Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this study is to examine the effects of public interest commitment, professional commitment, organisational commitment, and organisational ethical culture on organisational professional conflict (OPC). The study also tests for the differences in the perception of OPC among professionals in different work settings: (i) professional accountants in business practice, (ii) tax and accounting advisors, and (iii) auditors.

Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a questionnaire distributed among 779 Spanish professional accountants.

Findings – The findings show a negative relationship between both individuals’ organisational commitment and OPC and between a strong organisational ethical culture and OPC. Professional accountants working in different settings exhibit differences in their perception of OPC; tax/accounting advisors perceive OPC to a higher extent.

Originality/value – This is the first study that analyses the effect of organisational ethical culture, together with professional and organisational commitment, on the perception of pressures arising from OPC among professional accountants in different work settings. Identifying antecedents of the conflicts that professional accountants may face has implications for organisations’ human resource management and for the quality of the services provided. This study emphasizes the need for future studies to examine the differences in the work context of the different professional accountants.

Full text

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Rev. Bras. Gest. Neg., São Paulo, v.22, n.3, p.686-704, Jul/Sep 2020.
REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE GESTÃO DE NEGÓCIOS ISSN 1806-4892
e-ISSN 1983-0807
© FECAP
RBGN
Revista Brasileira de Gestão
de Negócios
DOI:10.7819/rbgn.v22i3.4068
686
Recebimento:
08/20/2019
Aprovação:
01/21/2020
Editor responsável:
Prof. Dr. Leire San-Jose
Avaliado pelo sistema:
Double Blind Review
Antecedents of organisational professional
conflict faced by professional accountants in
different work settings
Itsaso Barrainkua¹
Marcela Espinosa-Pike¹
¹University of the Basque Country, Department
of Financial Economics, Bilbao, Spain
Abstract
Purpose – e aim of this study is to examine the eects of public
interest commitment, professional commitment, organisational
commitment, and organisational ethical culture on organisational
professional conict (OPC). e study also tests for the dierences in
the perception of OPC among professionals in dierent work settings:
(i) professional accountants in business practice, (ii) tax and accounting
advisors, and (iii) auditors.
Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a
questionnaire distributed among 779 Spanish professional accountants.
Findings – e ndings show a negative relationship between both
individuals’ organisational commitment and OPC and between a
strong organisational ethical culture and OPC. Professional accountants
working in dierent settings exhibit dierences in their perception of
OPC; tax/accounting advisors perceive OPC to a higher extent.
Originality/value – is is the rst study that analyses the eect
of organisational ethical culture, together with professional and
organisational commitment, on the perception of pressures arising
from OPC among professional accountants in dierent work settings.
Identifying antecedents of the conicts that professional accountants
may face has implications for organisations’ human resource
management and for the quality of the services provided. is study
emphasizes the need for future studies to examine the dierences in
the work context of the dierent professional accountants.
Keywords – organisational professional conflict, professional
accountants, professional commitment, organisational commitment,
organisational ethical culture.

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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
1 Introduction
In the last three decades, many
academics have expressed concern about the
commercialisation of the accounting profession
(Gendron, Suddaby, & Lam, 2006; Sikka, 2004;
Wyatt, 2004). In this regard, the business culture
that has permeated accounting practice, both at
the rm and professional level, is presumed to
be inconsistent with professional accountants’
traditional values. Currently, professional
accountants are employed in bureaucratic and
commercially oriented workplaces, which expose
them to organisational and managerial authority
(Muzio & Kirkpatrick, 2011). e context in
which the professional practice is carried out may
lead accountants to subordinate the values of their
profession to meet the goals of the organisation.
This empirical research draws on
perspectives of social identity theory and sociology
of the professions to analyse the potential
conflict between competing professional and
organisational demands.
Social identity theory acknowledges that
individuals have both a personal and a social
identity (Ashforth & Mael 1989; Brouard,
Bujaki, Durocher, & Neilson, 2017) and provides
an understanding of the role of the conflict
that an individual may experience. Given that
professionals belong to a number of dierent
groups (organisation, profession, etc.), their social
identity consists of a mix of dierent identities
that may impose inconsistent demands upon the
professional. Furthermore, these demands can
come into conict with the professional’s personal
identity (Ashforth & Mael, 1989).
Based on the perspective of sociology of
the professions, this study focuses on accountants’
professional attitudes, such as professional
commitment and public interest commitment,
which reect the perception of their professional
role and the sources of their identity. Historically,
professionalism emphasizes the notion of the social
function, in which the professional is described
as a guardian of the public interest (Freidson,
2001; Suddaby, Gendron, & Lam, 2009).
However, the discussion around professionalism
has pointed to the potential problems that
arise when accountants work in bureaucratic
contexts that emphasize prot at the expense of
their professional values (Suddaby et al., 2009;
Wyatt, 2004).
Previous studies have jointly investigated
the organisational and professional commitment
of accounting professionals as well as the
potential conict that may arise between the
two commitments, referred to as organisational
professional conict (OPC) (Aranya & Ferris,
1984; Shafer, 2009). erefore, the concept of
OPC describes the potential collision between
professional values and organisational goals and
values (Aranya & Ferris, 1984; Aranya, Pollock,
& Amernic, 1981; Shafer, 2009; Shafer, Poon, &
Tjosvold, 2013).
One of the main reasons for the interest in
studying OPC lies in the negative outcomes of this
phenomenon. Most studies have found that OPC
is associated with dysfunctional consequences,
such as a reduction in job satisfaction, an increase
in professional as well as organisational turnover
intentions (Bamber & Iyer, 2002; Hall, Smith,
& Langfield-Smith, 2005; Shafer, Lowe, &
Fogarty, 2002), and damage to the quality of job
performance (McManus & Subramaniam, 2014).
OPC reects the pressure to compromise
professional standards when organisational values
or expectations are in conict with professional
values (Shafer, 2002; Shafer, 2009). In the
present study, we address OPC by examining the
organisational pressures faced by accountants to
breach professional standards.
e aim of this study is to examine the
eects of public interest commitment, professional
commitment, organisational commitment, and
organisational ethical culture on the perception of
OPC. In the study, we also test for the dierences
in the perception of OPC between professionals
in dierent accounting areas.
Studying the pressure that accountants
may face is of utmost importance to help

