The Importance of Ethics and Values for the Students in the Polytechnic of Guarda—Portugal

Abstract

Ethics and values are increasingly important for the pursuit of any profession. The purpose of this study is to analyze the attitude of students of the accounting degree of the first year of higher education and the existence of ethical values and behaviors necessary for their professional future. It is intended to follow the evolution of ethical behavior throughout their academic career. The methodology used was the elaboration of a questionnaire that evaluates to what extent the moral intensity, and its several dimensions, are associated with the ethical decision-making. It was then administered to 70 students of the Management and Accounting degrees of the 1st year of higher education in Polytechnic of Guarda. Guarda Polytechnic Institute is located in a small town in the interior of Portugal. This study deals only with the student’s opinions. In the next stage, the SPSS program provided a statistical treatment of ethical and demographic variables (age and gender), in order to, detect phenomena potentially associated with ethical behavior. The results obtained from the statistical treatment are compared with similar studies and the underlying theoretical framework. The analysis of the results allowed to identify the practices most used by the students, their level of seriousness, as well as to identify the inhibiting factors of academic fraud. Finally, reflections on the implications of the practice of fraud and ways to inhibit them are presented.