Perceptions Of Moral Intensity Research Articles

Effects of anticipatory socialization, professional commitment, and moral intensity on whistleblowing intentions by accounting students: a moderated mediation analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive conceptual internal whistleblowing model for accounting students and then test it empirically. To this end, by considering the mediating role of professional commitment (PC) and the moderating effect of the perceived moral intensity (PMI), the anticipatory socialization's impact on whistleblowing intentions has been investigated.Design/methodology/approachAn ex-post quantitative research design has been adopted for this survey study. The statistical population of the study consisted of Iranian undergraduate accounting students close to graduation in 2020. The study utilized a self-administered survey of 211 accounting students from 8 public universities; besides, to examine the proposed hypotheses, it utilized the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis.FindingsThe results of testing the hypotheses indicate that the constructs of anticipatory socialization (AS), PC and PMI have positive effects on whistleblowing intentions; besides, PC in the relationship between AS and whistleblowing intentions plays a complementary partial mediating role. In addition, PMI moderates the effect of PC on whistleblowing intentions, as well as the mediated effect of AS on whistleblowing intentions via PC.Social implicationsThe results of this study indicate the importance of considering trait syntheses of ethics education for undergraduate students, and the need to address and familiarize students with ethical principles, goals and missions of the accounting profession in society.Originality/valueThis study, by providing a moderated mediation conceptual model, examines the important functions that AS, PC and PMI might have created in the whistleblowing process, and also provides some empirical evidence in this area; As a result, it leads to the expansion of theoretical and empirical knowledge in this field.

Whistleblowing by accountants: an integration of the fraud pentagon and the extended theory of planned behavior

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the whistleblowing intentions (WBI) by Iranian accountants by integrating the fraud pentagon and the extended theory of planned behavior. Design/methodology/approach The population was made up of accountants from all of the 400 companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange and the authors used a quantitative survey-based method. Out of a total of 300 questionnaires administered, 171 valid responses were used for analysis. This research used the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis using SmartPLS 3.3.3 to examine the proposed hypotheses and to analyze the research model. Findings The results indicated that the extended theory of planned behavior components (perceived behavioral control, perceived subjective norms (PSN), perceived moral obligation and attitudes toward whistleblowing) have positive effects on accountants’ internal WBI. The results of investigating the moderating effect of perceived moral intensity (PMI) on the relationship between components of the extended theory of planned behavior and WBI show that PMI moderates the effect of PSN on WBI. Originality/value This study develops the whistleblowing literature by bringing together the components of the fraud pentagon and the extended theory of planned behavior and providing an integrated model. This model, which incorporates many variables from previous research, seeks to provide a comprehensive model for whistleblowing with the expansion of the Brown et al. (2016) model.

Customer insurance frauds: the influence of fraud type, moral intensity and fairness perception

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine customers’ ethical attitudes (EA) and intentions toward two types of insurance frauds. This study proposes that the factors, such as fraud types (i.e. opportunistic and planned insurance fraud), moral intensity and fairness perception (FP), can affect the customers’ acceptance of the insurance frauds.Design/methodology/approachTo test the research hypotheses of this study, Taiwanese insurance customers are invited in the empirical investigation, and a scenario-based questionnaire is used to collect the data. The hypotheses of this study are tested by using a partial least squares regression.FindingsThe results show that moral intensity constructs and FP significantly relate to the respondents’ acceptance of insurance frauds, while fraud types also have significant impacts on the respondents’ perceptions of moral intensity and fairness.Originality/valueThere is no research which has examined the relationships among fraud types, moral intensity, FP, demographic variables and customers’ EA and intentions toward insurance frauds. Understanding the relationships among these variables could provide implications for those involved in the practice of anti-fraud programs.

Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention

Given the importance of organizational whistleblowing, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among individuals' perceptions of moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intentions. Using information collected from employees' working for varied firms, the analysis indicates that several dimensions of moral intensity, predominantly seriousness of consequences and social consensus, are positively related to components of ethical decision making, namely the recognition and perceived importance of an ethical issue, ethical judgment, and ethical intention. The results also show that the recognition and perceived importance of an ethical issue and ethical judgment are positively related to whistleblowing intention. Finally, seriousness of consequences is positively related to whistleblowing intention. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed, including the development of an ethical work context and programs that enhance ethical sensitivity. The research limitations and suggestions for future research are also highlighted.

Self-Focused Emotions and Ethical Decision-Making: Comparing the Effects of Regulated and Unregulated Guilt, Shame, and Embarrassment.

Research has examined various cognitive processes underlying ethical decision-making, and has recently begun to focus on the differential effects of specific emotions. The present study examines three self-focused moral emotions and their influence on ethical decision-making: guilt, shame, and embarrassment. Given the potential of these discrete emotions to exert positive or negative effects in decision-making contexts, we also examined their effects on ethical decisions after a cognitive reappraisal emotion regulation intervention. Participants in the study were presented with an ethical scenario and were induced, or not induced, to feel guilt, shame, or embarrassment, and were asked to reappraise, or not reappraise, the situation giving rise to those emotions. Responses to questions about the ethical case were evaluated for the quality of ethical sensemaking, perceptions of moral intensity, and decision ethicality. Findings indicate that guilt, shame, and embarrassment are associated with different sensemaking processes and metacognitive reasoning strategies, and resulted in different perceptions of moral intensity. Additionally, cognitive reappraisal had a negative impact on each of these factors. Implications of these findings for ethical decision-making research are discussed.

Pressure and ethical decision-making

Performance pressure degrades performance on many types of tasks. Mounting evidence, however, suggests that pressure may not affect ethical decision-making. For the present study, participants analysed an ethical dilemma using a cognitive tool (ACED IT), expressive writing, or a control task, and their decisions were compared for participants in high and low pressure conditions. Perceptions of moral intensity were also measured. The current project found that the ACED IT map appears to be an effective cognitive tool for aiding ethical decision-making. The ACED IT group performed better on ethical decision-making (EDM) indices than did participants in the other groups. Pressure did not have an impact with regard to the cognitive processes involved in EDM. Pressure did, however, have a significant effect on perceptions of the problem. Implications of this pattern of results are discussed. It is important to determine whether pressure impacts EDM, so that training interventions can address pressure effectively. The present study suggests that, while pressure may not have an impact on ethical decision-making, pressure does seem to impact perceptions regarding ethical decision-making.

Pressure and ethical decision-making

Performance pressure degrades performance on many types of tasks. Mounting evidence, however, suggests that pressure may not affect ethical decision-making. For the present study, participants analysed an ethical dilemma using a cognitive tool (ACED IT), expressive writing, or a control task, and their decisions were compared for participants in high and low pressure conditions. Perceptions of moral intensity were also measured. The current project found that the ACED IT map appears to be an effective cognitive tool for aiding ethical decision-making. The ACED IT group performed better on ethical decision-making (EDM) indices than did participants in the other groups. Pressure did not have an impact with regard to the cognitive processes involved in EDM. Pressure did, however, have a significant effect on perceptions of the problem. Implications of this pattern of results are discussed. It is important to determine whether pressure impacts EDM, so that training interventions can address pressure effectively. The present study suggests that, while pressure may not have an impact on ethical decision-making, pressure does seem to impact perceptions regarding ethical decision-making.

