Ali Haydar Gungormus

Influence of theory, seniority, and religiosity on the ethical awareness of accountants

Purpose - – This study aims to investigate the influence of ethical theories, religiosity and seniority on the ethical awareness of accountants. Design/methodology/approach - – The data were collected by using a questionnaire survey completed by 219 accountants located in various locations in Turkey. To investigate the relationship between constructs, the partial least square structural equation model was implemented. Findings - – The findings indicated that seniority in the profession and religiosity have a positive influence on ethical awareness. Within the theoretical approaches, deontology has a positive influence on ethical awareness, whereas egoism has a negative one. Research limitations/implications - – The study has some implications regarding enhancing the ethical awareness of accountants: accountants who are in the early stages of their career development should be made aware of the ethical issues they face in their professional life; accountants should be taught laws and regulations of accountancy profession from the entry level throughout their working life; through professional associations, some initiatives may be taken to involve accountants in social responsibility programs to curb selfish behavior and improve empathy. However, a questionnaire survey does not permit an investigation from a qualitative perspective (the whys and hows of the answers); thus, further case studies might be necessary to make detailed investigations. Originality/value - – This study is unique in that it tries to answer what factors comprehensively influence the ethical awareness of accountants in an emerging market context.

Exploring predictors of internal, external and anonymous whistle-blowing intentions: a quantitative analysis of accounting professionals

Organizational wrongdoing incidences have been widely spread throughout the business world. Accounting professionals are the key human resources who find evidence of wrongdoing in firms and have the opportunity to report it. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the perception by accounting professionals concerning valid predictors for whistle-blowing and their preferences in doing so. Using the survey method, 177 responses were collected from Turkish accounting professionals. A partial least square structural equation model was constructed to test both the reliability and validity of the measurement and the structural model. The results showed that the ‘ethics and professional benefit’ and ‘corporate benefit’ dimensions of whistle-blowing predictors have significant positive impact on ‘internal whistle-blowing’. However, the accountants’ perceptions of ‘fear of retaliation’ and ‘corporate benefit’ as whistle-blowing predictors have positive influence on ‘anonymous whistle-blowing’. Finally, while perception of the accountants about ‘fear of retaliation’ has a positive relationship for deciding to not blow the whistle, the accountant professionals who have more ‘corporate benefit’ whistle-blowing perception have less propensity to not blow the whistle.