Unethical Actions Research Articles

Examining Indonesian Accountants’ Dark Triad, Subjective Norm, and Peers’ Behavior in Influencing Their Ethical Intention

Among the unpleasant human traits that have been introduced by researchers in the psychology literature is the Dark Triad. The Dark Triad are three characteristics that correlate with each other and attract attention in the empirical realm, namely Machiavellianism, Psychopathy and Narcissism (Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Narcissism). This study examines the ethical model of accountants in Indonesia. This study aims to investigate the effect of dark triad (which consists of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and subjective norm toward perceived peers’ behavior and ethical intention. The method used in this study is quantitative method with survey as the data collection method. Using questionnaire, the data of this study were collected from 68 participants. This study used moderated regression analysis to analyze the data. The findings of this study indicate that dark triad does not significantly affect perceived peers’ behavior but significantly affects unethical intention. Meanwhile, subjective norm has a significant effect on perceived peers’ behavior but does not significantly affect unethical intention. This study also reveals that perceived peers’ behavior has a significant influence on unethical intention. This research provides benefits as literature contributor that describes the profile of Indonesian accountants according to personality theory and subjective norms, as well as how personality and subjective norms can shape characters that affect perceptions of unethical behavior, intentions to take unethical actions in decision making.

A Universal Privacy-Preserving Multi-Blockchain Aggregated Identity Scheme

Cryptocurrencies offer various benefits in terms of privacy protection and cross-border transactions, but they have also been used for illicit activities such as money laundering due to their anonymous nature and the difficulty of cross-border regulation. Additionally, the unethical actions of some virtual asset service providers (VASPs), such as rug pulls and the embezzlement of user funds, have further eroded the trust between users and VASPs. Implementing identity management on blockchains can help restore trust between users and VASPs. However, current solutions have privacy concerns as identity providers have access to the asset balances and transaction records of each user’s wallet account, and no solution can support all public blockchains unconditionally. To address these issues, this paper proposes a multi-chain aggregated identity scheme. In this scheme, the identity provider will issue a non-fungible token (NFT) for users who have undergone verification, and wallet accounts from different blockchains will be added to a cryptographic accumulator. The accumulator value is then bound to the identity NFT through a smart contract by the user. This allows the user to prove to others that the identity of the wallet account owner has been verified. The use of accumulators also allows users to combine proof for multiple wallets into a single proof, which significantly improves the efficiency and provides a way for VASPs such as centralized exchanges to demonstrate Proof of Reserves (PoR) to users. Importantly, this scheme preserves privacy as neither the identity provider nor the VASPs can link the user’s real identity with the wallet accounts. Only regulators can access the user’s identity data held by the identity provider and the user’s wallet account held by the VASP to link real identities with wallet accounts for the purpose of sanctions or criminal investigations. Additionally, the scheme supports all blockchains by allowing wallet accounts from any public blockchain to be added to the accumulator. Furthermore, the NFT implementation in the scheme helps prevent identity loss or theft, as it can only be transferred by the identity provider.

Exploring the effects of power distance orientation on unethical pro-organisational behaviour from the perspective of management

Purpose: This study verifies whether the personal psychological factor of power distance disposition is perceived as conformity or obedience to the parties, triggers unethical pro-organisational behaviour (UPB) and is reinforced by hierarchy and market cultures.Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation model analysis was used to test the hypotheses, and Process macro was used to test the moderating effect rigorously. A survey was conducted from 15 August 2018 to 20 September 2018, and 565 questionnaires were collected for analysis.Findings/results: The effect of power distance orientation (PDO) on UPB was determined by deriving the regression coefficient with the control variable input in the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Power distance orientation had a significant positive effect on UPB, even after controlling the influence of demographic variables. Pro-organisational members do not refrain from unethical actions when carrying out the tasks assigned by the company. This causal relationship is strengthened when hierarchy and market cultures are reinforced.Practical implications: To instil ethical behaviour in employees, a company must continuously manage the organisational culture and atmosphere, as well as educate and train employees on the company’s code of ethics.Originality/value: This study contributes to the limited body of knowledge examining both PDO (i.e. individual psychological factor) and organisational culture (i.e. work environment factor) as factors inducing UPB.