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Itsaso Barrainkua / Marcela Espinosa-Pike
reduce dysfunctional outcomes in accounting
practice. However, there are relatively few recent
empirical studies that examine the professional
and organisational commitment of accountants
(Shafer, 2009) and the pressures that may arise
from a conict between these two commitments.
erefore, this study makes several contributions
to the international accounting literature.
The literature in the area has focused
mainly on two antecedents of OPC: organisational
and professional commitment. However, some
researchers (Shafer, 2009; Shafer et al., 2013)
call for new empirical studies that place more
emphasis on the organisational characteristics of
the rms where accountants conduct their work,
such as the ethical climate of the organisation.
e studies conducted by Shafer (2009) and
Shafer et al. (2013) appear to be the rst attempts
in the accounting literature to investigate the
association between organisational ethical climate
and organisational-professional conict. However,
these studies were limited to professionals in
public accounting rms in Asian contexts. To
address this shortcoming of the existing literature
and extend previous research (Shafer, 2009; Shafer
et al., 2013), the present study analyses the eect
of professional and organisational commitment,
together with the organisational culture of the
rm, on the perception of pressures arising from
OPC in the case of professional accountants in
dierent work settings.
Moreover, in the scarce literature that
exists in this area, hardly any studies have
investigated OPC in the case of other accounting
professionals besides auditors (Shafer, 2009). is
study is one of the rst to compare the OPC
among professional accountants in different
work settings. A few studies (Aranya & Ferris,
1984; Suddaby et al., 2009) have compared the
professional values of accountants employed
in organisations (professional accountants in
business), where these accountants work in rms
providing professional services, such as auditing,
or tax and accounting consulting (professional
accountants in practice). While the collective of
professional accountants in practice has usually
been studied as a single and homogeneous group,
this study dierentiates between auditors and
accounting and tax advisors. This division is
crucial for the case of Spain and most European
countries, where the current structure of the
accounting profession is noticeably dierent to
the commonly studied Anglo-American contexts
(Hall et al., 2005; Shafer, 2009). In common
law countries or Anglo-American contexts, all
accountants are included in the ocial professional
title of Chartered Accountant or Certied Public
Accountant, which includes auditors as well.
However, in countries where the legal system is
based on Roman law, such as in many European
countries, there is a specific official title for
auditors. ese professionals are dierentiated
from accounting experts who provide tax and
accounting advisory services (Amat & Bové,
2015) and the responsibilities associated with
each professional title are dierent. erefore,
understanding the pressures accountants in
dierent work settings face in dierent national
contexts to the ones commonly studied contributes
to the international behavioural accounting
literature and is fundamental for establishing
mechanisms to strengthen the quality of all the
services accountants provide.
is study is based on a questionnaire
distributed in 2015 among 779 Spanish
professional accountants in dierent work areas:
(i) professional accountants in business practice
(employees in the financial department of a
company), (ii) professional accountants working
as tax and accounting consultants and (iii)
auditors.
e results of the study indicate a negative
relationship between individuals’ organisational
commitment and their perception of OPC.
Moreover, the results reveal a negative relationship
between a strong organisational ethical culture
and the OPC perceived. is study shows the
existence of differences among the pressures
perceived by accountants in different work
settings. It reveals that professional accountants

