Educators Epistemological Beliefs of Accounting Ethics Teaching A Cross Cultural Study

Description
cultural differences in accounting educators’
epistemological beliefs of accounting ethics
education. It is motivated by a renewed global
interest in accounting ethics in recent years
following the reported breaches of ethical
conducts by individuals from different cultures.
In Pratt’s model, conceptions of teaching should
be an interdependent and internally consistent
trilogy of beliefs, intentions and actions. The
purpose of this empirical study is to sketch an
outline of how accounting ethics education is
broadly understood by accounting educators
from three different cultural backgrounds, the
Anglo-influenced Australian, the Chinese and
the Moslem-dominated Malaysian.

Accounting Research Journal
Educators’ Epistemological Beliefs of Accounting Ethics Teaching: A Cross-
Cultural Study
Pak K. Auyeung Ron Dagwell Chew Ng J ohn Sands
Article information:
To cite this document:
Pak K. Auyeung Ron Dagwell Chew Ng J ohn Sands, (2006),"Educators’ Epistemological Beliefs of
Accounting Ethics Teaching: A Cross-Cultural Study", Accounting Research J ournal, Vol. 19 Iss 2
pp. 122 - 138
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ACCOUNTING RESEARCH JOURNAL  VOLUME 19 NO 2 (2006) 

122

Educators’ Epistemological Beliefs of
Accounting Ethics Teaching:
A Cross-Cultural Study
Pak K. Auyeung, Ron Dagwell, Chew Ng and John Sands
Griffith Business School
Griffith University

Abstract

This study is an exploratory examination of
cultural differences in accounting educators’
epistemological beliefs of accounting ethics
education. It is motivated by a renewed global
interest in accounting ethics in recent years
following the reported breaches of ethical
conducts by individuals from different cultures.
In Pratt’s model, conceptions of teaching should
be an interdependent and internally consistent
trilogy of beliefs, intentions and actions. The
purpose of this empirical study is to sketch an
outline of how accounting ethics education is
broadly understood by accounting educators
from three different cultural backgrounds, the
Anglo-influenced Australian, the Chinese and
the Moslem-dominated Malaysian. It explores
the cross-cultural variations in their
epistemological beliefs of what to teach,
objectives to achieve, the ethics educator, and
the learning process. Results suggest that
Australian and Malaysian accounting educators
differed significantly in their epistemological
beliefs on the source of knowledge as well as
the acquisition of knowledge. Interestingly,
there were no significant statistical differences
in the epistemological beliefs held by
participants in this study concerning other issues
in accounting ethics education, i.e. the delivery
of ethics education, transferability, goals of
ethics education, separate course, and
qualification.
1. Introduction
This study is an exploratory examination of
cultural differences in accounting educators’

Acknowledgements: The authors thank the editor and an
anonymous referee for helpful comments and suggestions.
epistemological beliefs of accounting ethics
education. It is motivated by a renewed global
interest in accounting ethics in recent years
following the reported breaches of ethical
conducts by individuals from different cultures.
Indeed the last decade in the business world will
be remembered for accounting scandals and
high profile company collapses, such as World
Com, Enron, Xerox, Peregrine Systems in the
USA; Vivendi in Europe; and HIH, Ansett and
One Tel in Australia. In addition the accounting
profession has witnessed the demise of one of
the largest accounting firms in the world, Arthur
Anderson. According to Armstrong, Ketz &
Owsen (2003), the sheer number of accounting
abuses serves as prima facie evidence that
something more is needed in terms of
accounting ethics. Warth (2000) in a study of
ethics in accounting, interviewed seventeen
CPA firms in the USA and all of the firms
agreed that ethics was essential and
fundamental to the profession. Because of the
unique role of accountants vis a vis the public,
ethical behaviour for accountants is not viewed
in the same manner as that for other people.
This view is supported by Verschoor (2002),
and consistent with that of Helps (1994), Lovell
(1995) and Mintz (1995) who stress that ethical
values which enable accountants to resist client
and commercial pressures form the cornerstone
of the accounting profession and should be
gained through education.
In the field of education, Pratt’s (1992)
general teaching model is widely acknowledged
as the basis for understanding the teaching of
adults and teaching in general. In Pratt’s model,
conceptions of teaching are based on one or
more of the following elements: content (what
to teach), ideals (objectives), teachers (roles and
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functions), learners (the learning process), and
context (external factors that influence teaching
and learning). These elements are assumed to be
interrelated and internally consistent. He further
highlights in his model the importance of
teachers’ beliefs by suggesting that conceptions
of teaching should be an interdependent and
internally consistent trilogy of beliefs, intentions
and actions. The significant role of teachers’
epistemological beliefs as an integral part of the
teaching and learning configuration has also
been demonstrated in several studies (Young,
1981; Clark & Peterson, 1986; Cater, 1990;
Richardson, 1996; Calderhead, 1996). Learning
objectives and strategies have direct effect on
the learning outcome (Van Rossum & Schenk,
1984). In line with the education literature, the
epistemological beliefs of educators about
accounting ethics education have substantial
influence on teaching strategies and hence the
learning outcome. The learning outcome may
be reflected in the later ethical behaviour of
accounting graduates. Pratt also emphasises that
“ … it would be wrong to conclude that some
conceptions are better than others. Each has
philosophical and epistemological roots which
are consonant with particular people, purposes
and contexts” (Pratt, 1992, p. 218).
Epistemological roots are linked to cultural
beliefs and values, and cross-cultural
comparisons made by researchers have
developed awareness of differing value systems
across different cultures. The global acceptance
of international accounting and auditing
standards indicates that the accounting
profession is no longer confined to national
boundaries. The cross-cultural studies of
Karnes, Sterner, Welker & Wu (1990),
Ponemon & Gabhart (1993), Cohen, Pant &
Sharp (1995), Ho (1997), and Tsui & Windsor
(2001) discover differences in the ethical
attitudes of accountants from different
nationalities. Indeed sociologists like Hofstede
(1991, 2001) and Triandis (1995) have
illustrated that ethical decision making may
differ among different cultural clusters. Despite
the increased awareness of cross-cultural
diversity in ethical attitudes, and the link
between educators’ epistemological beliefs and
learning outcome (Van Rossum & Schenk,
1984; Pratt, 1992), there is no known research
to examine the variations in the beliefs of
accounting educators from different cultures
1
.
As such, much of the possible underlying
reason for differences in the ethical attitudes of
accountants across unlike cultures remains
unexplored.
The purpose of this study is to sketch an
outline of how accounting ethics education is
broadly understood by accounting educators
from three different cultural backgrounds, the
Anglo-Australian, Chinese and Muslim. It
explores the cross-cultural variations in their
epistemological beliefs of what to teach,
objectives to achieve, the ethics educator, and
the learning process. As such, it intends to offer
some insightful understanding of the cause of
differences in accounting ethics education
resulting from cross-cultural variations. Given
the globalisation of the accounting profession,
cross-cultural exchanges in educational beliefs
have become a way of life, and such
understanding may enable us to avoid
inappropriately offending our counterparts in
cross-cultural interaction. Further, this study
will make a useful contribution to the literature
of cultural studies.
2. Accounting Ethics Education
Educators’ epistemological beliefs regarding the
elements within Pratt’s general model can be
represented by their views on four critical
questions concerning accounting ethics
education: (1) Can ethical behaviour be learned
at the university? (2) What are the objectives of
learning accounting ethics? (3) What is the
learning process? and (4) Who is the
appropriate teacher?
Perhaps the most fundamental question in
ethics education is whether it can be taught and
learnt at the university level. This question has
been addressed in volumes of business and
psychological literature, and studies conducted
to examine the effects of business ethics
teaching on students’ ethical behaviour have
produced mixed results. Proponents’ views
range from the argument that while ethics
teaching may not be effective, there is no harm
in trying, through to strong support for ethics
programs. Support for ethics teaching programs