Why ethical consumers buy products from unethical companies: consumers’ ambivalent responses towards fashion companies’ unethical activities

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the role of consumers’ moral preferences between moral and economic benefits and consumers’ moral and rational behaviour intentions based on moral decision-making models of previous studies.Design/methodology/approachRespondents were asked to answer a questionnaire measuring moral and economic benefits, consumers’ moral preferences and moral and rational behaviour intention after reading a stimulus describing imaginary fashion brand A’s unethical activities.FindingsMoral and economic benefits directly and significantly affect moral and rational behaviour intention. Homo economicus evoked by an economic benefit had a negative effect on moral behaviour intention.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focused only on a moral benefit and an economic benefit as factors evoking consumers’ moral preferences. This study was also conducted only in a Korean context and considered a specific industry. In future research, the results of this study should be extended to design the “possibility of punishment” to encourage moral behaviour by discouraging the effect of homo economicus. The results have implications for companies such as social enterprises and charities that want to promote consumers’ moral behaviour.Originality/valueThis study provides evidence on why ethical consumers do not always make ethical decisions by confirming that homo economicus has a significant influence on not only rational behaviour intention but also moral behaviour intention.

The Church, Prophetism and Ministry of the Prophets in Ghana

This paper tries to demonstrate that Christian prophetism is vital in fulfilling the mandate of the Great Commission. It employs both hermeneutical, descriptive, and analytical methods of doing constructive theology. It points out that prophetism is a creative work of God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, accompanying the creative and redemptive acts of prophetism is the tendency for it to attract or degenerate into such things as conflict, abuse, and unethical actions. The paper shows that both elements of creativity and degeneration could be traced to Ghanaian prophetism. Moreover, it advocates that proper theological education and law enforcement among others regarding prophetism could minimize the degeneration of prophetism for the rapid growth and expansion of Christian mission in Ghana. Keywords: Prophetism, Prophetic Ministry, Church, Christianity

Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan

Reviewed by: Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan Lopamudra Basu V. V. GANESHANANTHAN Brotherless Night New York. Random House. 2023. 368 pages. THE SRI LANKAN Civil War, which began with demands of the ethnic Tamil minority to form their separate homeland in the early 1980s after waves of state-sanctioned violence initiated by the Sinhala majority, stretched over three decades, leading to horrific civilian casualties and eventual defeat of the militant Tamil Tigers at the hands of the Sri Lankan army. This traumatic history has been the backdrop of recent Sri Lankan novels in English. What makes V. V. Ganeshananthan's Brotherless Night unique is that it presents this traumatic history from the perspective of women and the myriad ways in which their lives are transformed by institutions of ethnic nationalism. Brotherless Night begins with a prologue set in New York in 2009 but then moves back to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, where the narrator, Sashi, is preparing for her entrance exams to medical school in a Tamil upper-middle-class family in which she is the only sister to four brothers. Sashi idolizes her eldest brother, Niranjan, finishing medical school, and wants to emulate him in her choice of profession. Her brother Dayalan and his friend, K, are closer to her in age, and together they frequent the Jaffna Public Library as a place for intensive study. This idyllic world of youthful aspirations supported by a loving family is presented from the beginning as precarious. It receives its first shocking jolt when Sashi and her eldest brother move to Colombo to the house of their grandmother. Soon after Niranjan earns his first salary and becomes engaged to a young doctor, this neighborhood falls victim to anti-Tamil riots, and Sashi's grandmother's beautiful house is burned. Sashi and her grandmother become temporary refugees in a camp, but the greater tragedy is when they discover that Niranjan's car has been burned by a violent mob. Sashi returns to Jaffna to her family to face a completely altered family. Her mother is almost on the brink of a mental breakdown after losing Niranjan, and the younger brothers feel an irrepressible rage at the loss of the eldest brother and an absent father. The family tragedy is compounded by the continuing political disenfranchisement of Tamils, the destruction of Tamil homes and property, including the beloved Jaffna library. It is in the midst of these escalating tensions that two of Sashi's brothers and her friend K leave to join the Tigers, adding yet another layer of loss. In spite of these grave difficulties, the novel charts Sashi's growth into political consciousness. She fulfills her departed brother's dream by eventually matriculating in the medical college at Jaffna. While at medical school, she is recruited by K to provide medical assistance at a clinic run by the Tigers. As Sashi gets more intimately acquainted with the operations of the Tigers, she is increasingly disillusioned by their unethical actions, their hunger for power, killing of members of other Tamil militant groups, and ruthless crushing of all dissent. She realizes that her own brother, Dayalan, is complicit in these atrocities. As the war progresses, Sashi is forced to leave her beloved ancestral home on the orders of Tigers. However, her greatest disillusionment with the Tigers occurs when the Tiger leader recruits K to participate in a highly publicized hunger strike to demand the immediate removal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force that had brokered a fragile peace with the Sri Lankan government. After much internal debate, Sashi agrees to accompany K on the stage. As the fast progresses, Sashi expects the demands to be met or the Tiger leader to call off the fast. Neither happens, and K dies a painful death and becomes a Tamil martyr. Sashi is crippled by this loss as well as the loss of Dayalan but gradually recovers under the mentorship of her anatomy professor, Anjali, who is also secretly documenting the atrocities of the conflict. Through her work in the clinic, Sashi bears witness to sexual violence perpetrated by Indian soldiers as well as killings of Tamil civilians by the Tigers...