Ethical Awareness, Ethical Judgment and Whistleblowing: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study aims to examine the ethical decision-making (EDM) model proposed by Schwartz (J Bus Ethics, 2015. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2886-8), where we consider the factors of nonrationality and aspects that affect ethical judgments of auditors to make the decision to blow the whistle. In this chapter, we argue that the intention of whistleblowing depends on ethical awareness (EAW) and ethical judgment (EJW) as well as there is a mediation-moderation due to emotion (EMT) and perceived moral intensity (PMI) of auditors. Data was collected using an online survey with 162 external auditors who worked in audit firms in Indonesia as well as 173 internal auditors working in the manufacturing and financial services. The result of multigroup analysis shows that emotion (EMT) can mediate the relationship between EAW and EJW. The nature of this relationship is more complex, so we then tested it by adding moderating variables using consistent partial least squares (PLSc) approach. We found that EMT and PMI can improve the relationship between ethical judgments and whistleblowing intentions. These findings indicate that internal auditors are more likely to blow the whistle than external auditors, and reporting wrongdoing internally and anonymously is the preferred way of professional accountants to blow the whistle in Indonesia.

Whistleblowing Intentions Among Public Accountants in Indonesia: Testing for the Moderation Effects

Our study contributes by providing new insights into the relationship between the individual levels of the antecedents and how the intention of whistleblowing is moderated by perceived organizational support (POS), team norms (TNs), and perceived moral intensity (PMI). In this paper, we argue that the intention of both internal and external whistleblowing depends on the individual-level antecedents [attitudes toward whistleblowing, perceived behavioral control, independence commitment, personal responsibility for reporting, and personal cost of reporting (PCR)] and is moderated by POS, TNs, and PMI. The findings confirm our predictions. Data were collected using an online survey on 256 Indonesian public accountants who worked in the audit firm affiliated with the Big 4 and non-Big 4. The results support the argument that all the antecedents of individual levels can improve the auditors’ intention to blow the whistle (internally and externally). The nature of the relationship is more complex than analysis by adding moderating variables using the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling approach. We found that POS, TNs, and PMI can partially improve the relationship between the individual-level antecedents and whistleblowing intentions. These findings indicate that the POS, TNs, and PMI are a mechanism or that attribute is important in controlling behavior.

Moral intensity, moral awareness and ethical predispositions: The case of insurance fraud

The issue of insurance fraud by consumers continues to perplex insurance firms, costing billions of dollars per year in the United States alone. Some analysts report that 10 per cent or more of property/casualty insurance claims are fraudulent, while less than 20 per cent of fraudulent claims being detected. Consumer attitudes are becoming more tolerant of insurance fraud in recent years. Recognizing that not all insurance fraud situations are created equal, we investigate variability in perceptions of moral intensity in dissimilar insurance padding situations in a 2 (to help others versus to profit self) × 2 (a small credit union versus a large online insurer) model and compared the results between two independent samples (college students/Millennials and an older adult population). We also investigated the impact of ethical predispositions (formalism and utilitarianism) on moral awareness and moral judgment using these four scenarios. The results suggest that the Millennials may exhibit more situationalism and more lenient judgments of collaborative versus unilateral ethical violations. In particular, ‘for self’ versus ‘for others’ comparisons show striking differences between the two age groups. The results add to the growing literature in explaining intra-personal variability in moral decision making.

Moral Intensity Revisited: Measuring the Benefit of Accounting Ethics Interventions

The purpose of this study was to determine whether accounting students’ perception of moral intensity could be enhanced through a limited ethics intervention in an Advanced Accounting course. Ethical decisions are heavily influenced by the intensity of the moral problem: the more egregious the act, the more the people view it as unethical. This controlled experiment measures the change in perceptions of moral intensity with the pre- and post-test instruments using five accounting specific vignettes containing moral dilemmas which are progressively more intense. While other studies have shown that perceived moral intensity directly influences a persons’ moral decision-making process, as far as we are aware, this is the first study that assesses and tests whether the coverage of specific ethics content integrated into an accounting class can positively influence the students’ perception of moral intensity, moral sensitivity/awareness, moral judgment, and moral intentions. Positively influencing students’ moral sensitivity/awareness, moral judgment, and moral intentions is a critical first step to ensuring that our courses and curricula provide the learning environment in which students can develop knowledge and competencies required to become the ethical leaders of tomorrow.

