Slippery Slope or Compensatory Behavior: The Role of Locas of Control and Negative Affect on Ethical Accounting Decision Making

Individuals with different personal attributes perform immoral acts for the first time. For later times, they are based on their behavior, and their immoral behavior becomes bigger and larger. This operation is referred to as slippery slope argument. In contrast, there are also people who are when wanted or unwanted in An unusual, small, and unhealthy behavior is faced with negative emotions, and in future decisions seek to compensate for this. That behavior is also referred to as a Licensing or compensatory behavior. On the contrary, the slippery slope. Both theories can exist in accounting, which depends on individual and environmental differences. In this research, individual differences, such as the source of internal locus control and fear as negative effect, have been investigated, that could provide important insights in escalating ethical situations regarding what types of individuals are more likely to engage in a slippery slope (consistent) pattern of behavior compared to compensatory (or licensing) behavior in accounting related scenarios. The research method is semi-experimental, applied and of a cross-sectional type. The time of research is cross-sectional in 2017. The statistical population of this study is graduate accounting (PhD) students of all universities of Iran. Using Cochran formula, 325 people were selected. In the next step, a structure for slippery slope behavior was created and using variance analysis by designing a general linear model after proving a significant effect between the variables, the comparison of the mean of different groups after their placement in the slippery slope structure was dealt. The results of this research show that individual characteristics including high levels of fear as a negative affective state indicate behavior that results in a slippery slope. In contrast, negative affliction (fear) leads less to compensatory behavior. On the other hand, people with a high internal locas of control, when negative affect (fear) is low, show compensatory behavior.