Analysis of the Relationship between Professional Identity and Ethical Orientation with the Ethical Judgment of Independent Auditors

The development and complexity of business activity raises various ethical issues that challenge auditors' ethical judgments. Professional identity and ethical orientation are among the factors that influence auditors' ethical judgment. Because the professional identity makes the auditors' attitudes and behaviors consistent with their professional roles, it brings their more ethical judgments, but this relationship can be under the influence of moral orientation. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of professional identity on moral judgment and to investigate the mediating role of moral orientation.

The present research method is descriptive-survey of correlation type. The statistical population is auditors working in private sector auditing institutions and the statistical sample is 437 community members who were selected by random sampling. The research data was collected using a questionnaire and the research hypotheses were tested using structural equations with the help of AMOS software.

The research results show that professional identity, in addition to having a direct relationship with moral judgment, is indirectly related to auditors' moral judgment through idealism and relativism. Also, professional identity has a positive relationship with idealism and a negative relationship with relativism. Idealism and relativism have a positive and negative relationship with moral judgment, respectively.

Through the identification of the components of the professional identity of independent auditors, the findings of the research provide a better understanding of the factors that are related to their ethical judgments and provide a model to improve their ethical judgments according to the prevailing environment. It offers suggestions on the business of the country.