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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
in businesses working as tax and accounting
consultants perceive higher OPC than auditors
and accountants employed in an organisation.
is study has several practical implications
for organisations employing accountants as well
as for the profession as a whole. Identifying
antecedents of the conicts that accountants
may face has important implications for human
resource management within organisations
providing accounting services, such as audit
rms, as well as tax and accounting consulting
companies. Personnel shortages and high
employee turnover have been highlighted as
signicant threats to the future of audit rms
and the accounting profession. Given that the
literature has found that the pressures stemming
from OPC are related to accountant retention
(Hall et al., 2005; Shafer, 2002), studies analysing
the causes of this phenomenon are of primary
interest.
e remainder of this paper is organised
as follows. e next section reviews the previous
literature and develops our research hypotheses.
e third section addresses our research method,
and the fourth section reports our results. Finally,
in the fth section, we present our study’s primary
conclusions, as well as the limitations and future
lines of research.
2 Literature Review and Hypotheses
Development
2.1 Public interest commitment
Several studies (Bamber & Iyer, 2002;
Davenport & Dellaportas, 2009; Suddaby et
al., 2009) have claimed that little attention has
been paid to how much accountants accept
and acknowledge core professional values and
commitments. Most studies that have addressed
accountants’ professionalism have been limited to
analysing accountants’ professional commitment,
without specifically addressing their social
obligation. Public interest commitment involves
accountants’ willingness to protect the interests of
third parties who rely on the opinions and advice
delivered by accounting professionals (Davenport
& Dellaportas, 2009; Parker, 1987).
e functionalist view of professionalism
in the literature in the field of sociology of
professions indicates that professionals are
distinguished from other workers by their
commitment to serving the public interest rather
than pursuing only their own economic interests
(Freidson, 1989; Larson, 1977; Parsons, 1939).
We propose that accountants’ public
interest commitment will inuence the way in
which they identify and respond to organisational
pressures. If accountants believe their role is
to serve the public interest and meet society’s
expectations, they could be expected to be
more successful in fullling their responsibility
of ensuring the fair presentation of financial
statements. erefore, these professionals may
be more resistant to organisational pressures
to breach professional standards. In contrast,
if accountants see their principal role as being
to serve their rms’ and clients’ interests rather
than protecting the interests of other users of
nancial information, this could inuence what
they believe are acceptable actions (Cooper
& Robson, 2006; Davenport & Dellaportas,
2009), and, therefore, they may not perceive
organisational pressures as being in conict with
their professional values.
Therefore, we propose the following
hypothesis:
H1: ere is a positive relationship between
accountants’ public interest commitment and
perceived OPC.
2.2 Professional commitment
Professional commitment represents the
attachment or loyalty that individuals form with
respect to their profession (Gendron, Suddaby,
& Qu, 2009; Hall et al., 2015). e professional
commitment construct is developed based on that
of organisational commitment (Mowday, Steers,
& Porter, 1979) and reects a strong belief in and
acceptance of the profession’s goals and values, a

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willingness to exert considerable eort on behalf
of the profession, and a strong desire to maintain
membership of the profession (Aranya & Ferris,
1984; Lord & DeZoort, 2001; Porter, Steers,
Mowday, & Boulian, 1974; Suddaby et al., 2009).
Based on arguments from social identity
theory, accountants who identify with their
profession tend to internalize the values and
norms of the profession, and therefore, their
behaviour is guided by these values (Svanberg &
Ohman, 2015).
In this regard, high professional
commitment has been linked to positive outcomes,
such as improved job satisfaction, less likelihood
of leaving the profession, and improved job
performance (Hall et al., 2005).
Prior studies that have analysed the
relationship between professional commitment
and OPC have presented mixed results. Aranya
and Ferris (1984) and Harrell, Chewning and
Taylor (1986) found that accountants who are
highly committed to both their profession and
organisation perceived lower OPC. McGregor,
Killough and Brown (1989) reported a positive
relationship between OPC and professional
commitment for management accountants.
However, Meixner and Bline (1989) did not
find any relationship between professional
commitment and OPC. In a more recent study,
Shafer et al. (2002) found that management
accountants’ dedication to the profession and
demands for autonomy were positively related
to OPC.
In line with the previous hypothesis, we
propose that accountants who are more committed
to their profession and have thus internalised its
goals and values and feel a strong aliation should
be more wary of the organisational pressures that
place them in conict with these values.
H2: ere is a positive relationship between
accountants’ professional commitment and
perceived OPC.
2.3 Organisational commitment
According to Mowday et al. (1979),
organisational commitment reects ‘(1) a strong
belief in and acceptance of the organisation’s
goals and values, (2) a willingness to exert
considerable eort on behalf of the organisation,
and (3) a strong desire to maintain membership
in the organisation’. Organisational commitment
increases as a result of the socialisation process
occurring within the employing organisation
(Fogarty, 1992).
Early accounting studies that addressed
the OPC phenomenon assumed that professional
and organisational commitment were inherently
incompatible (Hall, 1967; Shafer et al., 2013).
However, more recent studies reveal that there is a
positive relationship between these two constructs
(Hall et al., 2005; Shafer et al., 2013). erefore,
accounting professionals experience no intrinsic
conict between maintaining the commitment
to their profession and the commitment to the
business organisation where they are employed.
Organisational commitment reects an
individual’s identication with their organisation
(Aranya & Ferris, 1984) and, accordingly,
accountants who strongly identify with their
organisation are expected to adopt the perspective
of the organisation (Hiller, Mahlendorf, &
Weber, 2014). erefore, accountants with high
organisational commitment may ignore the
conict between professional and organisational
goals (Aranya & Ferris, 1984). Moreover,
professionals tend to show higher commitment
to an organisation whose goals match their
professional values (Garcia-Falières & Herrbach,
2015). erefore, a low perception of pressures
and a high organisational commitment would be
related. In this regard, several studies (Bamber
& Iyer, 2002; Shafer et al., 2002) have found
a significant negative relationship between
organisational identication or commitment and
the perception of OPC. erefore, we propose the
following hypothesis:

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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
H3: ere is a negative relationship between
accountants’ organisational commitment
and perceived OPC.
2.4 Organisational ethical culture
Treviño (1990) defines ethical culture
as ‘a complex interplay of formal and informal
systems that can support either ethical or
unethical organisational behaviour’. In firms
whose ethical cultures are strong, ethical norms
support ethical conduct, organisational leaders
encourage ethical behaviour, and this behaviour is
rewarded whereas unethical behaviour is punished
(Treviño, Buttereld, & McCabe, 1998). Studies
in the behavioural accounting literature have
adopted both organisational ethical climate and
organisational ethical culture to measure the
organisational policies or practices that inuence
employees’ ethical decisions. In this study, we
focus on the broader construct of organisational
ethical culture.
Analysing the inuence of organisational
ethical culture has practical implications for
the profession, as an organisation’s ethical
culture can be inuenced by the steps taken
by the organisation itself (Shafer & Simmons,
2011; Shafer et al., 2013; Treviño et al., 1998).
Firms’ managers have more control over their
organisational environment than over employees’
values (Treviño et al., 1998). Accordingly, the
quality of accountants’ reporting decisions can be
improved if audit rms align their organisational
values with those of the broader accounting
profession (Shafer, 2015).
Ethical culture establishes what is
considered acceptable behaviour within an
organisation (Treviño et al., 1998). erefore,
the presence of a strong ethical environment
in the rm induces accountants to act ethically
and reduces the tendency to act in self-interest
and breach professional standards (Barrainkua
& Espinosa-Pike, 2018; Douglas, Davidson, &
Schwartz, 2001; Svanberg & Ohman, 2016).
Several international studies (Bamber & Iyer,
2009; Shafer, 2009; Shafer et al., 2013) have
revealed that accountants employed in public
accounting rms whose ethical climates do not
support professional values experience conicts
between their organisational and professional
goals. Similarly, Shafer and Wang (2010) found
that accountants employed in organisations that
have a strong ethical culture, which provides
support for the ethical norms and values of the
accounting profession, perceive lower levels of
OPC. We suggest that if a rm has a strong
ethical culture, the ethical values that the top
management promotes via formal and informal
communications will encourage compliance with
professional standards. erefore, accountants who
perceive an ethical culture in their organisation
will feel less pressure to compromise professional
standards.
H4: ere is a negative relationship between
perceived organisational ethical culture and
perceived OPC.
2.5 e professional accountant’s work
area
The literature on pressures perceived
by accounting professionals (Espinosa-Pike &
Barrainkua, 2016; Espinosa-Pike & Barrainkua,
2017; Hateld, Jackson, & Vandervelde, 2011; Lord
& DeZoort, 2001) reveals that most professionals
are pressured, both by their superiors and by their
clients, to act in a way that compromises their
ethical values and professional standards.
Although the accounting literature has
mainly focused on the case of auditors (Shafer et
al., 2013), all professional accountants’ primary
role is to serve the public interest (International
Federation of Accountants - IFAC, 2016). Given
the diversity of professionals acting as professional
accountants, it seems reasonable that the intensity
and nature of the pressures that arise from OPC
will vary among dierent groups. ere are several
reasons to speculate that the perceived OPC will
be dierent between accountants in dierent
work settings.

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Accountants working in industry have
a dierent sense of responsibilities than those
working in accounting rms (Cooper & Robson,
2006). Although all professional accountants’
primary obligation is to the public, their particular
relationship with their employing firm gives
them a dierent set of responsibilities (Duska,
Duska, & Kury, 2018). Auditors, as well as
accounting and tax advisors, are employees of
accounting service rms and the clients to whom
they provide their services are other companies.
However, management accountants are employees
of the company for whom they prepare nancial
statements. Consequently, they are also expected
to be loyal to their employing organisation, and
this situation may result in a conict of interests.
Auditors are employed in audit rms,
which are owned and managed by other auditors;
therefore, the control of the organisation remains
among professionals. Auditing law in Spain,
like in many other countries, specically states
that audit rms must belong mostly to licensed
auditors. We can presume that these organisations
provide more autonomy and that their goals
are more aligned with those of the profession
compared to management accountants employed
in business organisations (Shafer, 2002).
Moreover, there is greater homogeneity
among the personnel of audit rms, and these
personnel have a greater connection to the
accounting profession, in terms of training
background, work area, and functions, compared
to professional accountants in business or
those employed as tax and accounting advisors
(Gendron et al., 2006).
Aranya and Ferris (1984) found that
government and industry accountants experienced
higher levels of OPC than auditors. e same
authors also reported that auditors tended to
show higher professional as well as organisational
commitment, which suggested greater value
congruence in public accounting rms. However,
Shafer et al. (2013) compared the perception
of OPC among auditors, taxation specialists,
consultants, and employees of a rm’s accounting
services and did not nd signicant dierences
between these dierent working specialisations.
e mixed results reported in both studies could
be explained by the change of the work context
in public accounting rms. e diversication
of services may have weakened the professional
goal orientation in these rms and, therefore, the
level of OPC among public accountants may have
increased (Gendron et al., 2006).
A recent study (Espinosa-Pike &
Barrainkua, 2019) found that auditors perceived
less pressure to breach professional standards
compared to accounting and tax consultants
as well as accountants working in the nancial
department of their organisation.
In the present study, we aim to investigate
the different perceptions of pressures due to
conicting professional and organisational goals
between accountants’ work settings. We propose
the following hypothesis:
H5: The perceived OPC of auditors is
statistically lower than that of accountants in
other work settings (employees in a company’s
financial department and professional
accountants working as tax and accounting
advisors).
3 Methodology
3.1 Sample and data collection
To test the hypotheses stated above, we
employed a survey as the research instrument. e
survey was distributed to professional accountants
who were members of the Spanish professional
organisation Consejo General de Economistas.
is institution coordinates and represents the
Colleges of Economists in Spain and its aims
are to organise the profession and defend the
professional interests of its members.
Before distributing the questionnaire,
a pilot test was conducted among various
groups of the population under study. First, the
questionnaire was sent to a partner of a public
accounting rm, who passed it on to a few fellow