1 A single-culture study by Cohen and Pant (1989)
examined the status of ethics in accounting education,
but it was based on the beliefs of administrators rather
than those of accounting academia.
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comes from institutional sources (e.g. the
American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of
Business, the Treadway Commission, the
American Accounting Association Committee
on the Future Structure, Content and Scope of
Accounting Education and the AICPA in the
U.S.) and academic research proponents (e.g.
Rest, 1987; Bok, 1988; Loeb, 1988; Hosmer,
1988; Henderson, 1988; Luoma, 1989; Weber,
1990; Sims & Sims, 1991; Parker, 1994;
Moizer, 1995; Mintz, 1995; Leung & Cooper,
1995; Wright, 1995; Lovell, 1995; Eynon, Hill
Stevens, & Clarke, 1996; Eynon, Hill &
Stevens, 1997; Gunz & McCutcheon, 1998; and
Wimalasiri, 2001).
However, ethics education at the university is
not without resistance and the common
objections range from its palliative intent to its
failure to achieve the desired learning outcome.
One argument against ethics courses is that the
true motive for their introduction is merely a
knee-jerk response to public reactions to
business scandals (Cohen & Pant, 1989; Bishop,
1992; McDonald & Donleavy, 1995; Oddo,
1997; Castro, 1989). One reason given for the
view that ethics cannot be taught is that moral
character is developed early in life as a result of
family, cultural or religious influence and hence
ethics teaching at the university can hardly
effect attitudinal changes (Shenkir, 1990; Kerr
& Smith, 1995; Oddo, 1997). Following the
foregoing argument, some believe that ethics
courses have no impact on professional
behaviour (Bishop, 1992; McDonald &
Donleavy, 1995; Oddo, 1997). To many ethics
values learned in the class room cannot be
transferred to the work environment because
ambitious young executives are often unwilling
to sacrifice their career progression by adhering
to the ethical ideals (Furman, 1990; Bishop,
1992; McDonald & Donleavy, 1995). Further,
business ethics education is dismissed because
since it is unscientific and non empirical, it
should not be acceptable as an area of study in
business schools (McDonald & Donleavy,
1995). Furthermore, ethics cannot be taught
without indoctrinating or imposing one’s view
upon students (Shenkir, 1990; Bishop, 1992;
Poynter & Thomas, 1994; Loeb, 1994).
If one supports the need for ethics education,
the next question is what are the objectives of
ethics learning. Interestingly there is no
consensus as to what should be the objectives of
ethics education in accounting which are needed
to evaluate educational outcomes. Adapting
from Callahan’s (1980) principles, Loeb (1988,
1991) has suggested several objectives for
accounting ethics instruction, ranging from
moral sensitivity and prescriptive reasoning to
moral virtue. These objectives are (1) relate
accounting education to moral issues, (2)
recognise issues in accounting that have ethical
implications, (3) develop a sense of moral
obligation or responsibility within students, (4)
develop the abilities needed for students to deal
with ethical conflicts or dilemmas, (5) learn to
deal with the uncertainties facing the accounting
profession, (6) set the stage for a change in
ethical behaviour, and (7) appreciate and
understand the history and composition of all
aspects of accounting ethics and their
relationship to the general field of ethics.
Dobson & Armstrong (1995) and Armstrong et
al (2003) propose similar objectives with special
emphasis on virtue development.
Having reviewed the suggested objectives of
accounting ethics education, it would now seem
appropriate to consider the common methods in
the learning process that could be employed in
ethics instruction to achieve the objectives. The
use of lectures grounded mainly in the basic
theoretical concepts is regarded as effective by
Loeb (1988), Armstrong & Mintz (1989) and
McNair & Milam (1993). Several authors use
case studies based on real business events or
newspaper articles as a tool for analysis (Loeb,
1988; Mintz, 1990; Hiltebeitel & Jones, 1992;
Lane & Schaupp, 1992; Armstrong, 1993; Kerr
& Smith, 1995; McDonald & Donleavy, 1995),
while some suggest short descriptive scenarios
(short cases) for dilemma discussions
(Langenderfer & Rockness, 1989; Armstrong &
Mintz, 1989). Others advocate teaching the
official ethics guidance of professional bodies,
such as the AICPA Code of Professional
Conduct (2002) and AICPA Statements on
Standards for Tax Services (2000), (Mintz,
1990; McNair & Milam, 1993; Armstrong,
1993; Oddo, 1997; Armstrong et al, 2003). The
use of term papers or assignments is suggested
by Pizzolatto & Bevill (1996) and video
vignettes by Hosmer & Steneck (1989), Mintz
(1990), Hiltebeitel & Jones (1992) and
McDonald & Donleavy (1995).
An interesting question concerning the
teaching method is whether accounting ethics
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Educators’ Epistemological Beliefs of Accounting Ethics Teaching: A Cross-Cultural Study

