I'm trying to develop a research topic that evaluates the influence organizational culture has on accounting ethics in fraudulent and non-fraudulent banking institutions. I was told by my department chair, organizational culture can not be measured. So, the topic need to be modified. Any suggestions?
I think this can be matched with the topic "Responsibility Accounting". This is in the scope of development, which you could use it for your research topic.
Organizational culture could be measured using some scales:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/105960118801300302
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360923/
Among many other articles showing scales to measure it. Your department chair does not seem to be really informed.
Maybe you should begin by reading the literature on ethics in the field of accounting to do a systematic review of the literature. Then you will be able to point out some gaps in this literature. Thus, you will be able to choose the best gap to fill in. This will be your research topic. About topic choice, just read the editorial by AMJ editors on this:
http://amj.aom.org/content/54/3/432.extract
Hope this helps!
Adrien.
I am being cynical here -- I have read several newspaper reports of accounting firms being taken to court for discrepancies. I wonder if ethics ever played a role in their financial reports produced by these firms who were taken to court.
I think the following paper could help you in this regard:
Linking culture and ethics: A comparison of accountants' ethical belief systems in the individualism/collectivism and power distance contexts
A Smith, EC Hume - Journal of Business Ethics, 2005 - Springer
The ethical decisions of auditing and accounting are affected by organizational culture and ethical culture. Considering that the ethical ideology of people is affected by their religion and culture, therefore it can play an important role in configuration of ethical judgment of everyone. In fact, ethical values, attitude and behavioral evolution are affected by culture. The research carried out on development of ethics in accounting professions implies that there are “systematic features in this profession that control individuals’ ethics and prevent the remaining of people in higher levels of ethical growth”. I recommend that you identify these systemic features.
Herron, T. L. and D. L. Gilbertson: 2004, ‘Ethical Principles vs. Ethical Rules: The Moderating Effect of Moral Development on Audit Independence Judgments’, Business Ethics Quarterly 14(3), 499–523.
Keller (2007). Do gender, educational level, religiosity and work experience affect the ethical decision making of U.S. accountants? Critical Perspectives on Accounting 18: 299-314.
Douglas, P. C., Davidson, R. A., & Schwartz, B. N. (2001). The effect of organizational culture and ethical orientation on
Sweeney, B., Arnold, D., & Pierce, B. (2010). The impact of perceived ethical culture of the firm and demographic variables on auditors’ ethical evaluation and intention to act decisions. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(4), 531–551.
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