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The Relationship Between Individual Work Values and Unethical Decision-Making and Behavior at Work

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Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between individual work values and unethical decision-making and actual behavior at work through two complementary studies. Specifically, we use a robust and comprehensive model of individual work values to predict unethical decision-making in a sample of working professionals and accounting students enrolled in ethics courses, and IT employees working in sales and customer service. Study 1 demonstrates that young professionals who rate power as a relatively important value (i.e., those reporting high levels of the self-enhancement value) are more likely to violate professional conduct guidelines despite receiving training regarding ethical professional principles. Study 2, which examines a group of employees from an IT firm, demonstrates that those rating power as an important value are more likely to engage in non-work-related computing (i.e., cyberloafing) even when they are aware of a monitoring software that tracks their computer usage and an explicit policy prohibiting the use of these computers for personal reasons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ITAM School of Business, Río Hondo 1, 01080, Mexico City, Mexico

    Luis M. Arciniega, Diana Puga-Méndez, Dalia Obregón-Schael & Isaac Politi-Salame

  2. Management Department, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA

    Laura J. Stanley

Authors
  1. Luis M. Arciniega
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  2. Laura J. Stanley
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  3. Diana Puga-Méndez
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  4. Dalia Obregón-Schael
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis M. Arciniega.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Luis M. Arciniega has received research grants from Asociación Mexicana de Cultura A.C. and CONACYT (Grant Number 260962-2015). Laura J. Stanley declares that she has no conflict of interest. Diana Puga-Méndez declares that she has no conflict of interest. Dalia Obregón Schael declares that she has no conflict of interest. Isaac Politi-Salame declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in both studies.

Appendices

Appendix 1

  • EVAT scale items (English translation):

  • OC1 He is a very active employee. His energy is contagious.

  • CO1 Respecting the customs and traditions followed in his workplace is very important for him.

  • SE1 He likes to manage people. He likes to be in charge and influence others.

  • ST1 The well-being of those who are part of his work team is very important for him.

  • OC2 He is a restless employee. He is always looking for new ways to perform his job better.

  • CO2 He always does what others do. He doesn’t like doing things different from others.

  • SE2 He’s always looking to be successful and outstanding in the eyes of others.

  • ST2 It is very important for him to earn his coworkers trust by being loyal and honest with them.

  • OC3 He’s always worrying about keeping himself updated, whether it’s by reading or attending courses so that he can be an efficient employee.

  • CO3 He always follows the rules and procedures at work down to the letter.

  • SE3 Keeping an image of superiority over others is his most important concern.

  • ST3 He always strives to make sure that all employees receive the same treatment and opportunities.

  • OC4 He enjoys challenges at work. He always prefers new and unknown tasks.

  • CO4 He is very methodical. He doesn’t like to try new ways of doing things. He prefers to do things in the way it worked for him in the past.

  • SE4 For him, getting and accumulating expensive goods and services is very important.

  • ST4 For him, the loyalty toward his company and/or his team is something very important.

  • Notes: OC = Openness to change; CO = Conservation; SE = Self-enhancement; ST = Self-transcendence.

  • The correlation matrices among the 16 items of the EVAT scale and the dependent variables of both studies can be obtained from the first author.

Appendix 2

Vignette 1. Non-compliance with reporting standards of the IFRS

Situation: Since starting your new job as the general accountant of a firm, you have noticed that the Management of the company makes decisions regarding registering transactions that do not comply with the procedures established by the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). You know that these practices are common in other companies where your colleagues work. What do you do?

Alternatives:

a) Follow the directions of the Management and continue non-IFRS compliant practices, considering it is your job to stick to them and that there is not apparent risk for you.

b) Ignore requests from the Management and run the risk of losing your job.

Section(s) of the code of professional conduct involved:

320.2, 320.6 and 320.7 of the IFAC code

Vignette 2: Whistle blowing with colleagues

Situation: It has been a hard day at the accounting firm where you work. You’ve analyzed the financial statements of the company you are auditing and realized the company has been altering financial information in a fraudulent way. Worried and stressed by the situation, and also tired from your hard day, you decide to relax and hang out with your friends, accountants who work for other companies. What do you do if they ask you about the audit you are currently doing?

Alternatives:

a) Relieve some pressure and tell them all about your stressful situation; maybe they’ll have experience dealing with cases like this and will be able to help.

b) Do not say a word, even if they insist.

Section(s) of the code of professional conduct involved:

140.1 A) & B)

Vignette 3: The gift

Situation: After 3 months doing an audit at a firm you decide you will give a favorable opinion about its financial statements, since it complies with internal controls and relevant accounting standards. Once your opinion is released, one member of the board goes to your place to give you a new top-of-the-line iPad as a token of gratitude for your services. You do not know if you will be in charge of the auditing process at that same firm in the near future. What do you do?

Alternatives:

a) Accept the gift

b) Express your gratitude but reject the gift

Section(s) of the code of professional conduct involved:

350.1; 350.3; 350.4

Vignette 4: Killing the time doing external business

Situation: After some years working as an accountant, you realize you could start providing independent services (such as tax preparation) to individual persons, in addition to working for the company that hired you. There are some nonproductive periods during the month when you have a low work load, and you consider using these “dead times” to do the taxes of your external clients at the company, because using the software installed in your company PC would save you a lot of time and effort. Do you:

Alternatives:

a) Buy your own accounting software to do the taxes of your independent clients during out-of-work hours?

b) Do the taxes of your clients during the “dead times” within work hours, considering the company’s accounting software is underutilized?

Section(s) of the code of professional conduct involved:

300.8

Vignette 5: A disabled laptop for the young brother

Situation: At your company, you are the one in charge of managing some fixed assets such as screens, PCs, office equipment, etc. You know that when one asset is classified as useless it is sent to a warehouse where no internal controls are in effect. You know that employees take articles from that room without anyone else noticing. You have access to that room. Your young brother needs a laptop and you know there are some broken ones in the warehouse that could get fixed for little money. What do you do?

Alternatives:

a) Buy a new laptop for him

b) Take one of the disabled laptops from the warehouse and pay to get it repaired, considering that the firm sees the warehouse as a junk room

Section(s) of the code of professional conduct involved:

270.2

Vignette 6: Cash loan for the weekend

Situation: You urgently need $1000 to pay for a trip you will be taking soon, but you don’t have it right now. If you pay by this weekend you could get a 30% discount. As the accountant of your firm, you are the only person in the company who has access to a bank account opened by the owners in case of emergencies. The Management does not show a particular interest in tracking the low activity of this account. You know that your paycheck will be deposited early Monday morning, giving you enough money to pay the full price for the trip then. Under this scenario what do you do?

Alternatives:

a) Lose the benefit of the discount, and wait until Monday to pay full price for the trip.

b) Borrow the money from the account to save $300, and return the money first thing Monday morning

Section(s) of the code of professional conduct involved:

300.8; 270.2

  1. The actions in compliance with the IFAC code of ethics for professional accountants are in bold letters

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Arciniega, L.M., Stanley, L.J., Puga-Méndez, D. et al. The Relationship Between Individual Work Values and Unethical Decision-Making and Behavior at Work. J Bus Ethics 158, 1133–1148 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3764-3

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