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Factors Influencing Whistleblowing Intention Among Accountants In Malaysia
... Thus, these results provide input that there are psychological factors, namely emotional conditions, that need to be considered in the development of ethics education for accounting students. It is essential to build and develop ethical attitudes before students enter the accounting profession, especially in relation to learning about fraud cases and how whistleblowing actions can be carried out (Zainol et al., 2018). ...
This research aims to test students' understanding of fraud cases using the persuasion elaboration model, namely the influence of argument framing, source credibility, and emotional condition on the decision to reveal fraud. This research method uses a 2x2x2 online laboratory experiment between subjects with 127 accounting students from Universitas Hayam Wuruk Perbanas. The results showed that the argument framing (positive vs. negative) did not make a significant difference. In contrast, source credibility (high vs. low) and emotional condition (good vs. bad) made a significant difference in accounting students' decisions to reveal fraud. This research contributes to behavioral accounting theory developed with communication science in predicting the behavior of prospective accountants. ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pemahaman mahasiswa atas kasus kecurangan menggunakan model elaborasi persuasi, yaitu pengaruh pembingkaian argumen, kredibilitas sumber, dan kondisi emosi terhadap keputusan mengungkapkan kecurangan. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan eksperimen laboratorium online antar subjek 2x2x2 dengan partisipan sebanyak 127 mahasiswa akuntansi Universitas Hayam Wuruk Perbanas. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembingkaian argumen (positif vs negatif) tidak memberikan perbedaan yang signifikan, sedangkan kredibilitas sumber (tinggi vs. rendah), dan kondisi emosi (baik vs. buruk) memberikan perbedaan yang signifikan dalam keputusan mahasiswa akuntansi mengungkapkan kecurangan. Penelitian ini berkontribusi pada teori akuntansi keperilakuan yang dikembangkan dengan ilmu komunikasi dalam memprediksi perilaku calon akuntan.
Why do some observers of organizational wrongdoing choose to report it? This question has received little research attention despite its prominence in the popular media. This paper attempts to show that whistle-blowing is a form of prosocial behavior. Empirical studies in the social-psychological literature of prosocial behavior provide clues about personality and situational variables predictive of whistle-blowing. Latané's and Darley's (1968, 1970) bystander intervention framework is modified for whistle-blowing decisions. Propositions for future research are offered.
This article reports the findings from a study that investigates predictors of police willingness to blow the whistle and police frequency of blowing the whistle on seven forms of misconduct. It specifically investigates the capacity of nine policy and structural variables to predict whistle-blowing. The results indicate that two variables, a policy mandating the reporting of misconduct and supervisory status, surface as the most consistent predictors of whistle-blowing. Contrary to popular belief, the results also show that police are slightly less inclined than civilian public employees to subscribe to a code of silence.
Whistleblowing is a type of ethical decision-making behaviour, and it has been one ofthe positive outcome behaviours investigated in the ethical decision-making literature.The issue has garnered widespread attention since the collapse of global multinationalcompanies which lead to the passage of the renowned Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.Since then a vast amount of research has been conducted in the whistleblowing stream,though it is still predominantly taking place largely in western countries. Such studiesas have been undertaken in Asian countries neglect to consider how Malaysianrespondents might play their roles in undertaking this type of ethical decision-makingbehaviour.
There have been arguments in the whistleblowing literature on whether the internalreporting of corporate wrongdoings should be considered as an internal whistleblowingact, and whether internal auditors should also be regarded as whistleblowers. Despitethe fact that internal auditors hold a unique position in their organisations to prevent,deter and detect corporate wrongdoings, the role of this profession in investigatingethical decision-making behaviour has been much neglected. Hence, there is littleresearch concerning internal auditors’ internal whistleblowing intentions in theliterature. The purpose of this study is to investigate internal auditors’ internalwhistleblowing intentions on corporate wrongdoings in Malaysia.
Theoretically, the study explored individual’s prosocial behaviour theory andorganisational ethical climate theory to provide the general framework for predictinginternal auditors’ internal whistleblowing intentions. The model developed for thisstudy included four levels of factors that can influence an internal auditor’s internalwhistleblowing intentions: organisational, individual, situational and demographicfactors. The organisational factors are ethical climate, size of organisation and job level.The individual factors are ethical judgment, locus of control, and organisationalcommitment. The situational factors include seriousness of wrongdoing and status ofwrongdoer. The individual demographics include gender, age and tenure. This researchis the first to examine the effect of these four factors in the internal auditing professionin Malaysia.