Difficult Interpersonal Situations in Leadership as Arenas of Ethical Leadership and Learning

Leadership in the Finnish social and health care field has changed significantly since the beginning of the 21st century. Its principles have become closer to those of business organizations, which demand cost-effectiveness. Superiors are expected to achieve more with dwindling personnel resources. This may have led to unethical leadership, which has negative effects on workplace wellbeing and coping at work. The purpose of this study was to chart the experiences of master’s degree students in leadership (N=54) regarding difficult leadership situations and what they learned from them. All the students had a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of work experience. The data were collected as narratives written as part of a course on personnel leadership, which were then analyzed using deductive content analysis. Ethical leadership in difficult personnel situations was seen as good communication skills and treating all subordinates as equals. Through their own example, ethical leaders created a work environment where all felt understood and respected. The respondents also learned how to recognize features of unethical leadership through their experiences. Further research should focus on superiors’ experiences of leadership, which factors lead to unethical actions and how unethical leadership can be avoided. Keywords: communication, ethical leadership, interaction, learning through work, unethical leadership

A Critique of Principlism

A Critique of Principlism

Non-fungible tokens (NFT): a safe and effective way to prevent plagiarism in scientific publishing

PurposeThere is a need for technology that can protect scientific findings as a unique asset but is this possible? Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are one possible solution.Design/methodology/approachPlagiarism is an unethical act and a violation of acceptable practices in the field of scholarly research and writing. Over the years, effective tools have been created to prevent and minimize plagiarism, especially through the integration of artificial intelligence technology to identify copied text. However, there is still scientific plagiarism of contents (such as articles, inventions or other digital objects).FindingsNFTs are unique digital identifiers that use blockchain technology to ensure ownership rights of an object are maintained. NFT is a blockchain derivative that first entered the world of digital currencies and has now entered other areas, such as economy, fashion, music and computer games.Originality/valueIn this essay, how this technology may be useful to preventing acts of academic plagiarism is discussed.

A Meta-Analytical Assessment of the Effect of Deontological Evaluations and Teleological Evaluations on Ethical Judgments/Intentions.

Deontological and teleological evaluations are widely utilized in the context of consumer decision-making. Despite their use, the differential effect of these distinct types of evaluations, and the conditions under which they hold, remains an unresolved issue. Thus, we conduct a meta-analysis of 316 effect sizes, from 53 research articles, to evaluate the extent to which deontological and teleological evaluations influence ethical judgments and intentions, and under what circumstances the influence occurs. The effect is explored across three categories of moderators: (1) contextual elements of the ethical issue, (2) stakeholders, and (3) methodological characteristics of primary studies. We find that the overall effect of deontological evaluations on ethical judgments and intentions is stronger than for teleological evaluations; however, the magnitude of the effect is contingent on several moderators. Deontological evaluations are weaker in offline consumer contexts and stronger when there are financial implications of the ethical issue. Conversely, the effect of teleological evaluations is relatively stable across ethical consumer contexts. Teleological evaluations are stronger from a utilitarian perspective than from an egoist one. Furthermore, the effect of deontological evaluations is weaker, but the effect for teleological evaluations is stronger, when the decision-maker has a personal relationship (as compared to an organizational relationship) with the victim of the unethical act. Findings validate the effect of both deontological and teleological evaluations on ethical judgments and intentions and highlight their importance in consumers' ethical decision-making. Implications for developing programs to prevent consumer unethical behavior are discussed.

USING MACHINE LEARNING AND NLP TECHNIQUES FOR EFFICIENT SPAM EMAIL DETECTION

Email spam has become a prevalent issue in recent times, with the growing number of internet users, spam emails are also on the rise. Many individuals use them for illegal and unethical activities such as phishing and fraud. Spammers send dangerous links through spam emails, which can harm our systems and gain access to personal information. It has become easier for criminals to create fake profiles and email accounts. They often impersonate real individuals in their spam emails, making them difficult to identify. This project aims to identify and detect fraudulent spam messages. The paper will explore the use of machine learning techniques, algorithms, and apply them to data sets. The goal is to select the best methods for maximum precision and accuracy in email spam detection.

