Purpose Organizational insiders play a critical role in protecting sensitive information. Prior research finds that moral beliefs influence compliance decisions. Yet, it is less clear what factors influence moral beliefs and the conditions under which those factors have stronger/weaker effects. Using an ethical decision-making model and value congruence theory, this study aims to investigate how moral intensity and organizational criticality influence moral beliefs and intentions to perform information protection behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses were tested using a scenario-based survey of 216 organizational insiders. Two of the scenarios depict low criticality information security protection behaviors and two depict high criticality behaviors. Findings A major finding is that users rely more on perceived social consensus and magnitude of consequences when organizational criticality is low and on temporal immediacy and proximity when criticality is high. In addition, the moral intensity dimensions explain more variance in moral beliefs when organizational criticality is low. Research limitations/implications The study is limited by its sample, which is organizational insiders at a mid-size university. It is also limited in that it only examined four of the six moral intensity dimensions. Practical implications The findings can guide management about which moral intensity dimensions are more important to focus on when remediating tone at the top and other leadership weaknesses relating to information security. Originality/value This study adds value by investigating the separate dimensions of moral intensity on information protection behaviors. It also is the first to examine moral intensity under conditions of low and high organizational criticality.
Section 33 of the AACSB requirements for Specialized Accreditation of Accounting Programs requires that that each accounting program applying for specialized accreditation demonstrate its success with regard to the placement of students within three months of graduation and the career success of graduates at an appropriate later time (e.g., 5 or 10 years). The accounting program in a medium sized Midwestern university recently applied for “Specialized Accounting Accreditation” and found that only anecdotal data was available to satisfy this standard. In order to satisfy section 33 of the standards a questionnaire was developed and emailed to a list of accounting graduates. A list of 1,026 email addresses for accounting graduates was obtained from the alumni office and questionnaires were sent by email to each of the graduates. As expected, some of the email addresses were outdated and 269 were returned as undeliverable leaving 757 questionnaires delivered to accounting graduates. A total of 212 were returned for a 28% response rate with 103 (48%) requesting a copy of the results. The average age of the respondents was 44.2 years and the average graduation year was 1986, suggesting that the average age at graduation (21 years ago) was 23 years. The oldest graduate was 74 and the youngest was 22. More than one half of the graduates had obtained their first professional position before graduation and 90% had obtained a professional position within three months of graduation. Respondents were asked how many times they had changed companies in their careers and, remarkably, 23% had never changed companies. All of the graduates, except for one who had never changed companies, were satisfied with the progression of their careers. Another requirement of standard 33 is to demonstrate “career success of graduates at an appropriate later time (e.g., 5 or 10 years).” Graduates were asked if they were “satisfied with the progression of your career.” Remember, on average they had been graduated for about 12 years. Ninety seven percent indicated that they were satisfied with the progression of their careers. That indicates that they have achieved career success as they define success. Responses to whether graduates believe their education at Marshall adequately prepared them for their career were significantly (0.000) with whether they were satisfied with the progression of their career and with whether they would recommend the accounting program at Marshall to their children or friends (0.000 level). These relationships suggest that graduates are consistent in their approval and support for the accounting program.
Use of e-courses in higher education has become increasingly widespread in recent years. Educators continue to debate the effectiveness of the technology and some argue that e-courses may be appropriate for some courses, but not for others. Each discipline must determine the effectiveness of e-courses consistent with its own priorities. Within accounting education, no consensus has been reached. Recently, an opportunity to compare student performance in an e-course setting with that in a traditional classroom setting presented itself. A professor taught the introductory accounting course in the two settings; classes were conducted in such a way that student performance could be compared. This paper describes results and conclusions drawn from the comparisons.
The growth in Internet courses (E courses) and degrees is continuing but controls to insure academic honesty do not seem to be keeping pace with the growth in offerings. Responses to a questionnaire distributed to chairpersons of accounting departments relating to the use of controls for controlling academic dishonesty in E courses indicated that respondents strongly favored requiring students to provide a digital photo ID and audio capabilities when registering for an E course but rejected the idea of requiring them to provide a web cam that might be used for verifying their identity. Respondents strongly believe that students taking an E course should complete some, but not all, examinations on-line and, whenever possible, on the university web site and that they should complete some, but not all, homework assignments on-line and at the university web site whenever possible. They also tended to believe, even though they did not endorse requiring one, that students should use a web cam when completing examinations on-line and that faculty should compare the photo ID with the web cam image. However, they do not believe that students should be required to use a web cam when completing homework assignments or that faculty should compare the photo ID with the web cam image. Respondents believe that students should be required to participate in on-line chat rooms with both the instructor and with the instructor and other students. The use of a web cam and the comparison of a photo ID with a web cam image were not seen as desirable. Overall accounting chairs endorse requiring the student who enrolls in an E course to obtain some existing technology, except for a web cam, that might help control academic dishonesty. They expect the student to be prepared to spend more than $100 to obtain the technology.
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