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The effects of personal and organisational attributes on ethical attitudes of professional accountants: evidence from Ghana

Regina Mensah Onumah (Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Accra, Ghana)
Samuel Nana Yaw Simpson (Department of Accounting, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana)
Amoako Kwarteng (Business School, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Accra, Ghana)

Journal of Global Responsibility

ISSN: 2041-2568

Article publication date: 18 January 2022

Issue publication date: 4 July 2022

535

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effects of personal attributes (greed and desire for personal gains, behaviour of peers and superiors, personal values, family influences and pressures, religious background, ego strength, etc.), organisational attributes (company policies, codes of conduct and visionary leadership, etc). and the moderating role of ethical codes of conduct on the ethical attitudes of professional accountants.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses data from a survey of 340 professional accountants in Ghana, using the ordinary least square regression analysis to test hypothesized relationships.

Findings

The results suggest that personal attributes collectively have positive and significant influence on ethical attitudes. Similarly, organisational attributes collectively have positive and significant influence on ethical attitudes. Moreover, ethical codes of conduct moderate the positive relationship between personal and organisational attributes and ethical attitudes of accountants.

Originality/value

In the light of the social contingent theory, the findings imply that personal and organisational attributes, when interacted with professional code of conduct strengthens ethical attitudes of accountants. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first paper to have examined the moderating effect of professional code of conduct on ethical attitudes of accountants from a developing country context.

Keywords

Citation

Onumah, R.M., Simpson, S.N.Y. and Kwarteng, A. (2022), "The effects of personal and organisational attributes on ethical attitudes of professional accountants: evidence from Ghana", Journal of Global Responsibility, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 245-267. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-04-2021-0041

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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