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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
auditors. We then arranged an interview with this
contact partner, in order to gain feedback on the
questionnaire from the group of respondents. e
contact auditor indicated that, overall, neither he
nor his colleagues had any trouble understanding
the questions. e questionnaire was also reviewed
by accounting experts who were members of
the Consejo General de Economistas as well as
by university lecturers who taught accounting,
none of whom exhibited any comprehension
diculties. Only slight changes were made to the
initial questionnaire, most of which were attempts
to remove minor ambiguities.
The final survey was distributed in
February 2015 among the approximately 7,500
members of the Consejo General de Economistas.
The responses were collected through online
survey software. Taking into account that the
professionals were questioned about real-life
sensitive issues, as well as the strengths associated
with online survey studies, such as ensuring
anonymity and the possibility of reaching a large
population, we considered this method the most
feasible for the distribution of the questionnaire.
A total of 974 usable responses were
obtained, which represents a response rate of
13%. e economists who participated in the
study come from dierent professional settings,
such as auditing, accounting, and tax consulting
in dierent company departments (nancial,
commercial, human resources, etc.) and academia,
among others. In order to full the objectives
of the study, only the professionals related to
the financial area were selected, specifically
accounting professionals within the financial
department of a company, accounting and tax
advisors, and auditors. erefore, the nal sample
of this study comprises 778 participants.
3.2 Questionnaire and measurement of
variables
e rst part of the questionnaire contained
general questions about the characteristics of the
respondents. Following this, the questionnaire
included a series of closed-ended questions
concerning the variables under study:
OPC. is variable captures the perception
of the pressures felt by professional accountants
due to conicting professional and organisational
values. e participants of the study were asked
about eight dierent pressures they face to breach
professional standards. ese were selected based
on instruments previously used in the academic
literature on ethical behaviour in accounting and
auditing (Shafer & Simmons, 2011; Espinosa-
Pike & Barrainkua, 2016) and in the International
Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants
(IFAC, 2016). e respondents indicated the
frequency with which they had perceived eight
pressures (see Appendix), on a scale of 1 (never) to
7 (nearly always). A conrmatory factor analysis
(not tabulated) revealed that all pressures were
loaded in one factor.
Public Interest Commitment. is variable
assesses the degree to which the respondents
believed that serving the public interest is an
accountant’s primary role. This variable was
used before by Bobek, Hageman, and Radtke
(2015). e participants had to indicate how
much they agreed or disagreed with a statement
(see Appendix) on a Likert scale, ranging from
1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree).
Professional Commitment. is variable
was measured using the instrument developed
by Porter et al. (1974) for organisational
commitment, adapted to measure professional
commitment by Aranya et al. (1981). is scale
has been used in many studies in the eld (Lord
& DeZoort, 2001; Suddaby et al., 2009). e
participants had to indicate how much they agreed
or disagreed with three statements (see Appendix)
on a Likert scale, ranging from 1 (completely
disagree) to 7 (completely agree). is reduced
version of the scale of professional commitment
has been used in previous studies, such as the one
by McManus and Subramaniam (2014).
Organisational Commitment. is variable
is based on the instrument developed by Porter et
al. (1974), which has been used in many studies
in the accounting eld (Aranya & Ferris, 1984;

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Itsaso Barrainkua / Marcela Espinosa-Pike
Lord & DeZoort, 2001; Suddaby et al., 2009). e
participants had to indicate how much they agreed
or disagreed with three statements (see Appendix)
on a Likert scale, ranging from 1 (completely
disagree) to 7 (completely agree). is reduced
version of the scale has been used in previous
studies (McManus & Subramaniam, 2014).
Organisational Ethical Culture. An 11-item
scale was included in the questionnaire to measure
the perceived ethical culture of the respondents’
organisations. is scale was adapted from the
ethical environment instrument developed by
Treviño et al. (1998), which has been proven to
be reliable in accounting settings (Barrainkua
& Espinosa-Pike, 2015; Shafer & Wang, 2010;
Shafer & Simons, 2011). e ethical environment
dimension proposed by Treviño et al. (1998)
consisted of 14 items. For the purposes of the
present study, only eight items, OEC-1 through
to OEC-8, were included. As in the original
instrument, these eight items refer to the rewards/
punishments for ethical/unethical actions and
to top management role modelling. In addition,
two more items that could be relevant in the
accounting eld were included: ‘Top managers in
this organisation are concerned with informing
employees about the ethics code’ (OEC-9) and
‘Top managers in this organisation promote the
ethical training of employees’ (OEC-10). ese
items have been employed as proxies for an ethical
environment in previous studies (Barrainkua
& Espinosa-Pike, 2015; Martinov-Bennie &
Pugrath, 2009).
Principal component factor analysis was
used to test the dimensionality of the ethical
culture scale. e nal factor solution is shown
in Table 1. e results reveal two factors with
eigenvalues greater than one. All items were
loaded above 0.5 for each factor, and there
were no cross-loadings over 0.3. These two
factors explained 75% of the variance, and the
rst factor included seven items that reect the
general ethical environment of the organisation.
erefore, in accordance with previous authors
(Treviño et al., 1998), we refer to this factor as
ethical environment, which explains 62% of the
variance and has an internal reliability of 0.95.
ree items were loaded in factor 2. ese were
the reverse-scored statements OEC6, OEC 7 and
OEC8, the items on the promotion of unethical
behaviour. This factor explains 13% of the
variance and has an internal reliability of 0.78.
Table 1
Summary of factor loadings for organisational ethical culture scale
Factor loadings
1 2
e management in this organisation disciplines unethical behaviour when it occurs (OEC-1) 0.843 -0.021
People with integrity are rewarded in this organisation (OEC-2) 0.838 0.025
Top managers of this organisation regularly show that they care about ethics (OEC-3) 0.884 0.062
Ethical behaviour is the norm in this organisation (OEC-4) 0.867 0.102
e top management of this organisation guides decision making in an ethical direction (OEC-5) 0.851 0.088
Employees in this organisation perceive that people who violate the ethics code still get rewards (OEC-6
reverse scored) -0.162 0.910
e ethics code only serves to maintain the organisation’s public image (OEC-7 reverse scored) 0.147 0.751
Top managers in this organisation are models of unethical behaviour (OEC-8 reverse scored) 0.047 0.819
Top managers in this organisation are concerned with informing employees about the ethics code (OEC-9) 0.888 -0.093
Top managers in this organisation promote the ethical training of employees (OEC-10) 0.914 -0.115
Percentage of variance explained 62% 13%
Cronbach’s alpha 0.95 0.78

