will benchmark future research in other developing countries.

Purpose This study explores how accountants assess the moral intensity of fraudulent financial reporting (FFR) and its influence on their rationalization of FFR. Design/methodology/approach The study collects data from 289 accountants using a self-completed questionnaire with six components of Jones' moral intensity and two accounting fraud scenarios. The data are analyzed using Harman's single-factor test, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. Findings The findings reveal that about one-third of accountants strongly rationalize FFR, with above-average moral intensity assessments. Each component of moral intensity significantly predicts their rationalization, highlighting its key psychological influence. Research limitations/implications The study uses data collected from Nigeria to represent developing African countries with emerging capital markets and significant fraud concerns. The results may vary when comparing data from other developing countries. Originality/value The study provides a rare insight into how accountants weigh the issue-related moral imperative in situations leading to FFR within a developing African country context. The findings will serve as a benchmark for future research on FFR in other developing countries.

Social exclusion's effect on psychological needs, sense of agency and moral cognition from an embodied cognition perspective.

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of mandatory ethics training on the professional behavior of Chartered Professional Accountants (CPAs) in Quebec, where a 4-hour ethics training requirement was introduced in 2018. The importance of ethics education in the accounting profession is highlighted by numerous financial scandals that have underscored the need for continuous ethical vigilance. Our analysis, comparing pre- and post-requirement periods, reveals a significant decrease (31.58%) in the number of infractions, suggesting that mandatory ethics training effectively reduces unethical behavior. This study also finds that the moral intensity of infractions increased post-requirement, suggesting that while the frequency of infractions has decreased, the observed increase in their severity may reflect underlying changes in enforcement, reporting, or disciplinary trends during the same period. This trend suggests that ethics training may deter minor infractions but is less effective in preventing more serious ethical violations, particularly among repeat offenders. The persistence of high moral intensity infractions among this group underscores the need for targeted interventions beyond standard training. These findings suggest that mandatory ethics training may be a useful tool for encouraging ethical behavior but its impact could vary depending on the severity of past misconduct and the professional context.

ABSTRACT Building on Contingency Theory, this study investigates the effects of contingent factors – such as situational factors like teaching auditing ethics and the methods used (active vs. passive) – and cognitive factors like moral intensity on accounting students’ moral decision-making (i.e. moral sensitivity, moral judgment, motivation, and moral character). A 2 × 2 factorial experimental design was employed to test the research hypotheses. The ANOVA results revealed that teaching auditing ethics alone do not fully explain ethical behavior. However, when auditing ethics is combined with teaching methods and moral intensity, it significantly affects ethical decision-making. Specifically, a simple effects analysis indicated that active teaching methods are superior to passive ones in raising students’ awareness of the complexity of ethical dilemmas and the importance of acting ethically, especially when faced with high-materiality ethical issues. The findings also revealed that passive teaching methods, such as traditional lectures and readings, have an impact on students’ moral decision-making similar to not teaching auditing ethics at all. Practical and public policy implications are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the influence of moral intensity, the status of the violator, and personal cost on auditors' intentions to perform whistleblowing actions, with retaliation as a moderating variable. The population in this study consists of all auditors working at the Provincial Office of BPKP (Financial and Development Supervisory Agency) in Bali and Nusa Tenggara, totaling 211 individuals. The data collection method used is a survey with a questionnaire technique. The data analysis approach applied is Partial Least Squares (PLS), which is a component- or variance-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) model. Total 211 questionnaires were distributed, with 197 returned. The results of this study demonstrate that moral intensity and the status of the violator have a positive influence on auditors' intentions to perform whistleblowing, while personal cost negatively influences auditors' whistleblowing intentions. Additionally, this study proves that retaliation weakens the influence of personal cost on auditors' intentions to perform whistleblowing.

