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1 – 10 of over 66000Shijiu Yin, Ying Li, Yusheng Chen, Linhai Wu and Jiang Yan
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the factors that influence food safety reporting intention and behaviour of the public.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the factors that influence food safety reporting intention and behaviour of the public.
Design/methodology/approach
Data used in this study came from a questionnaire survey conducted in Shandong Province, China. The 642 qualified samples were analysed through structural equation model based on the expanded theory of planned behaviour to study public food safety reporting behaviour and its influencing factors.
Findings
Results indicated that participation attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and moral norm had significantly positive effects on public reporting intention, which had a direct effect on behaviour. Among subjective norm, descriptive norm had a more significant influence on the intention to report than injunctive norm. PBC indirectly affected reporting behaviour through participation intention, and directly affected participation behaviour. Socio-demographic variables had significant influence on participation attitude, injunctive norm and PBC, whereas these variables had no influence on descriptive norm and moral norm.
Originality/value
This research is of academic value and of value to policy makers. To promote public participation in food safety reporting, the government should consider influencing factors of food safety reporting.
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Whistleblowers have been credited for uncovering financial scandals in companies globally, including Enron, Olympus Corporation, and WorldCom. Despite increasing support and…
Abstract
Whistleblowers have been credited for uncovering financial scandals in companies globally, including Enron, Olympus Corporation, and WorldCom. Despite increasing support and incentives for whistleblowing, there generally remains reluctance to blow the whistle. Thus, the purpose of this study is to review: (1) the determinants of internal and external whistleblowing on accounting-related misconduct, (2) U.S. whistleblowing legislation on accounting-related misconduct and related research, and (3) the effects of whistleblowing on firms and whistleblowers. Within each area, suggestions for future research are offered.
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Margit Malmmose and Mai Skjøtt Linneberg
The objective of this study is to examine developments in the discursive practice of non-financial reporting in the public healthcare sector. In doing so, the authors investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to examine developments in the discursive practice of non-financial reporting in the public healthcare sector. In doing so, the authors investigate how the main reform foci of productivity and quality are represented, with a specific focus on the patient.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA), the authors conduct a longitudinal study (2007–2018) of healthcare reporting foci across the five administrative regions responsible for public hospitals in Denmark. The study analyses sixty annual reports and draws on contemporary reform documents over this period. CDA enables a micro-textual analysis, combined with macro-insights and discussions on social practice.
Findings
The findings show complex webs of presentation strategies, but in particular two changes occur during the period. First, the patient is centred throughout but the framing changes from productivity and waiting lists to quality and dialogue. Second, in the first years, the regions present themselves as actively highlighting financial and quality concerns, which changes to a passive and indirect form of presentation steered by indicators and patient legislation enforced by central government. This enhances passivity and distance in healthcare regional non-financial reporting where the regions seek to conform to such demands. Simultaneously, however, the authors find a tendency to highlight very different local initiatives, which shows an attempt to go beyond a pure automatic mode of reporting found in earlier studies.
Originality/value
Responding to the literature on both healthcare and financial reporting, this study identifies novel links between micro-level texts and macro-level social practices, enabling insights into the potentially intertwined impacts of public-sector reporting. The authors offer insights into the complexity of the construction of non-financial reporting in the public sector, which has a wider impact and different intentions than private-sector reporting.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organisational commitment (OC) and corporate ethical values (CEV) on the whistle-blowing intentions of non-public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organisational commitment (OC) and corporate ethical values (CEV) on the whistle-blowing intentions of non-public accountants in Barbados.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a sample of 236 self-administered questionnaires from non-public accountants working in corporate organisations.
Findings
OC and CEV significantly influence internal and external whistle-blowing intentions. Non-public accountants with high OC, who also operate in organisations with strong perceived CEV, are more likely to exhibit high internal whistle-blowing intentions and low external whistle-blowing intentions. Non-public accountants with high perceived personal costs, low OC and a low degree of trust and confidence in the reporting systems, cite a general reluctance to whistle-blow internally and externally.
Research limitations/implications
The findings may not be generalisable to other professions. In addition, it utilises a quantitative survey method, which does not allow for further investigation of non-public accountants’ perceptions and feelings.