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should be taught as a separate course, or by
integrating it within various accounting courses.
Loeb (1988) and Sims & Sims (1991) contend
that a separate and distinct course on accounting
ethics will best convey ethical content, while
others advocate integration (Gandz & Hayes,
1988; Mintz, 1990; Bishop, 1992; McNair &
Milam, 1993; Piper, Gentile & Parks, 1993;
Loeb, 1994). The final question concerns
identifying the best qualified to teach ethics
when it is included in the accounting
curriculum. A study by McNair & Milam
(1993) shows that accounting educators are
qualified, and Poynter & Thomas (1994) claim
that they can play the role of "quasi-mentors".
Many, however, question their qualifications
and argue that ethics should be taught by
religion or philosophy educators as it has its
origin in normative philosophy (Hosmer, 1988;
Armstrong & Mintz, 1989; Sims & Sims, 1991;
Gunz & McCutcheon, 1998; Oddo, 1997;
Armstrong et al, 2003).
Educators from different cultural
backgrounds do not necessarily hold the same
views concerning these questions. The focus of
this study is to examine the effects of cultural
variations.
3. Culture
Ethical relativism, one of the three main sub-
sets of cultural relativism
2
, holds that ethical
truths are relative to the cultural background of
the person making the judgment (Benedict,
1934; Hatch, 1983). Culture is defined as
“transmitted and created content and patterns of
values, ideas, and other symbolic-meaningful
systems as factors in the shaping of human
behavior and the artifacts produced through
behavior” (Kroeber & Parsons, 1958, p. 583),
and Hofstede (2001) identifies five dimensions
of national culture: individualism versus
collectivism, power distance, uncertainty
avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, and
long-term versus short-term orientation. The
main defining attributes of individualism-
collectivism are the definition of the self, the
importance of attitudes and norms, and the
importance of personal goals and ingroup goals.
Power distance is related to the different

2 The other sub-sets of cultural relativism are the relativity
of knowledge and historical relativism.
solutions to the basic problem of human
inequality, uncertainty avoidance to the level of
stress in a society in the face of an unknown
future, masculinity-femininity to the division of
emotional roles between men and women, and
long/short-term orientation to the choice of
focus for people’s efforts (Hofstede, 2001). The
main attributes of these dimensions are
summarised in Table 1.
There are three main cultures in the Asia-
Pacific region, the Chinese culture, the western
culture and the Moslem-dominated culture. The
Chinese culture associated with Confucianism
spread from China to its neighbouring countries,
notably Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Korea and Japan. Moslem dominates in
Malaysia and Indonesia, while the western or
Anglo culture continues to have profound
influence in Australia and New Zealand. This
study attempts to make a cross-cultural
comparison by selecting Australia, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Malaysia as proxies for the three
distinct culture entities in the Asia-Pacific
region.
Hofstede’s indices as shown in Table 2
demonstrate systematic variations in the
attitudinal dimensions of people from Australia,
Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Apart
from Hofstede’s analysis, other studies have
been conducted in clustering countries on
attitudinal dimensions. Ronen & Shenkar’s
(1985) synthesis of the results of eight studies
on country clustering includes Australia in the
Anglo cluster and Hong Kong, Singapore and
Malaysia in the Far Eastern cluster. Moreover,
cross-cultural comparisons made by researchers,
such as Ralston, Gustafson & Cheung (1993),
Sadowsky, Maguire & Johnson (1994), and
Nyam & Ng (1994), have reported striking
differences in the value systems of different
cultures. Judging from the differences in the
value systems of the selected countries, it is
anticipated that the epistemological beliefs of
accounting educators in Australia, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Malaysia would be different.
4. Hypothesis Development
Researchers associated with psychological
constructs in self-concept and study approaches
(Lee, 1995; Arredondo & Rucinski, 1996; Mori,
1997) contend that epistemological beliefs are
closely linked to cultural values and norms. It

