Linking Culture and Ethics: A Comparison of Accountants’ Ethical Belief Systems in the Individualism/Collectivism and Power Distance Contexts

Abstract

This study uses accounting professionals from an international setting to test the individualism and power distance cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede [Culture's Consequences (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA) 1980]. Six countries, which appropriately represented high and low values on the Hofstede dimensions, were chosen for the survey of ethical beliefs. Respondents (n ¼ 249) from the six countries were requested to supply their agreement/disagreement with eight questionable behaviors associated with the work environment. Each of these behaviors contained an individualism and/or power distance cultural component for the responding accountants to consider. The results of the cultural analysis indicated significance on five of the eight survey items. Results lend support for the presence of the individualism cultural element in the ethical responses of the accountants surveyed.

Do Auditing and Reporting Standards Affect Firms’ Ethical Behaviours? The Moderating Role of National Culture

“…Individuals' relations to social organizations and perceptions of self-identity have been used in many studies to differentiate between cultures (e.g., Chan and Cheung 2012;Smith and Hume 2005;Steers et al 2013;Vitell et al 1993;Zhang et al 2013). While Hofstede (2001) conceives of the relationship as having a single dimension, i.e., collectivism-individualism, the GLOBE project recognizes two independent dimensions: IGC and INST_C (Chhokar et al 2012).…”

“…Therefore, we utilized the rich literature on the relationship between individualism/collectivism and ethical behaviour while exploring IGC's potential moderation impact. Individualism/collectivism has been used in many studies to explain the impact of national culture on ethical behaviours (e.g., Chan and Cheung 2012;Smith and Hume 2005;Vitell et al 1993;Zhang et al 2013). For instance, ethical sensitivity of US managers is found to be higher than that of their Turkish counterparts' due to the effect of individualism (Simga-Mugan et al 2005).…”

“…In the business ethics literature, PDI and IGC are the most frequently cited in explanations of variation in ethical behaviour among societies (e.g., Blodgett et al 2001;Chan and Cheung 2012;Scholtens and Dam 2007;Smith and Hume 2005;Steers et al 2013;Vitell et al 1993;Zhang et al 2013). Previous research showed that these two dimensions have a strong negative impact on ethical behaviour.…”

“…Accordingly, in the business ethics literature, cultural differences are perceived as the main indicators explaining variation in practices in economic or entrepreneurial activities (Alderson and Kakabadse 1994;Becker and Fritzsche 1987;Bodley 2005;Hawkins 1993;Kaptein 2004;Karnes et al 1989;Langlois and Schlegelmilch 1990;Mensah 2013;Schultz et al 1993). Although there are a small number of universally accepted ethical values, such as honesty or loyalty, their practical interpretations in business can vary across cultures (Smith and Hume 2005;Vitell et al 1993). Therefore, it can be argued that the practical implementation of international auditing and reporting standards, and hence their impact on EBF can be affected by the cultural context.…”

Does Economic Rationalization Decrease or Increase Accounting Professionals’ Occupational Values?

“…A few studies suggest that accountants in individualist countries are less likely to engage in ethical behaviors, because they prefer self-interest to the common good (Cohen et al 1992;Clements et al 2009). In contrast, other studies have found that accountants in individualist countries are more likely to act ethically (Roxas and Stoneback 1997;Smith and Hume 2005).…”