Ethical Decision Making in the Public Accounting Profession: An Extension of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior

The purpose of this study is to expand our understanding of the factors that influence ethical behavioral intentions of public accountants. Recent scandals have dominated the news and have caused legislators, regulators and the public to question the role of the accounting profession. Legislative changes have brought about major structural changes in the profession and continued scrutiny will surely lead to further changes. Thus, developing an understanding of the personal and contextual factors that influence ethical decisions is critical. An extension of the theory of planned behavior [Ajzen, I.: 1985, Action Control-From Cognition to Behavior (Springer, Heidelberg)], the model used in this study examined the influence of personal, social and organizational factors on ethical intentions. Specifically, the individual level model tested direct effects of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, moral sensitivity and ethical climate. Professionals from five accounting firms completed a survey that measured responses to ethical dilemmas related to the public accounting domain. To minimize the potential impact of common method bias, the survey instrument was administered in two phases. Hypotheses were evaluated using a structural modeling technique, partial least squares. Results show strong support for a direct relationship between attitudes and ethical intentions. The proposed direct effect of subjective norms was not supported. However, a significant relationship between subjective norms and attitudes was found. Professionals’ attitudes towards ethical issues clearly influence intentions. Moreover, this study illustrates the potential influence of social factors in attitude formation. Future research should explore the factors in the public accounting domain that most strongly influence attitude formation. This study suggests that the theory of reasoned action offers a useful framework for exploring these issues.     

Cash,credit, or phone? An empirical study on the adoption of mobile payments in the United States

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of consumer factors on behavioral intention to adopt mobile payments. We focus on the proximity mobile payment, which is made feasible by the near-field communications (NFCs) technology. Building upon the theory of reasoned action and technology acceptance model (TAM), a behavioral intention model was established consisting of enhanced cognitive antecedents as well as affective and social antecedents. Cognitive antecedents encompass the factors including relative advantage, perceived usefulness and ease of use in the TAM, and technology characteristics (e.g., responsiveness and mobility); affective antecedents focus on positive and negative emotions associated with using NFC mobile payments. Both antecedents are expected to affect attitudes. In addition, social antecedents examine subjective norms and the influence of network externalities. Data were collected from 394 adult nonusers of NFC mobile payments in the United States via an online survey. The research model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results showed that all three antecedents significantly affected individual consumers’ intention to adopt NFC mobile payments, explaining a significant amount of variance. Both theoretical and marketing implications are discussed in the context of NFC mobile payments.     

Consumer Adoption of Mobile Internet Services: An Exploratory Study

This study provides a framework that captures the antecedents of mobile internet adoption and the willingness to pay for such service. The theory of reasoned action and components of a theory of innovation adoption were integrated into a research model of consumer adoption of the mobile internet. The hypothesized model included service quality perceptions (fixed internet and mobile technology service), beliefs about mobile internet, and individual difference variables to explain intention to adopt mobile internet. An online questionnaire was used to gather data. The results showed that beliefs and quality perceptions play a significant role in influencing intentions to adopt mobile internet. In particular, beliefs about mobile internet are positively related to the adoption; quality perceptions of fixed internet are found significant to negatively influence adoption intentions, but positively relate to willingness to pay for using mobile internet. Mobile service usage, and peer influence are found non-significant to influence adoption intentions. Fixed internet usage was found negatively affect adoption intentions. Computer skills, knowledge of mobile internet and career mobility are all found positively related to the adoption. In addition, innovation driven consumers are more likely to adopt mobile internet, and intention to adopt plays an important role in shaping actual mobile internet use. Implications of results and directions for future research are examined.