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Table 1
Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of National Culture
Dimension One end of the continuum Other end of the continuum
Individualism versus-
collectivism
Individualism
– the self is more independent and
separate
– behaving in one’s own interests
– attitudes are more powerful
predictors of social behaviour than
norms
– giving priority to personal goals
over the goals of the group
Collectivism
– the self is defined as
interdependent with an ingroup
(family, clan, tribe, etc.)
– cooperating with ingroup members
– social norms are given more
weight than attitudes
– subordinating personal goals for
the sake of preserving ingroup
integrity
Power distance High power distance
– high authoritarianism
– conformity
– preference for close supervision
Low power distance
– low authoritarianism
– independence
– preference for consultative
decision-making
Uncertainty
avoidance
High uncertainty avoidance
– high stress, anxiety, neuroticism
– expression of emotions
– uncertainty in life is felt as a
continuous threat that must be
fought
Low uncertainty avoidance
– low stress, less anxiety, ease
– suppression of emotions
– uncertainty in life is relatively
easily accepted
Masculinity versus
femininity
Masculinity
– preference for achievement
– heroism, assertiveness
– material success
Femininity
– preference for relationships
– modesty, caring for the week
– quality of life
Long-term versus
short-term orientation
Long-term orientation
– persistence (perseverance)
– ordering relationships by status
and observing this order
– thrift
– having a sense of shame
Short-term orientation
– personal steadiness and stability
– protecting your “face”
– respect for tradition
– reciprocation of greetings, favours,
and gifts

Table 2
Hofstede’s Indices for the Five Dimensions of National Culture
Individualism Power
distance
Uncertainty
avoidance
Masculinity Long-term
orientation
Country
IDV Rank PDI
value
Rank UAI
value
Rank MAS
score
Rank LTO
score
Rank
Australia 90 2 36 41 51 37 61 16 31 15
Hong Kong 25 37 68 15/16 29 49/50 57 18/19 96 2
Singapore 20 39/41 74 13 8 53 48 28 48 9
Malaysia 26 36 104 1 36 46 50 25/26 – –

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follows that educators’ diverse views on the
four critical questions concerning accounting
ethics education (shown in section two) may be
due to their different cultural backgrounds.
In Chinese societies, Confucian heritage
culture might account for the beliefs related to
the source of knowledge, certainty of
knowledge and control of learning. In such a
culture, self-improvement, hard work and effort
are seen to be important values. A basic
objective of learning is behavioural reform by
means of an internal transformation of the
learner (Confucius, The Analects, Book 2
Chapter 18, Book 4 Chapter 15, and Book 7
Chapter 28). It is the internal-virtue reform that
can ensure harmony and stability in society. The
epistemology from this culture presumes that
the primary objective of ethics training is to
internalise a sense of moral responsibility and a
change in ethical behaviour, rather than merely
satisfying the needs of the profession. Further,
Confucian heritage culture dominates in
collectivist societies which emphasise
interdependence, harmony, family security,
ingroup goals and social norms. The main
purpose of self-improvement is to serve the
ingroup and it can be achieved at all stages of
life through hard work and effort (Confucius,
The Analects, Book 7 Chapter 3, and Book 18
Chapter 1). This self-improvement orientation
and hence ethics training can take place during
childhood, at schools and universities, and in a
workplace. Confucian philosophy also specifies
who should be the teacher when it asserts that
self-improvement is achieved by learning from
people whom the collective recognises as
exemplars (Confucius, The Analects, Book 4
Chapter 17, and Book 5 Chapter 3).
Although the individualism-collectivism
dichotomy has gained much popularity among
cross-cultural researchers, one limitation of
Hofstede’s (2001) classification is that all
collectivist nations which account for about
seventy per cent of the world population are
simply considered as one homogenous group
(Triandis, 1995). Although the Chinese and the
Malaysian are collectivists, Abdullah (1996)
identifies the most striking difference between
these two cultures which lies in the religious-
based values in the Malaysian culture. Moslem
is the official religion in Malaysia. Attending
religious instruction at the mosque and reading
the Qur’an are often a part of the daily activities
of the Moslem Malaysian. An implication of
this is that learning in this religious-based
culture is driven to a great extent by spiritual
concerns. “To seek knowledge is a sacred duty
of every Moslem, male and female” (Abdullah,
1996, p. 33). Education is a form of worship
and this religious orientation is important in
shaping one’s ethical behaviour. Qur’an
becomes the most important and indisputable
source of knowledge. “Read! In the name of
your lord, who has created all that exists” (Holy
Qur’an, surah 96, verse 1). The epistemology
from this religious-based culture presumes that
ethical ideals are more likely formed from
influences of home and mosque than from
ethics training at the university level. For
individuals high in religiosity, the primary
objective of ethics training tends to be more
internally oriented, and the teacher to guide
them through the sacred journey is more likely
to be a spiritual master than an accounting
educator.
By contrast, individualist learners tend to
consider education as an improvement of one’s
economic worth and self-esteem and
preparation of oneself for a place in a
competitive society (Hofstede, 2001). Education
is success-focused rather than self-improvement
to serve the ingroup. Against this background,
educators’ primary objective of ethics training
tends to be more professionally oriented and
less internally oriented than their collectivist
counterparts. Business ethics in individualist
societies has become less theological and more
philosophical and social scientific in the last two
decades because of the emphasis on
egalitarianism and post-Enlightenment
democracy (Martin Calkins, 2000). Unlike
educators high in religiosity, individualists are
inclined to think that ethics training at
universities is appropriate and more consistent
with their career orientation.
Cultural differences may also affect the
learning process. Apart from the individualism-
collectivism dimension, Hofstede’s power
distance dimension also has implications on
teaching and learning. Within a Chinese society,
the high power distance is probably derived
from the five cardinal relationships of the
Confucian ethos, the first four of which
(sovereign-subject, father-son, elder brother-
younger brother and husband-wife) deal with
hierarchy and authority and thus promote
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superordinate (bossy) or subordinate
(submissive) behaviour. This authoritarian
regime is likely to influence how students learn.
Acceptance of authority leads to a focus on
respect and obedience and hence to learning
through listening and observing (or called
reflective observation). Knowledge comes from
the expert-teacher who has the wisdom of age
and experience, and learners tend to believe in
the dominant role of epistemic authorities, such
as textbooks (Auyeung & Sands, 1996). This
unequal teacher-student relationship promotes a
teacher-centred model in the educational
process (Hofstede, 2001, Venter, 2003).
Malaysia is very high in power distance
(Table 2) and hence more authoritarian than the
average collectivist cultures, probably because
religious values penetrate deeply into the
country’s societal values. The Holy Qur’an
determines the contents of the Islamic system
and the room for creativity is very limited. In
line with this religion-based culture, many
universities in Muslim countries tend to adopt a
pedagogic policy characterised by a surface
learning approach and curtail the free pursuit of
truth by means of human reason (Tibi, 2001).
In marked contrast to the Confucian heritage
culture and the Moslem-dominated culture, the
reduced superordinate-subordinate behaviour in
low power distance societies tends to produce a
more or less friend-friend relationship rather
than the unequal teacher-student relationship. In
these societies, students are more independent
and more initiative; open discussions of
conflicts in class are common; the learning
process is rather impersonal; and knowledge is
acquired through experimentation and
experience. Instead of believing in the certainty
of knowledge, learners may be aware of the
uncertainty of what is transferred from the
teacher. As a result, a student identity model
would prevail (Hofstede, 2001, Venter, 2003).
Further, researchers in education, such as
Watkins & Biggs (1996) and Venter (2003),
show that unlike Chinese learners who are
reluctant to express their opinion in class
without the approval of the group, individualist
learners may not hesitate to confront teachers
with conflicting views. This stereotyping may
have effects on how ethics is taught. For
example, the latter may be more comfortable
with discussion of cases in class, while the
former with lectures.
The above discussion suggests that culture is
an important variable in the study of
epistemological beliefs. The following
hypothesis is thus posited in this exploratory
study:
There are significant differences in the
epistemological beliefs of accounting educators
from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and
Malaysia in relation to their:
1. Perception on the delivering of ethics
education;
2. Opinions on the transferability and source of
ethics behaviour;
3. Views on the objectives of learning
accounting ethics;
4. Opinions on the perceived effectiveness of
various teaching methods/approaches; and
5. Thoughts on the perceived qualifications of
accounting ethics educators
5. Research Methodology
To test the above hypothesis, a research
instrument, consisting of six separate sections,
was developed and placed on a website
specifically created for this study. The first
section sought demographic information of each
participant, including his/her perceived cultural
background
3
. In the remaining five sections
(comprising 26 questions summarised in
Appendix 1), participants were asked to
indicate, on several seven-point Likert-type
scales, their epistemological beliefs on various
issues concerning about accounting ethics
education as mentioned in the hypothesis
above
4
. To support the assumption that a seven-
point equal-interval scale was used to record
respondents’ perception, only the continuum
extremes were captioned, e.g., 7 being very
unimportant to 1 being very important
(Torgerson, 1958). This method has been
widely used in accounting research, e.g., Knapp,

