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Journal of Business Ethics

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23-07-2014

Are There Gender Differences When Professional Accountants Evaluate Moral Intensity for Earnings Management?

Authors: Tara J. Shawver, Lynn H. Clements

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 3/2015

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Abstract

Gender differences in ethical evaluations may vary across types of behaviors. This controlled experiment explores gender differences in ethical evaluations, moral judgment, moral intentions, and moral intensity evaluations by surveying a group of professional accountants to elicit their views on a common earnings management technique. We find that there are no significant differences between male and female professional accountants when they make an ethical evaluation involving earnings management by shipping product early to meet a quarterly bonus. Both male and female professional accountants made a similar moral judgment that this action should not be completed and indicated similar moral intentions to report this type of behavior. Further, we find that male and female professional accountants made similar moral intensity evaluations when product is shipped early to meet a quarterly bonus.

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Title: Are There Gender Differences When Professional Accountants Evaluate Moral Intensity for Earnings Management?
Authors: Tara J. Shawver
Lynn H. Clements
Publication date: 23-07-2014
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 3/2015
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2293-6

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