Hughes, Peter (2009) Decision-making processes in the context of ethical dilemmas: a study of accountants in training. In: Newcastle Business School’s Annual Doctoral Conference, 18-19 June 2009, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK.
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Highly publicised entity-based controversies such as Enron and Northern Rock, raise questions about the ethical attitudes of accountants. This research is rooted in the
notion that business schools are struggling with how to teach ethics, and in the wide expectation that in becoming accountants individuals adhere to strict codes of professional behaviour. How trainee accountants (TA) construct decision-making processes whilst seeking to maintain such a professional stance is the research focus.
This focus constitutes a gap in the literature and is in contrast to mainstream research which mainly concerns the prominence of various factors influencing accountants‘ decision-making activities.
This presentation is a general review of this research, which is in the second year of its three year programme. Two main developments since the NBS Doctoral Conference 2008 are the abandonment of a longitudinal time horizon and the adoption and adaptation of structuration theory (ST) via a social constructivist interpretation. The research purpose remains an examination of the decision-making processes of TAs when faced with business-related ethical dilemmas.
ST would suggest that for a complete understanding of TAs‘ decision-making processes, two standpoints should be considered: 1) the social structures that impact on
decision-making at any given time, and 2) the manner by which TAs develop and are constrained and enabled by those social structures in a dynamic, longitudinal manner. By focussing on the former, this research thereby adopts an adapted form of ST.
Ethically charged dilemmas were presented to TAs in semi-structured interviews as a series of vignettes. Analysis is at an early stage, but an initial finding is that TAs adopt a principles-based approach to decision-making in contrast to the rules-based approach expected as a result of the mainstream, mainly positivistic, research.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | N400 Accounting N900 Others in Business and Administrative studies |
| Department: | Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | Helen Pattison |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Sep 2012 08:26 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Nov 2019 09:05 |
| URI: | http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8758 |
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