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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
3.3 Participant characteristics
A total of 778 responses were included
in this study. General characteristics of the
respondents are shown in Table 2.
The average age of the professional
accountants was 49. The majority of those
participating in this study were male (78%),
with female respondents representing less than a
quarter of the total sample.
The respondents were categorised by
their current occupation within the accounting
profession. Table 2 shows that 20% of the
respondents are employees in the financial
department of a company, 59% work as tax and
accounting consultants for other client companies
and, nally, 21% of the participants work as
auditors.
Table 2
Characteristics of the participants
Age (mean) 49
Gender % N
Female 22% 171
Male 78% 608
Occupation % N
Professional accountant in business practice - Employees in the nancial department of a company 20% 156
Professional accountant working as tax and accounting consultant 59% 459
Auditor 21% 164
Total sample 779
4 Results
4.1 Descriptive statistics and t-test results
First, Table 3 displays the descriptive
statistics and one sample t-test results for the
variables in the study. These were measured
by combining the responses to the statements
shown in the Appendix. e Cronbach’s alpha
for the multi-item variables is over 0.70 (Table
3). e scales, therefore, show sucient internal
reliability. Compliance with key assumptions
(linearity between the dependent and independent
variables, constant error variance, and normality
of the error distribution) was conrmed through
appropriate tests.
Table 3
Descriptive statistics and t-test results
Cronbach’s alpha Mean SD t-test Sign.
Organisational-professional conict 0.904 2.537 1.401 -29.132 0.000
Public interest commitment n.a. 4.804 1.776 12.626 0.000
Professional commitment 0.814 6.022 1.002 56.328 0.000
Organisational commitment 0.834 6.150 1.102 54.460 0.000
OEC Factor 1- Ethical environment 0.947 3.907 0.884 -2.948 0.003
OEC Factor 2- Promotion of unethical behaviour
(reversed) 0.782 5.911 0.959 55.616 0.000

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Table 3 shows that the professional
accountants in the sample do not frequently
perceive OPC when performing their duties.
e results suggest that the respondents
understand their role as being to serve the public
interest, as well as the need to preserve this above
all other interests. Moreover, Table 3 reveals that
the professional accountants in the sample show
both a high professional commitment and a high
organisational commitment.
Concerning the variables on organisational
ethical culture, the responses suggest that
accountants, in general, do not perceive the ethical
environment of their rms as strong. However,
the mean score for the promotion of unethical
behaviour variable (reverse-scored) indicates that
the participants do not perceive an unethical tone
at the top in their organisations.
As one of the main objectives of this study
is to analyse the dierences in the perception
of OPC between professionals in different
accounting areas, we divided the sample based on
the work activity performed by the participants.
Accordingly, we calculated the mean response for
the dierent groups and made a comparison of
means using analysis of variance. e ANOVA
test results are shown in Table 4.
Table 4
Descriptive statistics by work area and ANOVA test results
Mean ANOVA test (Post-hoc Tukey b
and Schee tests)
PAIB Tax/Accounting
consultant Auditor F p-value
Organisational-professional conict 2.389 2.678 2.284 5.923 0.003*** TAC > PAIB, A
Public interest commitment 4.602 4.674 5.389 12.213 0.000*** A > PAIB, TAC
Professional commitment 6.106 5.977 6.025 0.984 0,374 NS
Organisational commitment 5.619 6.302 6.206 25.041 0.000*** PAIB < TAC, A
OEC Factor 1- Ethical environment 3.41 4.001 4.089 34.746 0.000*** PAIB < TAC, A
OEC Factor 2- Promotion of unethical
behaviour (reversed) 5.489 5.999 6.055 20.795 0.000*** PAIB < TAC, A
Nota. *** signicant at the 0.01 level; NS not signicant
Letters in the last column indicate the groups that present statistically signicant dierences based on the
Tukey b and Schee test results, where: PAIB = professional accountant in business practice (employees in the
nancial department of a company), TAC = tax/accounting consultant, A = auditor.
Table 4 reveals that the tax and accounting
consultants are the ones that perceive greater OPC.
Furthermore, the auditors in the sample show
statistically higher public interest commitment
than the rest of the professional accountants.
Professional accountants in business practice,
that is, employees in the nancial department of
a company, show less organisational commitment
than tax and/or accounting consultants and
auditors. Moreover, these professionals perceive
a lower organisational ethical culture than the
consultants and auditors in the sample.
4.2 Correlation and regression analyses
4.2.1 Correlation analysis
To test the relationship among the
variables under study a correlation analysis was
carried out (Table 5).