Indonesia is a country that has initiated whistleblowing in 2018, but it can only be implemented in 2021, after previously in early 2021 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the corruption eradication commission was carried out. The whistleblowing system is an effective way to tackle fraud through empowering whistleblowers. This research was conducted with the aim of knowing the effect of ethical decision making, moral intensity, religiosity, and materiality level on the intention to undertake whistleblowing. This research is experimental based, while the respondents consist of accounting students at all universities in Indonesia, both State Universities (PTN) and Private Universities (PTS). This research was conducted by giving a case regarding whistleblowing to students, then the student answered several statements related to the given case. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires in the form of Google Forms, which were distributed online through social media. Data analysis was performed using SEM-PLS (Structural Equation Modeling – Partial Least Square). The results showed that the influence of ethical decision making, moral intensity, religiosity had a positive and significant effect on whistleblowing intentions.

The purpose of this research is to provide accounting students with a thorough conceptual framework for internal whistleblowing, which will subsequently be empirically validated. In order to achieve this goal, the study looks at the moderating effect of moral intensity perception and the mediating role of professional commitment in relation to anticipatory socialization's impact on the inclination to report infractions. The study's target demographic consists of accounting majors who plan to graduate in 2024. A survey that is self-administered is given to 186 accounting students. To evaluate the suggested hypotheses, route analysis and moderation regression analysis are also used. The results of the hypothesis test show that the following relationships exist: moral intensity positively influences whistleblowing intention, moral intensity negatively moderates the relationship between professional commitment and whistleblowing intention, and moral intensity does not moderate the mediating effect of anticipatory socialization on whistleblowing intention. Positive relationships are found between anticipatory socialization and professional commitment, professional commitment and whistleblowing intention, and professional commitment and professional socialization. The aforementioned results highlight the significance of incorporating ethical education into undergraduate courses and educating students about the ethical principles, goals, and societal duties of the accounting profession.

PurposeThis study tried to expand the understanding of ethical behavior. Precisely, the research objective is to examine the effect of Moral courage (MC) and the situation’s moral intensity, on Egyptian nurses’ Ethical intention (EI) to decision-making.Design/methodology/approachThe research relied on quantitative and qualitative data obtained using scenario-based surveys to collect data from a sample of nurses (n = 412), in Alexandria University hospitals, Egypt. The quantitative technique used Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) and t-test to analyze the hypotheses provided, while the qualitative technique was employed using thematic analysis and was used to aid in understanding nurses’ EI.FindingsThe quantitative results indicated that higher EI was recorded in highly intense situations, yet with no MC effect; while low EI was linked to low intense situations with a significant MC effect. Qualitative results have mostly supported the findings in the quantitative technique and had an important role in understanding EI. The findings confirmed that although there is an interplay between courage as an individual factor and intensity as a situational factor in affecting ethical behavior, in intense situations the ethical response is mainly directed by the situation intensity, making courage the individual factor of little use. Hence, not always ethical decisions are rational and sometimes intense situations they are more rapid and automatically energized.Originality/valueThis study used both quantitative and qualitative data to examine the role of MC and moral intensity on EI. The findings of this study could be used as an evidence-based to contribute to the dual-process theory (Evans, 2008). Also, the study drew attention to the importance of considering the parties involved in the situation in shaping EI. Specifically, the study offers practical implications to be executed in Egyptian healthcare institutions to better cultivate individual ethical capacities and facilitate nurses’ ethical actions, suggesting the need for safe routines, ethical reporting offices and whistleblowing processes. Additionally, offering training to help address societal consensus and enhance MC.

This study aims to analyze the effect of organizational commitment, the seriousness of fraud, moral intensity and ethical environment on the intention to do whistleblowing in the Riau Provincial Education Office. Whistleblowing is an important mechanism in disclosing fraudulent acts that can harm organizations and society. This study uses a quantitative approach with a survey method through a questionnaire distributed to 261 employees. The sampling technique in the study used a saturated sampling technique method in which all populations were used as samples, so that a total sample size of 261 respondents was obtained. This research was processed using SPSS 25. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression to test the relationship between variables. The results of this study indicate that organizational commitment, the seriousness of fraud, and moral intensity have a significant effect on whistleblowing intentions. However, the ethical environment has no effect on whistleblowing intentions. This shows that individuals who have a high commitment to the organization, assess fraud as serious, and have strong moral intensity, are more likely to do whistleblowing. In contrast, the ethical environment in the organization does not directly encourage the intention to report fraud.