Thinking Like a Bad Guy: Teaching Critical and Creative Managerial Ethical Thinking Using Codes of Ethics

Miscreants, in the form of deviants and dark personalities, impact organizations more than we realize. Most management instruction on ethics issues focuses on helping students to understand how to evaluate difficult situations, make ethical decisions, and engage in ethical actions. While this approach works well for the individual decision maker, it fails to help students learn how to anticipate and proactively prevent the unethical actions of others. Using ethical codes as a backdrop, “Thinking Like a Bad Guy” is a provocative classroom activity to elicit critical and creative thinking among business students. The goal of this exercise is to facilitate student learning so they can anticipate the behaviors of bad actors and alter organizational processes and procedures to mitigate the ability of others to violate organizational ethical standards.

Pragmatic and Idealist Public Accountants: Interpretation of Professional Ethics through Ricoeur's Hermeneutics

For the public accounting profession to remain viable, ethics is a crucial problem. This study aims to analyze professional ethics from a public accountant's viewpoint. In order to accomplish this, an approach based on Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutics is employed. According to Ricoeur, interpretation continues to be explained through conduct after understanding. The information was obtained through in-depth interviews with ten public accountants in Indonesia. Information about ethical transgressions will demonstrate consistency between public accountants' attitudes and actions. According to the study's findings, public accountants have various ethical perspectives. The idealist kind of public accountant views ethics as extending beyond compliance with the code of ethics and rules and grounds his behavior on the principles he believes in. The pragmatic type of public accountant limits ethics to compliance with the code of ethics and regulations. Different behaviors result from different understandings. While the idealistic public accountant can avoid unethical action, the pragmatic public accountant is easily drawn into it.

PLAGIARISM DETECTION FOR PROJECT REPORT USING MACHINE LEARNING

Plagiarism is an unethical act of using someone else's work or ideas without giving them credit, which is a growing problem in various fields. However, the current systems for plagiarism detection require revealing the full content of input documents and document collections, which can raise procedural and legal concerns regarding data confidentiality, limiting or prohibiting the use of plagiarism detection services. To address these issues, we aim to create a plagiarism detection approach that doesn't need a centralized provider or expose any content as cleartext. Our research has produced initial results showing that our content-protecting method achieves the same detection effectiveness as the original method while making it practically impossible to reveal the protected content through common attacks. Various techniques, such as manual detection, text similarity analysis, and automated plagiarism detection using machine learning, have been developed to prevent plagiarism. This paper focuses on machine learning techniques for plagiarism detection and discusses different approaches, algorithms, and datasets used in detecting plagiarism, along with their advantages and limitations. The paper also presents some future research directions in this area.

Media Literacy and Young People’s Integrity in Political Participation: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

The unethical activities related to weak political participation integrity on social media have influenced negative behaviours among supporters, particularly the young people. Social media transmits information on demonstration activities by enabling the creation, collection, and dissemination of false information or seditious libel, which exposes the country to external attacks and threats. Furthermore, young people’s negative political participation activities on social media, such as creating and disseminating false information, making harsh remarks, generating turmoil to acquire popularity or go viral, can potentially lead to cybercrimes. This research identified the impacts of media literacy competencies, namely access, analysis and evaluation, creation, reflection, and action, on political participation integrity among young people. This study distributed a survey to targeted university students in Melaka, Malaysia using the simple random sampling method. The students’ participation was purely voluntary. A total of 388 responses were successfully collected. The structural equation authenticated that four competencies significantly influenced the participants’ political participation integrity: access, analysis and evaluation, reflection, and action. In addition, young people who have media literacy skills showed a stronger preference to engage in political activities with higher moral conduct. The findings provided valuable insights about young people's political participation integrity on social media in Malaysia. Keywords: Media literacy competencies, political participation integrity, structural equation modelling, young people, social media.