In this paper, I report on the results of an empirical examination of cultural influences on professional judgments of Australian, Indian, and Chinese‐Malaysian accountants in relation to whistle‐blowing as an internal control mechanism. Australia serves as a proxy for the Anglo‐American cluster of countries comprising the U.S., U.K., and Canada, while India and Malaysia represent the Asian‐Indian and Chinese clusters, respectively. I draw on cultural characteristics and differences among these societies to formulate hypotheses that Australian professional accountants are both more likely and more accepting of engaging in whistle‐blowing as an internal control mechanism than Chinese‐Malaysian and Indian professional accountants. Data were gathered through a survey questionnaire administered to samples of senior professional accountants from Big 6 (at the time of data collection) firms in Australia, India, and Malaysia. The questionnaire comprised two whistle‐blowing scenarios, and used both single‐attribu...
Public accounting firms rely on effective reporting of unethical behavior (whistleblowing) as a form of corporate governance. This study presents results from a survey of 122 in-charge level auditors, who indicated their likelihood of internal whistleblowing under three forms of identity disclosure for three independent scenarios. Reporting likelihood was significantly lower under a disclosed identity format, while there was no significant difference in likelihood between anonymous and protected identity formats. Contrasts reveal a significantly higher likelihood of reporting audit standards violations than a professional code violation. Likelihood was also positively related to measures of trust that the firm would investigate and act on the reported incident. Personal characteristics (i.e., locus of control and ethical style) were significant antecedents to whistleblowing intentions. Findings should aid public accounting firms and organizational governance researchers in their understanding of the determinants of auditors' whistleblowing propensity.
A whistleblowing survey was completed by a sample of upper-level, middle-level, and first-level managers. A variety of individual, organizational, communication climate, and moral perception variables related to whistleblowing were examined across managerial levels using an ANOVA analysis. Results indicate significant differences with respect to most variables examined. Recommendations are made for practitioners and future research.
This experiment examined determinants of “whistle blowing,” the disclosure of organizational wrongdoing. Previous research, limited largely to analyses of cross-sectional, self-reported data, has not established cause-effect relations, and dispositional variables generally have not been examined. In this study, 295 students witnessed apparent wrongdoing by a research assistant and were given an opportunity to report it to a university authority. Results indicated that men were more likely than women to report the wrongdoing. Whistle blowing also was a function of lower, rather than higher, levels of moral judgment development. More whistle blowing occurred when there were more, rather than fewer, observers of wrongdoing. Implications for research and practice are descried.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use survey data to examine the impact of culture on current and future accounting and auditing professionals' intent to be whistle‐blowers in a Chinese cultural society.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines intent to whistle‐blow and factors influencing whistle‐blowing, using survey data collected by the authors.
Findings
It was found that a majority of respondents believe that a general sense of morality was the most important factor to encourage whistle‐blowing, with abiding by the policy of their organization as the second; it was also found that guanxi , fear of retaliation, and fear of media coverage may discourage whistle‐blowing in a Chinese society.
Research limitations/implications
The data are all from Confucian societies, which perhaps limits its usefulness elsewhere.
Practical implications
The paper will help auditors, accountants, and policy makers to design policies that encourage whistle‐blowing.
Originality/value
The paper uses original survey data collected by the authors, and the analysis will enable policy makers and professional accountants to anticipate and predict whistle‐blowing, a key factor in improving financial management and reporting, and possibly undermining auditor independence, audit quality, and the quality of financial reporting.
Who blows the whistle — a loner or a well-liked team player? Which of them is more likely to lead a successful opposition to perceived organizational wrongdoing? The potential influence of co-worker pressures to conform on whistle-blowing activity or the likely effects of whistle-blowing on the group have not been addressed. This paper presents a preliminary model of whistle-blowing as an act of nonconformity. One implication is that the success of an opposition will depend on the characteristics of the whistle-blower and how the complaint is pursued. Specific hypotheses and general suggestions for future research and practice are offered.