Purpose Although many scholars have studied the relationship between cultural values and ethical decision-making cross-nationally, there has been a lack of focus in the literature on causal factors of moral lapses. The purpose of this paper is to bridge this gap by examining the relationship between cultural differences, moral intensity and ethical decision-making. Design/methodology/approach The authors build a mega-level, cross-cultural data set from three sources (including Latin Barometer), representing data collected over 20 years from 18 Latin American countries, to test the hypotheses. Findings Results suggest higher levels of both proximity and social consensus lead to higher levels of moral decision-making. These relationships are strengthened (positively moderated) when a country’s culture is more restraint-oriented. Moreover, the relationship between social consensus and moral decision-making is strengthened (positively moderated) when a country’s culture is more collectivist-oriented. Originality/value This research focuses on the oft-overlooked South American cross-cultural context and uses national-level longitudinal data to study ethical decision-making. The significant results serve as a call for the use of more complex and multidimensional approaches in empirically testing cross-national differences and offers insights for research and organizational policy and practice in enhancing ethical outcomes.

In the context of Maqasid al-Shariah, whistleblowing serves as a mechanism to stop unethical behavior, especially financial corruption, which has increased significantly in recent years. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that motivate auditors working in public audit offices in Bandung to whistleblow. Due to its status as one of Indonesia's economic centers, Bandung was chosen as the research location. It offers contextually relevant and distinctive information that enhances the research. Using a quantitative approach with descriptive and verification methods, this study examines the influence of professionalism (X1), commitment (X2), and moral intensity (X3) on auditors reporting violations. (Y). Initial data were collected using questionnaires and structured analysis, and then analyzed using multiple regression analysis and SPSS software. The findings indicate that professionalism, locus of commitment, and moral intensity significantly and simultaneously influence auditors' motivation to engage in whistleblowing.

ABSTRACTInsurance fraud increases premiums for all U.S. households and undermines the insurer/insured relationship. This article examines willingness to commit insurance fraud using data from an online survey completed by 1505 U.S. adults and analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. Roughly one‐half of the sample would never commit any of the nine types of insurance fraud in the survey. Fewer than 20% (17.2%) of the respondents said they had committed at least one of the types of fraud. Both of the moral intensity variables were significant, but the signs were opposite. Moral Intensity PC1 (Magnitude of Consequences, Probability of Effect, Temporal Immediacy, and Concentration of Effect) was negatively related to willingness to commit insurance fraud, while Moral Intensity PC2 (Social Consensus and Proximity) was positively related. Peer acceptance was significantly and positively related to willingness to commit insurance fraud, while the relationship with the belief that insurance fraud is a crime was negative. Several control variables were significant, including age; older respondents were significantly less likely to be willing to commit insurance fraud than younger respondents. The article concludes by discussing future directions for research and practical implications for consumer educators.

ABSTRACT Employee noncompliance with information systems security policies (ISSPs) is a major cause of organizational data breaches. Protection motivation theory (PMT) has been widely used to model ISSP compliance intention. However, the explanatory power of PMT-based models is lower in workplace settings than in personal settings. We propose that this is due to not modeling the moral hazard caused by cost-consequence misalignment, that is, it is the employee who bears compliance cost, but it is the organization that bears the consequences of noncompliance. We modified PMT with moral intensity appraisal to account for additional cognitive appraisals salient when moral hazard arises. Our model accounts for an additional ten percentage variance in compliance intention compared with PMT. Results highlight the role of employee proximity to the organization in ISSP compliance. We propose concrete measures that have the potential to minimize the cost-consequence misalignment and moral hazard in compliance and thereby decreasing noncompliance.

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of the personal cost of reporting, moral intensity, and job satisfaction on the intention whistleblowing. The study was conducted in Bukittinggi City and included a population of 28 Regional Apparatus Organisation (OPD). A total of 128 samples were gathered for analysis. The sample approach employed was purposive sampling. The data gathering approach employed questionnaires that were distributed in person. The study employed the data analysis technique of multiple linear regression (OLS) and t-statistic testing. The findings of this study demonstrate that the personal cost of reporting, moral intensity, and job satisfaction positively and significantly influence the intention of finance personnel in the Regional Apparatus Organisation (OPD) in Bukittinggi City to engage in whistleblowing.