David Bourget (Western Ontario)
David Chalmers (ANU, NYU)
Rafael De Clercq
Jack Alan Reynolds
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Journal of Business Ethics 79 (3):279 - 297 (2008)
Role morality can be defined as “claim(ing) a moral permission to harm others in ways that, if not for the role, would be wrong” (A. Applbaum: 1999, Ethics for Adversaries: The Morality of Roles in Public and Professional Life (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) p. 3). Adversarial situations resulting in role morality occur most frequently in the fields of law, business, and government. Within the realm of accounting, professional obligations may place the accountant in a situation where he/she is susceptible to the pressures of role morality. If the accountant engages in acts consistent with role morality, significant harm to others may result. The current study represents an initial investigation into role morality in accounting and includes survey data from three samples of professionals: accountants, physicians, and attorneys. Results suggest that accountants generally do not agree that role morality is acceptable. Additionally, when compared to the groups of physicians and attorneys, physicians agree the least with role morality, while attorneys agree the most. Implications for practicing accountants and suggestions for future research into the theory of role morality are offered.
|Keywords||accountants compared to attorneys and physicians ethical behavior role morality|
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References found in this work BETA
Judith Andre (1991). Role Morality as a Complex Instance of Ordinary Morality. American Philosophical Quarterly 28 (1):73 - 80.
Arthur Isak Applbaum (2000). Ethics for Adversaries: The Morality of Roles in Public and Professional Life. Princeton University Press.
Jeanne F. Backof & Charles L. Martin (1991). Historical Perspectives: Development of the Codes of Ethics in the Legal, Medical and Accounting Professions. [REVIEW] Journal of Business Ethics 10 (2):99 - 110.
Sally Gunz & John McCutcheon (1998). Are Academics Committed to Accounting Ethics Education? Journal of Business Ethics 17 (11):1145-1154.
David Luban (1988). Lawyers and Justice: An Ethical Study. Princeton University Press.
Citations of this work BETA
Darlene Bay & Alexey Nikitkov (2011). Subjective Probability Assessments of the Incidence of Unethical Behavior: The Importance of Scenario–Respondent Fit. Business Ethics 20 (1):1-11.
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