The Effects of Blogger's Moral Intensity on Ethical Decision Making

Weblogs, or blog, are rapidly becoming a mainstream technology in the information world. By June 2008, Technorati, an internet search engine, was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. Blogs allow millions of people to easily publish their ideas and millions more to read and evaluate and comment on them. When bloggers write things on their blog they became public. Although bloggers use blogs for many different functions and would likely provide many different definitions of blog (Stutzman, 2004), as we have seen, many bloggers perform journalistic functions. Therefore most moral code for bloggers is credibility in a journalistic sense (Blood, 2002; Dube, 2003), but they are nonprofessional without such code. Generally, blog audiences are built on trust, so bloggers should be honest and fair in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. For example, bloggers should disclose every benefit to any monetary (or other potentially conflicting) interests when appropriate. However, there has been almost no talk about this kind of ethics in the blog world. This study designed three ethical scenarios of blogger behavior against ethics code. Scenarios include blogger promoted her favorable food without disclosure conflict of interests, post other people’s entries without referencing material, and decoding other bloggers’ picture. The purpose of current research was to examine the perception of moral intensity and how the perception directly affected the specific processes of moral decision making of bloggers related to three scenarios.

A comparative study of college students’ ethical perception concerning internet piracy

As the rapid development in information technology (IT), and as the ease of disseminating IT between internet users throughout the world, internet piracy is a global issue that everyone has to be concerned about as it has a significant impact on the economy. In the global IT industry, Taiwan and China play important roles in the manufacturing supply chain. Unfortunately, both Taiwan and China also have significant effect on the IT piracy. Both of them share a similar culture and speak almost same language but different living style and social values. Since many studies reported that digital piracy (i.e. illegal downloading of music) was highly prevalent among college students (Lysonski and Durvasula, J Consumer Mark 25(3):167–178, 2008), understanding the college students’ ethical decision process is one of important issues in internet piracy context. The purpose of this study was to examine whether there is a difference in the perception of moral intensity as well as the ethical decision process for the business students between Taiwan and China. Respondents were asked to the dimensionality of the moral intensity and decision making process construct in three ethical scenarios regarding to internet piracy. The research results find that students in Taiwan possess higher level of moral intensity than students in China. Except for moral recognition, there are significant differences on the perception of moral decision process between two countries.

An Exploratory Cross-Cultural Analysis of Marketing Ethics: The Case of Turkish, Thai, and American Businesspeople

This study compares the ethical decision-making processes of Turkish, Thai, and American businesspeople, considering perceived moral intensity (PMI), corporate ethical values (CEV), and perceived importance of ethics (PIE). PMI describes the ethical decision making at the individual level, CEV assesses the influences of the organization’s ethical culture on the decisions of the individual, and PIE reveals what the businesspeople believe about the relationships among business, ethics, and long-run profitability. The survey respondents are professional marketers and businesspeople currently enrolled in or graduated from MBA programs in Turkey (n = 416), Thailand (n = 605), and US (n = 446). The ANOVA results reveal that American businesspeople are more likely to perceive the unethical marketing behaviors as more serious than their counterparts in Turkey and Thailand. American and Turkish organizations are found to have higher CEV than Thai organizations. On the other hand, Thai and American businesspeople perceived ethics to be more important for business success than Turkish businesspeople. The understanding of the differences and similarities in ethical perceptions of the businesspeople from various countries is valuable for a successful and harmonious working together when engaging in global marketing activities. This study is thus believed to be useful for people who plan to invest or manage businesses in these countries, and many of the implications are thought to be valuable in international business arena.

