Investigating the Impact of Ethical Ideology and the Threat ‎of Self-Interest on Ethical Decision-Making of Auditors

Ethical ideology as an individual factor and the ‎threat of self-interest as an environmental factor can affect ‎the ethical conduct of the individual. Therefore, the purpose ‎of this study was to examine the impact of ethical ideology ‎and the threat of self-interest on the ethical decision-making ‎process of auditors.‎

This is a quasi-experimental study. The statistical ‎population includes auditors who working in the private sector ‎audit firms and statistical sample include 186 members of the ‎community. Data were collected through a questionnaire and ‎analyzed using structural equation model.‎

Findings show that idealist ethical ideology and the ‎threat of self-interest have a direct and significant impact on ‎the ethical decision-making process of auditors. But the ‎relative ethical ideology has an indirect impact on the ethical ‎decision-making process of auditors.‎

The results of this research show the impact of ‎ethical ideology and the threat of self-interest in the ethical ‎decision-making skills of auditors. Therefore, it is imperative ‎that audit firms provide ethical training courses to inform ‎auditors of ethical issues.‎