3 Ronen & Shenkar (1985) and Hofstede (2001) include
Australia in the Anglo culture cluster, while some
consider that it has ethnic diversity. This paper does not
discuss what constitutes an Australian cultural
background. Following the argument of Fishman (1983),
Scott (1991) and Auyeung & Sands (1996) that the
essential measure is that one conceives of the self as
Australian, this study asked respondents to indicate their
perceived cultural backgrounds.
4 A copy of the research instrument can be obtained from
the corresponding author upon request.
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1987; Gul et al., 1992; and Auyeung and Sands,
1997.
No attempt was made to define the word
“ethics” in the research instrument. This is
because ethical truths are relative to the cultural
background of the individual making the
judgment (Benedict, 1934 and Hatch, 1983). An
undefined term was designed to capture
participants’ conception of ethics from different
cultural backgrounds. To ensure the instrument
achieves the purpose of the study, a pilot survey
was conducted using academics of a large
Australian university. Pilot studies indicated
that participants took less than ten minutes to
complete the task.
Participants in this study were accounting
academics drawn from major universities in
Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
A personalised electronic mail was sent to each
of these academics and their task was to
complete the questionnaire via a secured (with a
password) website address. Participants were
assured of the anonymity of their responses and
of the voluntary nature of this study. A total of
133 usable responses, with diverse perceived
cultural backgrounds, were received. Since the
study was interested in accounting educators
from three different cultural backgrounds –
Australian, Chinese and Malaysian, this
database was further analysed according to this
criterion. Amongst the 133 responses, 68
participants indicated that their perceived
cultural background was Australian, 15 Chinese
and 14 Malaysian (see Exhibit 1). The main
reason for a relatively low usable response rate
was due to technical difficulties experienced by
participants in certain countries.
To overcome the problem of unequal sample
size, the “Australian” sample was reduced to 15
on a random basis, ending up in having a total
of 44 respondents in the sample (Table 3). This
approach is consistent with that proposed by
Tabachnick and Fidell (2001).
A descriptive statistics on this sample is
provided in Table 4.
Exhibit 1
Usable Reponses and their Perceived Cultural Backgrounds
Country teaching in Usable Responses Perceived Cultural Backgrounds

68 Australian
3 Chinese
2 Malaysian
Australia 99
26 Others

5 Chinese
Hong Kong 10
5 Others

12 Malaysian
Malaysia 14
2 Chinese

5 Chinese
Singapore 10
5 Others
Table 3
Perceived Cultural Background * Country Teaching in Crosstabulation
Country Teaching in Culture
Australia Hong Kong Malaysia Singapore
Total
Australian 15 – – – 15
Chinese 3 5 2 5 15
Malaysian 2 – 12 – 14
Total 20 5 14 5 44

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Table 4
Analysis of Respondents
Demographic Variable Australian Chinese Malaysian Total
Highest qualification achieved:
Bachelor
Masters
PhD
Professional

1
11
3

7
7
1

1
11
2

2
29
12
1
Total 15 15 14 44
Age:
20-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70