Effects of the Use of the Availability Heuristic on Ethical Decision-Making in Organizations

Recent corporate scandals across various industries have led to an increased focus on research in business ethics, particularly on understanding ethical decision-making. This increased interest is due largely to managers’ desire to reduce the incidence of unwanted behaviors in the workplace. This article examines one major moderator of the ethical decision-making process – moral intensity. In particular, we explore the potential influence of a particular cognitive heuristic – the availability heuristic – on perceptions of moral intensity. It is our contention that moral intensity is a perceptual construct, and that individuals’ use of the availability heuristic will influence perceptions of moral intensity which, in turn, will affect how moral issues are viewed and ultimately resolved. In this article, we present propositions concerning possible relationships between the availabilities of various phenomena and the components that moral intensity comprises, and report on two studies examining the effects of availabilities on two␣of these components: magnitude of consequences and social consensus. Our findings indicated that the availability of consequences associated with an act was positively related to perceptions of the magnitude of consequences of that act. We also found that the availability of others who believe that a particular act is morally acceptable is positively related to perceptions of social consensus that that act is morally acceptable. We posit that our results suggest the possibility that perceptions of moral intensity can be actively influenced to reduce unethical behavior in organizations.

The Impact of Corporate Culture, the Reward System, and Perceived Moral Intensity on Marketing Students' Ethical Decision Making

An experiment was conducted to study how marketing students' ethical decision making was influenced by their perceived moral intensity (PMI), corporate culture, and the reward system. The findings indicate that levels of awareness of the ethical consequences of a decision, the corporate culture, and the reward system all significantly affect ethical decision making. The results provide marketing educators with a framework for understanding the drivers of ethical decision making among marketing students. Given the results, some of the issues associated with teaching marketing ethics are highlighted.

Differences in the Perceptions of Moral Intensity in the Moral Decision Process: An Empirical Examination of Accounting Students

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the impact of moral issues on the moral decision-making process within the field of accounting. In particular, the study examined differences in the perceptions of the underlying characteristics of moral issues on the specific steps of the moral decision-making process of four different accounting situations.

A Comparison of Socially Responsible and Conventional Investors

Socially responsible investment is a rapidly emerging phenomenon within the field of personal investment. However, the factors that lead investors to choose socially responsible investment products are not well understood, especially in an Australian context. This study provides a comparative examination of conventional and socially responsible investors, with the aim of identifying such factors. A total of 55 conventional investors and 54 ethical investors participated in the study by completing mailed questionnaires about their investment and general behaviour and their attitudes and beliefs. Results indicated some important differences between socially responsible and conventional investors in their beliefs of the importance of ethical issues, their investment decision-making style, and their perceptions of moral intensity. These results support the notion that socially responsible investors differ in critical ways to conventional investors, and are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

Dimensions of Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision Making: An Empirical Study

Moral intensity is a construct that relates to issues in terms of their perceived moral significance. Individuals' perceptions of moral intensity should impact their recognition of issues as posing moral dilemmas and should also affect ethical judgments and behavioral intentions regarding issues. This study examined the relationship between 4 dimensions of moral intensity and the ethical decision‐making process. Two work‐related actions were presented to respondents, who then completed measures of the 4 dimensions of moral intensity, whether the actions posed an ethical issue, ethical judgments regarding the actions, and the likelihood that they would engage in the actions. Results indicate that moral intensity dimensions were associated with individuals' ethical decisions. Social consensus and seriousness of consequences were particularly important influences on the ethical decision‐making process.

College Students' Perceptions of Moral Intensity in Sales Situations

The accreditation agency for collegiate business schools (AACSB) has recently placed increased emphasis on teaching ethics to undergraduate and graduate business students. This study highlights the varying perceptions of moral intensity among 105 demographically diverse college students. Results indicate that gender and age were determining factors, with women perceiving greater moral intensity in marketing scenarios than men, and older students perceiving greater moral intensity than younger students. Student classification and major were also factors, with graduate students perceiving greater moral intensity in questionable situations than upper and lower classmen, and business majors perceiving greater moral intensity than nonbusiness majors.