Negative Affect of Fear and Locus of Control on Ethical Decision Making of Accountants

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of negative affect (fear) and locus of control to create different patterns of ethical decision-making in the field of accounting and finance.

This study was semi experimental, applied and field research. The research community was the Ph.D. candidate and M.A. senior student in accounting, auditing and financial management who have enough professional experience. A sample of sixty participator has been randomly selected. Data was collected using the standard questionnaires. Locus of Control was measured using the standard Rotter's Locus of Control scale; negative affect employed the Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale in which participants indicated on a five-point ascending scale how they felt at that moment. Various scenarios have also been used to measure the acceptance of an application or an immoral behavior. Hypotheses have been tested using analysis of variance.

The findings show that participators with low fear and high locus of control make the decision more ethically and less accept the unethically senior manager's request. Also, a high negative affective fear state/mood will associate with a slippery slope or ethically consistent pattern of behavior and a low negative affective fear state/mood will associate with a licensing or compensatory pattern of behavior.

This research help to better understanding individual characteristics that lead to unethical decision making under pressure of senior managers. Organizations can reduce the fear and create more confidence in the staff to develop the moral behaviors and stop unethical decision making.