1
3
6
5

2
4
7
1
1

4
6
1
3

7
13
14
9
1
Total 15 15 14 44
Gender:
Male
Female

12
3

10
5

8
6

30
14
Total 15 15 14 44
Position:
Assistant professor
Associate lecturer
Associate professor
Lecturer
Senior lecturer
Professor

1
2
7
2
3

4
1
4
5
1

1
2
9
2

4
3
8
21
5
3
Total 15 15 14 44

The 26 questions contained in the instrument
(Sections 2 – 6) were examined to confirm their
interrelationships using factor analysis. Factor
analysis enables the grouping of these questions
(as factors) and reveals relationships within the
data (Hair et al. 1998). All questions (or
variables) were explored using a varimax
rotation to identify principle components.
Variables that loaded at 0.4 or above were
accepted as having the potential to form a
factor.
5
The analysis suggested that these
variables could be reduced to nine factors with
eigenvalues greater than 1.00 as cut-off

5 According to Tabachnik and Fidell (2001), various
loading values indicate different degrees of association:
greater than 0.71 – very strong association, 0.63 – strong
association, 0.55 – high association, and 0.45 – fair
association.
(Table 5)
6
. Internal consistency (cronbach alpha
?) of each factor was examined. As can be seen
from this table, the alpha of four factors
(transferability, source of knowledge, separate
course, and qualifications) was below the cut-
off of 0.6. While various grouping of variables
were attempted, the ? had not been improved
7
.
In the case of the factor named “separate
course”, a negative ? was reported. It would
appear that those who considered a separate
course to be very effective would regard the
integration of ethics education into existing
accounting courses as ineffective.

6 Exploratory factor analysis for all sections was
conducted and produced similar results. Tests were also
carried out to confirm that the assumptions for factor
analysis, such as normality, factorability and linearity,
were satisfied.
7 When the cronbach alpha was below 0.6, the question
with the highest loading value was selected.
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Table 5
Factor Analysis
Number of
Factor
Name of Factor Cronbach
?
Total Variance
Explained
Section 2 – ethics
behaviour education
(3 questions)
1 Delivery of ethics
education
0.6846 61.88%
Transferability
(question 1)
0.4649 Section 3 – Objections to
ethics education
(6 questions)
2
Source of knowledge
(question 4)
0.4553
49.14%
Professionalism
(questions 2, 4, 5)
0.7537 Section 4 – Goals of ethics
education (7 questions)
2
Moral developments
(questions 1, 3, 6, 7)
0.8033
65.37%
Reflective observation
(questions 1, 4, 5)
0.6258 Section 5a – Teaching
methods (6 questions)
2
Active experimentation
(questions 2, 3, 6)
0.6194
58.48%
Section 5b – Teaching
methods (2 questions)
1 Separate course
(question 7)
-0.1763 54.26%
Section 6 – Qualifications
(2 questions)
1 Qualifications
(question 1)
0.2690 57.81%
Table 6
Means and Standard Deviations of Factor Scores and Scale Scores
Factor Australian
(n = 15)
Chinese
(n = 15)
Malaysian
(n = 14)
Delivery of ethics education Mean
Std. Dev.
.156
.945
–.008
.640
–.135
1.369
Transferability Mean
Std. Dev.
5.67
1.496
4.73
2.052
5.85
1.281
Source of knowledge Mean
Std. Dev.
3.40
1.805
2.80
1.320
1.92
.862
Professionalism Mean
Std. Dev.
–.165
.840
.247
1.228
–.040
.492
Moral developments Mean
Std. Dev.
.321
1.367
–.527
.866
–.514
.995
Reflective observation Mean
Std. Dev.
.331
.903
–.335
.997
–.775
.525
Active experimentation Mean
Std. Dev.
.294
1.310
–.020
.977
.177
.799
Separate course Mean
Std. Dev.
3.27
1.751
3.47
1.642
3.23
1.481
Qualifications Mean
Std. Dev.
3.07
1.751
2.60
1.549
2.31
.855

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6. Data Analysis
Dependent variables for this analysis were the
nine factors as identified in the previous section
while the independent variable was the
participants’ perceived cultural backgrounds.
Means and standard deviations of factor scores
or scale scores for the Australian, Chinese and
Malaysian groups were calculated for each
factor and presented in Table 6.
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
was used to test the means of the three cultural
groups for each of the nine factors. The results
are reported in Table 7.
Although the analysis indicates no significant
differences for seven factors, significant
differences in the epistemological beliefs held
by the three cultural groups of accounting
educators were found in two factors: source of
knowledge, F (2, 41) = 3.868, p < .029, and
reflective observation, F (2, 41) = 6.099, p <
.005. Thus the hypothesis was partially
supported.
In order to locate the causes of the significant
differences, post hoc tests (the Scheffe test and
the Bonferroni test) were conducted. The results
(Table 8) suggest that epistemological beliefs on
the source of knowledge and reflective
observation for the Australian group were
significantly different from that for the
Malaysian group.
Four demographic variables (qualification,
age, gender and position) were identified and
interactions between culture and these variables
were considered in order to satisfy that the
significant differences as discussed above were
due to culture. The appropriate method used in
this analysis was factorial between subject
ANOVA, examining separately the interaction
between culture and qualification, culture and
age, culture and gender, and culture and
position. (Regression analysis was not
appropriate because qualification, gender and
position are discrete.) There were no significant
differences among the respondents on the
demographic variables obtained.
7. Case Study
Apart from the survey, case studies were
conducted to gain a better understanding of
the reasons for accounting educators’
epistemological beliefs regarding the four
questions on accounting ethics education as
Table 7
Results of Analysis of Variance
Factor Degree of Freedom Mean
Square
F ratio Sig.
Delivery of ethics education Between groups 2
Within groups 41
.310
1.039
.298 .744
Transferability Between groups 2
Within groups 41
5.160
2.749
1.877 .166
Source of knowledge Between groups 2
Within groups 41
7.631
1.973
3.868 .029*
Professionalism Between groups 2
Within groups 41
.667
.847
.787 .462
Moral developments Between groups 2
Within groups 41
3.466
1.213
2.858 .069
Reflective observation Between groups 2
Within groups 41
4.369
.716
6.099 .005*
Active experimentation Between groups 2
Within groups 41
.377
1.126
.334 .718
Separate course Between groups 2
Within groups 41
.234
2.674
.087 .916
Qualifications Between groups 2
Within groups 41
2.070
2.133
.970 .388
* Significant at the 0.05 level
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Table 8
Post Hoc Test - Scheffe Test
Factor Culture Mean Difference Std. Error Sig.
Australian Chinese
Malaysian
.600
1.477
*