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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
Table 5
Pearson’s correlation coecients and signicance levels of dependent and independent variables
OPC Public
interest
Professional
commitment
Organisational
commitment
Ethical
environment
Promotion of
unethical behaviour
(reversed)
OPC 1 -0,040
(-0,268)
-0,124***
(0,001)
-0,263***
(0,000)
-0,346***
(0,000)
-0,359***
(0,000)
Public interest 1 0,159***
(0,000)
0,033
(0,363)
0,039
(0,272)
0,000
(0,999)
Professional
commitment
1 0,408***
(0,000)
0,289***
(0,000)
0,174***
(0,000)
Organisational
commitment
1 0,625***
(0,000)
0,412***
(0,000)
Ethical
environment
1 0,545***
(0,000)
Promotion
of unethical
behaviour
(reversed)
1
Nota. *** signicant at the 0.01 level
e Pearson’s correlation coecients in
Table 5 reveal that OPC is negatively correlated
with individuals’ professional and organisational
commitment as well as with the two variables
representing an organisation’s ethical culture.
Furthermore, the results show that
professional commitment is positively related to
public interest commitment and organisational
commitment. e correlation matrix also reveals
that professional and organisational commitment
are both positively related to the organisation’s
ethical culture.
Finally, the two factors representing the
rm’s ethical culture are positively correlated.
4.2.2 Regression analysis
To test the hypotheses stated above, in
this section we conducted a multiple regression
analysis. To analyse if the perception of OPC
diers between the three groups of professionals
studied we included two dummy variables. e
rst one takes the value 1 if the individual is an
auditor and 0 otherwise, and the second one
takes the value 1 if the individual is a professional
accountant in business practice employed in an
organisation and 0 otherwise. In the regression
model employed to test the hypotheses, we also
controlled for individual dierences in terms of
age and gender.
e results are shown in Table 6.

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Itsaso Barrainkua / Marcela Espinosa-Pike
Table 6
Regression results for the model, with dependent variable Perceived OPC
Independent variable Coecient SE Sig.t
Public Interest -0.017 0.018 0.342
Professional commitment 0.032 0.036 0.381
Organisational commitment -0.084 0.043 0.049**
Ethical environment -0.207 0.045 0.000***
Promotion of unethical behaviour -0.245 0.038 0.000***
Auditor -0.243 0.082 0.003***
PAIB employee -0.530 0.087 0.000***
Age -0.002 0.002 0.281
Gender 0.088 0.078 0.259
Constant 0.255 0.144 0.076*
R
2
= 0.206; Adj . R
2
= 0.197; F = 22.222; p = 0.000
Nota. *signicant at the 0.1 level; **signicant at the 0.05 level; *** signicant at the 0.01 level.
The multiple regression model is
statistically signicant at the 0.001 level and has
an explanatory power of 0.197. e results of
the regression support hypothesis 3, conrming
a negative relationship between individuals’
organisational commitment and OPC. Hypothesis
4, which proposes a negative relationship between
organisational ethical culture and OPC, is
supported. Hypothesis 5 is also supported as
statistically signicant dierences were found
between professional accountants in dierent
work settings. e multiple regression results
reveal that professional accountants working as
consultants perceived greater OPC than auditors
and professional accountants employed in an
organisation. Age and gender have no signicant
relationship with the perception of OPC, as
the regression results were the same when these
control variables were excluded from the model.
5 Conclusion
e aim of this study was to examine the
eect of public interest commitment, professional
commitment, organisational commitment,
and organisational ethical culture on the OPC
aecting accountants through their perception
of the pressures they face to breach professional
standards. In this study, we also tested the
dierences in the perception of OPC between
professional accountants in dierent accounting
areas.
The results of the study reveal that
professional accountants identify signicantly
with their organisation, and, in addition, the
results show that a negative relationship exists
between individuals’ organisational commitment
and OPC. is result has important implications
for human resource management. Considering
that the literature has proven that a high
organisational commitment and low OPC lead
to higher job satisfaction and performance
quality for professionals, it should be a company’s
primary objective to pursue the attachment of
their employees to their organisation. To this end,
the expected correlation between professional
commitment and organisational commitment
found in this study indicates the need to create
a culture oriented towards professional values in
the organisation.
Moreover, the ndings also show a negative
relationship between a strong organisational ethical
culture and OPC. e fact that organisational
ethical culture is a highly inuential factor in
accountants’ perceptions of the pressures they face
to breach professional standards emphasizes the
need for common values that promote professional