Practical implications
The study can assist firms in developing effective whistle-blowing mechanisms. The findings show the importance of high OC, strong CEV and reduced personal costs in a whistle-blowing framework.
Originality/value
This study provides evidence of the influence of OC and CEV on whistle-blowing among members of the accounting profession in an emerging economy. The study also provides a whistle-blowing matrix and discusses the unique social and cultural factors influencing the whistle-blowing process in Barbados.
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We review and summarize accounting literature that examines whistleblowing in the accounting context. We organize our review around the five determinants of whistleblowing…
Abstract
We review and summarize accounting literature that examines whistleblowing in the accounting context. We organize our review around the five determinants of whistleblowing identified by Near and Miceli (1995). The first determinant is characteristics of the whistleblower. Studies related to this determinant examine whistleblowers’ personality characteristics, moral judgment, and demographic characteristics. Studies related to the second determinant, characteristics of the report recipient, examine characteristics of the individual or individuals who receive the report and characteristics of the reporting channel. The third determinant is characteristics of the wrongdoer. Studies in this area focus on the wrongdoer’s power and credibility. Fourth, accounting studies related to characteristics of the wrongdoing examine factors that affect the dependence of the organization on the wrongdoing and evidence credibility. Studies related to the final determinant, characteristics of the organization, examine organizational perceptions of the appropriateness of whistleblowing, organizational climate, and organizational structure. For each determinant, we first summarize and analyze the findings of prior research, and then we present suggestions for future accounting research in whistleblowing.
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Musa Mbago, Joseph Mpeera Ntayi and Henry Mutebi
The purpose of the study is to examine the role of legitimacy in forming whistleblowing behavior in Ugandan procuring and disposing entities (PDEs).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to examine the role of legitimacy in forming whistleblowing behavior in Ugandan procuring and disposing entities (PDEs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study has adopted both a quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional research design to collect data from a sample of 97 out of the population of 129 PDEs in Kampala, which are regulated by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority.
Findings
This paper finds that improvement in the perception of public servants about the appropriateness of the Whistleblowers Act and its enforcers can increase on the reporting of unethical practices in public procurement.
Research limitations/implications
This study has used a cross-sectional survey data. The causal relationships between variables are possibly obscured; as data from all participants are collected at the same point of time, perceptions go on changing over time. Therefore, further studies should use a longitudinal approach. Second, there are no constructs for legitimacy in public procurement and those from law are domesticated.
Practical implications
There should be a promotion of legitimacy of the Whistleblowers Act and the enforcement agencies of the Act. The government should devise means for the public servants to have an obligation to obey the holders of authority, to trust and have confidence in them and to enforce the Whistleblowers Act in an ethical and normative framework.
Originality/value
This study reveals the whistleblowing intentions and behavior of public servants in PDEs. This study would help the Government of Uganda to make the Whistleblowing Act legitimate and its enforcers to increase on the reporting of unethical practices in public procurement.
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Yunita Awang, Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman and Suhaiza Ismail
This study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on fraud intention in financial reporting among Muslim…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on fraud intention in financial reporting among Muslim accounting practitioners in the Malaysian banking institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was used for a sample of 121 Muslim accounting practitioners who are participants in the financial reporting process of Malaysian banking institutions. The data are analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
The study found that attitude and subjective norms are positively significant in influencing fraud intention in financial reporting. In other words, the more the respondents were in favour of fraud and perceived that their referent groups would approve or support the behaviour, the stronger their intentions to commit fraud. On the other hand, the result for Islamic professional ethics is insignificant, which indicates that the Muslim accounting practitioners may not be significantly influenced by the Islamic code of professional ethics on their intention towards fraud in financial reporting.
Research limitations/implications
The study adds to the scant literature investigating factors influencing Malaysian accounting practitioners’ intentions for fraud in financial reporting in the banking sector. The limitations include the use of scenario leading to the issue of social desirability bias and the use of purposive sampling technique that limits the generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
The findings provide potential avenues for Malaysian banking sector managers to enhance their recruitment and training programmes and give some insights to the public, especially the banks shareholders and depositors, into the fraud in financial reporting intention of the actual participants in the financial reporting process.