.513
.532
.510
.030
Chinese Australian
Malaysian
–.600
.877
.513
.532
.510
.269
Source of knowledge
Malaysian Australian
Chinese
–1.477
*

–.877
.532
.532
.030
.269
Australian Chinese
Malaysian
.666
1.105
*

.309
.321
.111
.006
Chinese Australian
Malaysian
–.666
.440
.309
.321
.111
.399
Reflective
observation
Malaysian Australian
Chinese
–1.105
*

–.440
.321
.321
.006
.399
* The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level
The Bonferroni test produced almost identical results.

shown in section two. An in-depth
understanding revealed by case studies can
prove invaluable in providing seeds of thought
about these education issues and supplementing
the findings of the survey study.
Six case studies were conducted, allowing
for cross-case comparisons to be taken in order
to explore cultural variations. Six local
accounting academics from three different
cultural backgrounds (two Chinese, one
Malaysian and three Australian) participated in
the study. They were briefed about the purposes
of the research and the interviews were
anonymous. They held various academic
positions ranging from lecturer to professor and
had teaching experience of six to fifteen years.
All of them were exposed to teaching
accounting ethics at university. Interviewers had
experience in in-depth interviews and one of
them had carried out two research projects using
case study strategies. Face to face interviews
were conducted for Australian participants,
while telephone interviews for those overseas.
Although case study questions were largely in
line with the questions used in the survey, the
main focus was to ask participants to elaborate
on the reasons for their beliefs. The interviews
were analysed and findings were reported using
an integrated approach that takes issue by issue
(Yin, 2003).
On the fundamental question whether ethics
can be taught at the university level, the six
participants were unanimous in their support of
teaching ethics appropriately at this level. They
explained that students came to learn
accounting ethics after (not before) having
chosen accounting as their career and gained a
better perception of the importance of their
unique role in society. They saw accounting
ethics as an integral part of the accounting
discipline. The Chinese participants added that
although China was emerging as a candidate for
a super economic power, many were still
sceptical about the quality of their accounting
practice, and boosting accounting ethics
education at the university level “will make
people see that the next generation of
accountants is improving and will have better
public confidence in them.” One of them
claimed that he witnessed moral development in
some accounting students. An important finding
of the study is the Malaysian participant’s
emphasis on the importance of the role that
religion and pre-university education played in
shaping students’ ethical ideals. He recounted
how small religious schools had grown from
villages to Special Religious Schools and the
Centre or Foundation in cities. Religious
subjects commonly taught in secondary schools
included the principles of Islamic jurisprudence,
the Qur’anic exegesis, the tradition of the
Prophet, theology, and mysticism. The intensity
of religious studies, he revealed, could inspire
people to act individually and collectively in a
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moral manner because Islam stressed not only
correct belief but also right conduct: “In Islam,
belief and conduct are ideally one”. To the
contrary, there was no support among the
Chinese and Australian interviewees for the
proposition that ethical ideals were formed from
religious influence.
With regard to the objectives of ethics
education in accounting, all participants agreed
that instructions should aim at serving
professional needs, i.e. to recognise ethics issues
in accounting and to develop the ability to deal
with ethical dilemmas, as well as, to some
extent, setting the stage for moral development.
In explaining the reasons for their support, the
Chinese interviewees reiterated the importance
of accounting ethics in China’s fast growing
economy, while the Malaysian participant
viewed that good moral decision making was
grounded on students’ behavioural reform and
hence moral development deserved significant
attention.
There were differences in the teaching
approaches adopted by the Chinese, Malaysian
and Australian participants. The Chinese
interviewees believed that not only was the
more structured approach, such as lectures and
learning of the professional code of ethics,
effective, the use of case studies to arouse
thinking and interest in class discussion also
should be encouraged. They disagreed that
Chinese approaches to learning were overly
instrumental to the neglect of deep
understanding. Chinese students, they
explained, might appear to be surface oriented
but actually were deep oriented. One participant
expressed his failure to comprehend why some
researchers in education who were familiar with
the Confucian philosophy could come up with a
conclusion that Confucian encouraged only
memorisation when The Analects clearly
contained Confucian’s encouragement of both
thoughtful acquisition and inquiry which would
mean deep learning in modern terms. The
Malaysian interviewee supported the structured
approach and considered the professional code
of ethics as important. The first steps of
learning, he contended, was the acquisition of
the basics from authoritative sources of
knowledge. Discussion of cases in class without
the fundamentals would lead to confusion and
unnecessary argument among ill-informed
students. In contrast, none of the Australian
interviewees supported the lecture method and
the Code of Professional Conduct developed by
the ICAA in their teaching strategies.
Regarding the perceived qualifications of
educators giving instructions in accounting
ethics, participants generally concurred that
accounting educators were qualified, but in a
very different experience they gave different
reasons for their opinions. Chinese participants
believed that accounting instructors would have
a better understanding of the accounting ethics
issues, Malaysian participants were satisfied
that they were competent to teach students
because they had sufficient training in religion,
while Australian ones tended to feel that
teachers would act as co-travellers and as guides
rather than experts and that the responsibility of
learning would lie with the student.
These case studies largely support the survey
results. Also, some insight has been provided
into how accounting educators from different
cultural backgrounds feel about the four