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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
values in an organisation. Furthermore, given that
the literature has shown a strong relationship
between the perception of organisational pressures
and dysfunctional behaviour, it could be expected
that a strong ethical culture in professional and
in non-professional organisations would help
improve the quality of nancial information.
e fact that this study has identied that
organisational commitment and organisational
ethical culture are antecedents of the conicts that
accountants face has important implications for
companies’ top management. Top management
in audit rms play a pivotal role in fostering
an ethical culture that highlights professional
values, such as the public interest, which would
ultimately lead to the fair presentation of nancial
statements.
e results of the study reveal signicant
dierences in the perception of OPC between
professional accountants in different work
settings. Professional accountants working as tax
and accounting consultants perceived greater OPC
than auditors and accountants employed in an
organisation. is result highlights the importance
of paying special attention to accounting and tax
advisors. ese professionals are key to ensuring
the reliability of nancial information and to
contributing to the transparency and proper
functioning of the market. However, the work
area of these professionals was not perceived as
being linked to the traditional activities of the
professional accountant, as was the case for the
auditor. In Spain, until now, only auditors have
organised themselves as a profession, and the
auditor is the only professional gure related
to accounting that is regulated in Spain. e
recently regulated professional title in Spain of
‘professional accountant’, similar to the title that
already existed in the rest of Europe, will provide
a professional status to all accounting experts.
In this sense, their activities will be subject to
both private and public regulation, and also to
access requirements, continuous training, and to
a code of conduct regulating their behaviour. e
results of our study ratify the need for accounting
and tax advisors to work under the accredited
title of professional accountant, which would
entail the application of performance standards
and uniform ethical requirements, helping
professionals manage organisational pressures and
the resulting OPC.
is study is subject to the usual limitations
of response bias associated with a self-reported
questionnaire. Although several measures were
taken to mitigate this problem (i.e., ensuring
anonymity and employing an online survey
addressed directly to the authors), participants
may have responded in a socially desirable manner.
In this study, we assumed that
organisational commitment is an antecedent of
OPC. However, other studies have found that
organisational commitment is a consequence
of the pressures faced due to OPC. erefore,
future studies analysing the eect of the pressures
perceived by professional accountants on their
commitment to the organisation would be of
interest to the organisational behaviour literature.
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Antecedents of organisational professional conflict faced by professional accountants in different work settings
Appendix - Questionnaire
OPC
1. Pressures to issue nancial or non-nancial information that incorrectly represents the facts, including statements with respect to
nancial statements, tax and legal obligations, or requirements from the regulator
2. Pressures to intentionally lie or mislead the auditors or the regulator
3. Pressures to prepare or review nancial statements without having the complete information needed
4. Pressures to omit information that could be relevant for users
5. Pressure to issue misleading nancial information to meet investors’, analysts’, or creditors’ expectations.
6. Pressures from superiors to reduce, in an inappropriate way, the amount of work done with the objective of reducing costs
7. Pressures from superiors to perform tasks without having the required skills or competence
8. Pressures from superiors, colleagues, or clients to present information that has been altered to increase their compensation
Public interest commitment
1. In the exercise of the accounting profession, public interest must always be above both personal interests and the interests of the client
Profesional commitment
1. I am extremely glad that I chose accounting over other professions that I was considering
2. I really care about the fate of the accounting profession
3. I am proud to tell others that I am an accountant
Organizational commitment
1. I am willing to put a great deal of eort beyond that normally expected in order to help this rm be successful
2. I talk up this rm to my friends as a great rm to work for
3. I nd my values and the rm’s values are very similar
Organizational ethical culture
1. Management in this organisation disciplines unethical behaviour when it occurs
2. People of integrity are rewarded in this organisation
3. Top managers of this organisation regularly show that they care about ethics
4. Ethical behaviour is the norm in this organisation
5. Top management of this organisation guides decision making in an ethical direction
6. Employees in this organisation perceive that people who violate the ethics code still get rewards
7. e ethics code serves only to maintain organisation’s public image
8. Top managers in this organisation are models of unethical behaviour
9. Top managers in this organisation are concerned with informing employees about the ethics code
10. Top managers in this organisation promote the ethical training of employees

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Rev. Bras. Gest. Neg., São Paulo, v.22, n.3, p.686-704, Jul/Sep 2020.
Itsaso Barrainkua / Marcela Espinosa-Pike
Authors:
1. Itsaso Barrainkua, Doctor in Finance and Accounting, Lecturer at the University of the Basque Country,
Bilbao, Spain.
E-mail: itsaso.barrainkua@ehu.eus
ORCID
0000-0001-6118-9837
2. Marcela Espinosa Pike, Doctor in Finance and Accounting, Senior Lecturer at the University of the
Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain.
E-mail: marcela.espinosa@ehu.eus
ORCID
0000-0002-2065-391X
Contribution of each author
Contribution Itsaso
Barrainkua
Marcela
Espinosa-Pike
1. Denition of research problem √ √
2. Development of hypotheses or research questions (empirical studies) √ √
3. Development of theoretical propositions (theoretical work) √ √
4. eoretical foundation / Literature review √ √
5. Denition of methodological procedures √ √
6. Data collection √ √
7. Statistical analysis √ √
8. Analysis and interpretation of data √ √
9. Critical revision of the manuscript √ √
10. Manuscript writing √ √
11. Other (please specify which) √ √