Originality/value
To the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to examine, in the Malaysian banking setting, the influence of attitude, subjective norms and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on the fraud intention in financial reporting among accounting practitioners. There are few investigations to date on the factors of influencing or mitigating the accounting practitioners’ intention to commit fraudulent reporting.
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Yunita Awang and Suhaiza Ismail
This study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm and ethical judgement on unethical financial reporting intention among Malaysian accounting practitioners in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm and ethical judgement on unethical financial reporting intention among Malaysian accounting practitioners in the banking industry.
Design/methodology/approach
For achieving the objective, a questionnaire survey was used. With the inclusion of 121 samples of participants in the financial reporting process, data analysis was conducted using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The results indicate that attitude, subjective norm and ethical judgement are significant in influencing unethical financial reporting intention, with ethical judgement having the smallest effect on such intention.
Practical implications
The findings of this study are useful in guiding the management and regulators to develop strategies to curb the occurrence of unethical financial reporting. This study also gives some insights to the public, especially the banks’ shareholders and depositors, into the unethical financial reporting intention of actual participants in the financial reporting process, who are being entrusted to handle the reporting affairs of banking institutions.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the factors influencing accounting practitioners’ intention to financial reporting fraud in a Malaysian banking setting. As it examines the actual participants in the financial reporting process, the results contribute towards a better understanding on unethical financial reporting intention within banking institutions as highly regulated industry. Additionally, it provides evidence for the suitability of the PLS-SEM in statistical analysis.
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Tara J. Shawver, Lynn H. Clements and John T. Sennetti
Moral intensity is the degree of feeling we have about the consequences of moral choices, similar, for example, to those perceived for crimes, from petty larceny to murder. Moral…
Abstract
Moral intensity is the degree of feeling we have about the consequences of moral choices, similar, for example, to those perceived for crimes, from petty larceny to murder. Moral intensity is thought to increase moral sensitivity and judgment. Because the accounting professions require members to respond to accounting fraud with more sensitivity and intensity, we examine this response in 220 professional accountants (mostly Certified Public Accountants) under a controlled experiment using two different cases. We examine the first three parts of the Rest (1986) model including ethical evaluation, judgment, and intention to act. We measure moral intensity in the accountant’s perception of overall harm and societal pressure. As in prior research, we find that the degree of moral intensity may be contextual. We find that the ethical evaluations may become affected by perceived overall harm, and whistleblowing intentions by perceived societal pressure. However, in both cases, the professional’s judgments are most affected by moral intensity. Consistent with prior research, whistleblowing intentions may involve many other mitigating variables, such as audit reporting or non-audit reporting limited by codes of conduct. These findings relate to the increasing attention paid by the SEC to finding accounting fraud.
This manuscript makes three important contributions to the existing literature. First, there are few studies in this area and Jones (1991) identifies that moral intensity is issue contingent; therefore, replication studies using different scenarios are needed. Second, Bailey, Scott, and Thoma (2010) have suggested that accounting ethics research has focused too narrowly on Component II of Rest’s Four-Component Model. None of the previous studies looked at all three steps in Rest’s Model; therefore, our manuscript provides an important contribution over the other previous studies. Third, our sample uses professionals and not students as surrogates for professionals.
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Andrea M. Scheetz and Aaron B. Wilson
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether intention to report fraud varies by organization type or fraud type. Employees who self-select into not-for-profits may be…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether intention to report fraud varies by organization type or fraud type. Employees who self-select into not-for-profits may be inherently different from employees at other organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a 2 × 2 experiment in which (n=107) individuals with a bookkeeping or accounting background respond to a fraud scenario. Analysis of covariance models are used for data analysis.
Findings
The authors find evidence that not-for-profit employees are more likely to report fraud and that reporting intention does not differ significantly by fraud type.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of this study include the simulation of a fraud through a hypothetical incident and the use of online participants.
Practical implications
This study expands the commitment literature by examining the role that commitment plays in the judgment and decision-making process of a whistleblower. Findings suggest affective commitment, which is an employee’s emotional attachment to the organization, and mediate the path between organization type and reporting intention. Affective commitment significantly predicts whistleblowing in not-for-profit organizations but not in for-profit organizations.
Originality/value
This research provides insight into how organization type influences whistleblowing intentions through constructs such as organizational commitment and public service motivation.
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