Lo que se ha hecho

Prior to Jones’s (1991) model of moral intensity, the focus was almost exclusively on examining the relationship of individual and organizational variables with ethical decision making stages. According to Jones (1991), the moral intensity construct relates exclusively to the characteristics of the ethical issue and consists of six dimensions. Three of these six dimensions (i.e., magnitude of consequences, social consensus, and temporal immediacy) were examined in terms of their relationships with the first three ethical decision making stages, as developed by Rest (1986). Four scenarios were used here:

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scenario one (approving questionable expense reports), scenario two (manipulating company books), scenario three (bypassing expenditure capital policy), and scenario four (extending questionable expenditure credit).

All the issues included in the four scenarios were clear and represent unethical actions, of varying degrees, which could be commonly found in the work setting (Leitsch, 2006; Sweeney & Costello, 2009). Jones (1991) maintained that large differences in ethical intensity between scenarios are required to observe differences in the impact of moral intensity. Flory et al. (1992), a first developer of these scenarios, suggested that scenarios two and three would be recognized as more unethical than scenarios one and four. Result related to accounting students, as shown in Appendix F, indicated similar results that scenarios two and three seem to be more intense than the remaining two. This result was obtained by Leitsch (2004; 2006) and Sweeney and Costello (2009) who used similar scenarios to investigate the ethical decision making of accounting students. However, results related to management accountants showed a slight difference; they perceived scenarios two and four as more intense than the remaining two. The results related to scenario four may be because the decision maker made his decision according to mainly his personal interest at the expense of other interests which might conflict with the characteristics of idealistic people. Scenario 3 was considered by the management accountants as less intense. This might be because it only involved bypassing capital expenditure policy to solve an issue which is solely emphasizing the company’s interest. Therefore, Libyan management accountants may perceive that this issue is not wrong. In general, moral intensity dimensions predicted significantly the ethical decision making process, management accountants in particular. This result provides an indication that Libyan management accountants tend to be situationists. The result supports Jones’s (1991) issue-contingent model of ethical decision-making and is consistent with several empirical studies (Barnett, 2001; Flory et al., 1992; Leitsch, 2004, 2006; Sweeney & Costello, 2009).

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Magnitude of consequences predicted significantly the ethical recognition of management accountants in issues involving manipulating company books (scenario 2) and violating company policy (scenario 3); it also was associated significantly with their ethical judgment in issues involving manipulating company books (scenario 2) and extending questionable expenditure credit (scenarios 4); finally, magnitude of consequences was related significantly to the ethical intention in all scenarios. The results related to accounting students showed a different story in that magnitude of consequences did not predict their ethical recognition and ethical judgment, whereas it predicted ethical intention in issues containing approving questionable expense reports (scenarios 1) and manipulating company books (scenario 2).

The perceived social consensus was associated with management accountants’ ethical judgment and ethical intention in the issues presented in scenarios 2, 3, and 4, whereas it was related to management accountants’ ethical recognition in the issues presented in scenarios 2 and 3. With regard to accounting students, their ethical recognition and ethical judgment were not predicted by the perceived social consensus, whereas their ethical intention was predicted by social consensus in issues involving approving questionable expense reports (scenarios 1) and extending questionable expenditure credit (scenarios 4).

Temporal immediacy was associated with ethical decision making stages of management accountants in the four scenarios, whereas it was associated with the ethical recognition and ethical judgment of accounting students in issues involving violating company policy (scenario 3) and extending questionable expenditure credit (scenarios 4) and with their ethical intention in all the four scenarios.

Although the results for management accountants are consistent with several previous studies (e.g., Barnett & Valentine, 2004; Leitsch, 2006; Nill & Schibrowsky, 2005; Sweeney & Costello, 2009; Watley & May, 2004) that found magnitude of consequences and social consensus relate significantly to ethical decision making stages, the results of accounting student did not support these studies. One possible explanation is that students

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did not have to consider the moral intensity dimensions in deciding the moral nature of the conflict since the issues within scenarios were clear.

Also, since Libyan accounting students did not have work experience, this may be an additional possible variable in their ethical decision making process because there were large number of significant results related to Libyan management accountants. Jones (1991) discussed the importance of previous experience with ethical issues and its effect on an individual’s ability to recognize an ethical issue. Moreover, possible explanation for this result might be related to accounting students’ age and their moral development where younger individuals look at others for guidance on right and wrong (Sweeney & Costello, 2009).

The importance of social consensus indicates that management accountants’ perceptions of society’s attitudes to issues may influence their ethical decisions. According to Kohlberg’s (1969) model, at conventional levels of ethical reasoning individuals are impacted by rules laid down by society, which reflect the consensus of the community on the ethicality of particular actions. Also Jones (1991) argued that individuals look at societal norms to reduce ambiguity when faced with ethical issues. If societal consensus exists, individuals are more likely than not to make judgments consistent with societal norms. Moreover, Sweeney and Costello (2009) point out that organizational consensus is likely to have a significant impact on perceived social consensus. This might be the case within the Libyan context as social consensus predicted the three stages of ethical decision making of management accountant and only the ethical intention of accounting students. The post conventional level of moral reasoning in Kohlberg’s theory suggests that as individual progress, general ethical principles and the fairness of rules will be applied to guide actions. Barnett (2001) claimed that when participants are students with an average age of around 20, it is expected that their beliefs about societal opinion would be a vital effect. However, this was only true with the stage of ethical intention of accounting students. The result of accounting students is consistent with several studies (Flannery & May, 2000; May & Pauli, 2002; Singhapakdi et al., 1996). Fishbein and

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Ajzen (1991) pointed out that the relationship between the dimensions of moral intensity and ethical intention is very important given that intentions are one of the most significant predictors of subsequent behaviour, especially if they are specific in nature. The temporal immediacy dimension shows an interesting result for both management accountants and accounting students. Previous empirical studies on temporal immediacy has been limited and yielded mixed results, with some studies finding that it has little or no association with ethical decision making process (Barnett, 2001) and other studies finding that it is associated significantly with ethical decision making stages (Singer et al., 1998; Singhapakdi, 1999; Singhapakdi et al., 1996; Vitell & Patwardhan, 2008). Also the result is consistent with the findings of Leitsch (2006) who used similar scenarios and found temporal immediacy formed its own dimension.

Interestingly, temporal immediacy had a strongest significant relationship with the three stages of ethical decision making of both samples than the other two dimensions (magnitude of consequences and social consensus). Most of the past research (see Chapter Two) shows different story that magnitude of consequences and social consensus had always significant results more than temporal immediacy. This result could be attributed to the adequate information provided in each scenario regarding the onset of consequences.

To sum up, moral intensity dimensions explained a significant portion of the variance in management accountants’ ethical recognition, ethical judgment, and ethical intention, although there was only partial support in some scenarios. Along with personal moral philosophy components, moral intensity dimensions were the variables most strongest related to Libyan accountants and students’ ethical decision making process. These results suggest that individuals perceive some situations as being more morally intense, supporting Jones’s (1991) theory. Although this study showed several significant differences in ethical decision making stages based on some of the variables investigated here, the results showed that relationships between these variables and ethical decision

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making stages were generally weak. Past research reported similar results showing weak relationship between a range of variables and ethical decision making stages.