Moral Intensity, Organizational Factors, and Ethical Decision Making: An Empirical Examination of Postgraduate Accounting and Business Students

Employing and modifying the model by Jones (1991), this study examines the effects of moral intensity and organizational factors on individual ethical decision making. Organizational factors, used to be ignored in previous research, are also believed to influence the ethical decision making process. A survey applying four different scenarios was conducted to master and doctoral degree students in accounting and business majors in an eminent university in Indonesia to catch their work experiences. The results show that different ethical scenarios do not affect the moral intensity as well as the ethical decision making. Moral intensity is multidimensional and social consensus is evident to be the most influencing determinant in ethical decision making process. Organizational factors such as the existence of code of conduct and tone at the top are confirmed generally not to impact on moral intensity to create ethical decision. In the meantime, postgraduate accounting students are justified to have higher ethical sensitivity than those from other business departments. These findings may imply that the ethical sensitivity of individuals to identify ethical dilemma in particular cases are not simply affected by the moral intensity. This relationship is more complex in nature to understand the way how individual act ethically.