questions on accounting ethics education.
8. Conclusions
Results (Table 8) suggest that Australian and
Malaysian accounting educators differed
significantly in their epistemological beliefs on
the source of knowledge. The means in Table 6
show that the Malaysian participants (mean =
1.92) were significantly more inclined to
believe than their Australian counterparts
(means = 3.40) that ethical ideals are formed
from influences of home, church, society and
pre-university education. The traditional
Moslem-dominated culture in Malaysia against
the western or Anglo-dominated culture in
Australia might account for this large range of
beliefs. The religious-based values in the
Malaysian culture which encourage religious
education at the mosque during pre-university
years have likely contributed to the belief that
ethical values are determined early in life and as
a consequence ethics teaching at university has
limited influence on attitudinal change. These
religious-based values, however, are absent in
the western and Chinese cultures. In the
individualist cultural environment, like
Australia, education is driven by the desire to
improve one’s economic worth rather than by
religious concerns. An individual’s value
system is not static. Instead, it is likely to
change through cognitive interventions.
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The next interesting finding relates to the
difference in the epistemological beliefs among
Australian and Malaysian participants on the
acquisition of knowledge (Table 8). Although
accounting educators in this study showed no
significant difference in their beliefs in stressing
dilemma discussions (case studies), the means
in Table 6 also reveal that the Malaysian
participants (mean = –.775) were significantly
more prepared than their Australian
counterparts (means = .331) to use the lecture
method and the professional code of ethics in
their teaching strategies. The data provide
support to the assertion that people in a religion-
dominated culture tend to believe in the
dominant role of epistemic authorities, such as
the Holy Qur’an and religion leaders. As such,
accounting educators are likely to believe in
knowledge acquisition through reflective
observation of the teacher and the official code
of ethics. By contrast, individualists tend to pay
less concentration towards normative ethics
provided by the profession as rigid guidance for
day-to-day moral decision making. Nor do they
prepare to wholly accept the epistemic authority
of teachers in their learning process. The case
studies strongly support these survey results and
provide some explanations for the cultural
variations.
Results (Table 8) show no significant
differences in the epistemological beliefs of the
Chinese and Australian participants in this
study. The data may lend evidence to
Hofstede’s (2001) suggestion that an increase in
wealth (as experienced by Hong Kong and
Singapore in the past decades) will contribute to
the shift towards individualism. The results also
provide evidence to support Wang’s (1991)
observation that the further it is from the
Confucian core (i.e. Mainland China) the
weaker would be the traditional values of
Confucianism. The findings of this study should
be considered as exploratory, and future
research may be undertaken to include
accounting academics from universities in the
Confucian core in order to make the findings
more conclusive.
Interestingly, there were no significant
statistical differences in the epistemological
beliefs held by participants in this study
concerning other issues in accounting ethics
education, i.e. the delivery of ethics education,
transferability, goals of ethics education,
separate course, and qualification. In spite of the
variations in their cultural backgrounds, they
supported accounting ethics teaching at the
university and believed that personal ethics can
transfer to professional ethics and that
professionalism and moral developments are
important goals to be achieved. They also
expressed their disapproval of having a separate
course in accounting ethics and tended to
believe that accounting educators are
unqualified to teach accounting ethics (Table 6).
An understanding of teachers’ epistemological
beliefs in the cultural perspective has provided a
starting place upon which accounting ethics
education can build in the modern era of
globalisation. As Pratt (1992) asserts,
conceptions of teaching should be a consistent
trilogy of beliefs, intentions and actions.
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Appendix 1
SECTION 2 – beliefs on general ethics
education
1. Ethical behaviour can be taught effectively
at the university level.
2. More topics on ethics in accounting courses
are needed.
3. Media coverage of corporate scandals
encourages me to teach more about ethics in
accounting.
SECTION 3 – beliefs on the validity of
objections to ethics teaching at university
1. Personal ethics does not transfer to
professional ethics.
2. Teaching ethics in accounting courses at the
university level has no impact on
professional behaviour.
3. The true motive of ethics instruction is
merely a response to corporate scandals.
4. Ethical ideals are formed mainly from
influences of home, church (or similar),
society and pre-university education.
5. Ethics is unscientific and non-empirical and
therefore should not be taught in the
accounting curriculum.
6. Ethics cannot be taught without
indoctrinating or imposing the instructor’s
own value system.
SECTION 4 – beliefs on goals of teaching
accounting ethics
1. Relate accounting education to moral issues.
2. Recognise issues in accounting that have
ethical implications.
3. Develop a sense of moral obligation or
responsibility within students.
4. Develop the abilities needed for students to
deal with ethical conflicts or dilemmas.
5. Learn to deal with the uncertainties facing
the accounting profession.
6. Set the stage for a change in ethical
behaviour.
7. Appreciate and understand the history and
composition of all aspects of accounting
ethics and their relationship to the general
field of ethics.
SECTION 5 – beliefs on the effectiveness of
teaching methods/approaches
1. Lecture method.
2. Written short cases (less than one page in
length).
3. Written long cases (more than one page in
length).
4. Code of ethics or conduct.
5. Accounting ethics assignment.
6. Video vignettes method.
7. A separate course in accounting ethics.
8. Integrate accounting ethics within existing
accounting courses.
SECTION 6 – beliefs on qualifications of ethics
educators
1. Accounting educators with formal training
in teaching ethics.
2. Religion or philosophy educators.
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