Amazonian Corruption Problems in the Education System in the Light of Sustainable Development

Corruption is a social phenomenon that has existed since the beginning in all communities, present in everyday situations, and affects the education system. We reviewed the various aspects of corruption in the Amazon education system basing on domination theory. We looked for factors that facilitate corruption in the education system and harm sustainable development in the Amazon. We have also shown the relationships between domination theory, scientific knowledge degradation, and sustainable development. We have identified some options to fight corruption in the education system to ensure sustainable development in the Amazon. We have implemented a qualitative research project under the Amazon Graduate Program to reach described goals. Our research methods included critical literature analysis, case study, direct observation, and content analysis to describe the literature review concepts. Through the Ishikawa diagram's graphic representation, we highlighted the causes of traditional domination and corruption sub-causes that cause the degradation of scientific knowledge and sustainability in the Amazon. The study concludes that the domination in the education system is similar to traditional domination. Corrupt actions can be decisive for preventing the construction of knowledge about Sustainability in the Amazon. The scenario warns of a crisis in the education system. Our findings allow us to suggest significant actions for coping with curbing corrupt practices and unethical actions in the system. Our Amazonian academy findings help reflect the reality of the managers and politicians sensitized with this investigative work.

ISLAMIC ETHICS OF BUSINESS: A MAQĀṢIDIC ANALYSIS

Islamic Sharīʽah includes all affairs of human life. An important part of Sharīʽah is related to human transactions. Conducting business is considered an important transaction, which has existed since the beginning of human life and until today. Presently, committing unethical activities in conducting businesses has increased both among Muslims and non-Muslims all over the world. These unethical activities cause a Muslim to lose blessings of Allah Subḥānahū wa Taʽālā (SWT) in his income and make his earnings haram, which leads to unacceptance of his worship by Allah (SWT). It also causes harm to other people. This ultimately will be an important reason for him to be not successful on the Day of Judgment. To make a Muslim successful in this world and the life hereafter, Islam provides rules and guidelines to be followed. Among them are the rules and guidelines for conducting businesses sincerely and righteously. These rules and guidelines are called Islamic ethics of business. These ethics can be divided into two types: first, some attributes which must be possessed by a businessman; second, several forbidden things which must be avoided by him. This paper aims to analytically discuss the second type of these ethics and strives to investigate how committing these forbidden things causes to violate different types of maqāṣid (objectives) of Sharīʽah. An important finding of this research paper is that Islamic ethics of business have been prescribed by Allah (SWT) in a way that they maintain significant balance between dīn and dunyā and cause a Muslim to be successful both in this world and next world.

Public Procurement Compliance in Ghana: An Upper West Region Perspective

This study aimed to contribute to the debate on Ghana’s Public Procurement Act 663 non-compliance. According to the Ghana Public Procurement Law (Act 663, 2003), compliance with public procurement regulations is mandatory. It aims to combat fraud, illegal and unethical activities in the public sector. This research examined four explanatory factors that influence compliance with public procurement rules. This study applied a quantitative research methodology, correlational research design, and cross-sectional design. Data were collected from 62 regional government procurement entities using a structured questionnaire. Correlation and regression analysis was conducted to test the research questions and hypotheses. The general results of this study indicated mixed findings. Familiarity (H1) and monitoring (H3) were found to be statistically significant in compliance, whereas professionalism (H2) and sanctions (H4) were not statistically significant in compliance and were not supported by the study hypotheses. Hence, the mixed findings on the relationship between professionalism and compliance rules, sanctions and compliance rules require further investigation.

Publications in Scientific Journals – the New Face of Deception

The review process of texts submitted for publication in scientific journals is one of the main ways of evaluating the scientific output of their authors. Any disruptions in this process can have serious and far-reaching consequences, not only in terms of the credibility and integrity of the author themselves, but – most importantly – in terms of the confidence in their achievements. Attempts to distort the review process have so far occurred most often in medical and exact sciences. The case of “The Critique of Law” discussed herein shows that attempts at scientific fraud affect also legal sciences. The purpose of the article is to inform the scientific community worldwide about subsequent attempts of unethical scholarly activities, to describe instances of malpractice, and to point out some of the possible ways to prevent the fraud in question.

Publikacje w czasopismach naukowych – nowa odsłona nieuczciwości

The review process of texts submitted for publication in scientific journals is one of the main ways of evaluating the scientific output of their authors. Any disruptions in this process can have serious and far-reaching consequences, not only in terms of the credibility and integrity of the author themselves, but – most importantly – in terms of the confidence in their achievements. Attempts to distort the review process have so far occurred most often in medical and exact sciences. The case of „The Critique of Law” discussed herein shows that attempts at scientific fraud affect also legal sciences. The purpose of the article is to inform the scientific community worldwide about subsequent attempts of unethical scholarly activities, to describe instances of malpractice, and to point out some of the possible ways to prevent the fraud in question.