The Influence of Culture on Accountants' Ethical Decision Making in Singapore and Australia

Abstract

This study compares the ethical judgments of Australian and Chinese Singaporean accountants using Hofstede's (1980, 1991) measures of national culture, We predict that there will be different responses to ethical dilemmas between the two cultural groups. These differences will be more likely to occur when the ethical dilemmas are influenced by the cultural values of Individualism/Collectivism and Power Distance because it has been established that the two nations differ significantly on these dimensions. To test our predictions, we developed a series of vignettes describing ethical situations likely to be influenced by different cultural values. The results generally supported our predictions.