Abstract
This study examines the personal values and value types of Chinese accounting practitioners and students, using the values survey questionnaire developed and validated by Schwartz (1992, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 25, 1–65). A total of 454 accounting practitioners and 126 graduate accounting students participated in the study. The results show that Healthy, Family Security, Self-Respect, and Honoring of Parents and Elders are the top four values for both accounting practitioners and accounting students, although these values are not ranked in the same order. Social Power, An Exciting Life, Devout, and Accepting My Portion in Life are the lowest rated four values for the accounting practitioners whereas Devout, An Exciting Life, Detachment, and Accepting My Portion in Life form the bottom four values for the accounting students. Both accounting practitioners and students ranked Security as the highest value type and Tradition as the lowest one, and the students rated Self-Direction as significantly more important than the practitioners. With respect to gender differences, both the male accounting practitioners and students rated the value type Achievement significantly higher than their female counterparts and there were several significant gender differences in personal values for both accounting practitioners and students. In addition, the perceived values are linked to social and cultural factors as well as to the influence of Western values.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cao J., Nie L. 2002 Research of the Composition of the Accountants in China. Friend of Accounting 1:16–17
Child, J. D.: 1981, ‘Culture, Contingency and Capitalism in the Cross-national Study of Organization’, in L. L. Cummings and G. M. Staw (eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior 3, (JAI Publishers, Greenwich, CT), pp. 303–356
Douglas P. C., R. A. Davidson, B. N. Schwartz: 2001 The Effect of Organizational Culture and Ethical Orientation on Accountants’ Ethical Judgments. Journal of Business Ethics 34(2): 101–121
Douglas P. C., B. N. Schwartz: 1999 Values as the Foundation for Moral Judgment: Theory and Evidence in an Accounting Context. Research on Accounting 5:3–20
Egri C. P., Ralston D. A.: 2004 Generation Cohorts and Personal Values: A Comparison of China and United States. Organization Science 1:210–220
Eliason B. C., D. B. Schubot: 1995 Personal Values of Exemplary Physicians: Implications for Professional Satisfaction in Family Medicine. The Journal of Family Practice 41(3): 251–256
Erikson E. H.: 1997, The Life Cycle Completed. W.W. Norton, New York
Fagenson E.: 1993 Personal Value Systems of Men and Women Entrepreneurs Versus Managers. Journal of Business Venturing, 8(5), 409–430
Feather N.: 1988 From Values to Actions: Recent Application of the Expectancy-Value Model. Journal of Psychology 40: 105–124
Finnegan, M.: 1994, Ethics and Economics. Master’s thesis, University College, Galway
Gandal N., S. Roccas, L. Sagiv, A. Wrzesniewski: 2005 Personal Value Priorities of Economists. Human Relations 58(10): 1227–1251
Gao S. S., M. Handley-Schacter: 2003 The Influences of Confucianism, Feng Shui and Buddhism in Chinese Accounting History. Accounting Business & Financial History 13(1): 41–68
Giacomino D. E., M. Akers: 1998 An Examination of the Differences Between Personal Values and the Value Types of Female and Male Accounting and Nonaccounting Majors. Issues in Accounting Education 13: 565–584
Giacomino D. E., M. D. Akers, A. Fujita: 1999 Personal Values of Japanese Business Managers. Business Forum, Los Angeles, 24:9–15
Hassan, M., K. Dhanani and A. Witherspoon: 2002, Personal Values of Accounting Students: Empirical Study. IBER Conference Proceedings, Las Vegas, Nevada
Hill, R. E. and W. Huang: 2005, An Introduction to Chinese Culture and a Comparison to American Culture. Global Business Trends: Contemporary Readings (Proceedings of Academy of Business Administration), pp. 131–134
Hofstede G.: 1980. Culture’s Consequences. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA
Islam M., Gowing M.: 2003. Some Empirical Evidence of Chinese Accounting System and Business Management Practices from an Ethical Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics 42(4): 353–378
Jones T.: 1991 Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model. Academy of Management Review 79: 97–116
Kelly L., Whatley A., Worthley R.: 1987. Assessing the Effects of Culture on Managerial Attitudes: A Three-Culture Test. Journal of International Business Studies 18(1): 17–31
Kohlberg L.: 1976, Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach. In: T. Lickona (ed.) Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research and Social Issues. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp 31–53
Lan G., Gowing M., McMahon S., Rieger F., N. King: 2008 A Study of the Relationship Between Personal Values and Moral Reasoning of Undergraduate Business Students. Journal of Business Ethics 78:121–139
Lindeman M., Verkasalo M.: 2005 Measuring Values with the Short Schwartz’s Value Survey. Journal of Personality Assessment 85:170–178
Pinac-Ward S., Ward D., Wilson T. E. Jr.: 1995 University Accounting Professors: An Examination of Personal Values. Accounting Educators Journal 7(1): 39–53
Posner B., W. Randolph, W. Schmidt: 1987 Managerial Values Across Functions: A Source of Organizational Problems. Group and Organization Studies 12(4):373–385
Ralston D. A., Holt D. H., Terpstra R. H., Yu K. C. 1997. The Impact of National Culture and Economic Ideology on Managerial Work Values: A Study of the US, Russia, Japan and China. Journal of International Business Studies 18(1): 107–177
Ravlin E., Meglino B.: 1987 Effect of Values on Perception and Decision Making: A Study of Alternative Work Values Measures. Journal of Applied Psychology 72: 666–673
Rokeach M.: 1973, The Nature of Human Value. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Schwartz S. H.: 1992 Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in Twenty Countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 25:1–65
Schwartz S. H.: 1994 Are There Universal Aspects in the Structure and Contents of Human Values? Journal of Social Issues 50(4):19–45
Schwartz, S. H.: 2006, ‘Basic Human Values: Theory Measurement, and Application’, Revue Française de Sociologie 47(4)
Schwartz S. H., T. Rubel: 2005 Sex Differences in Value Priorities: Cross-Cultural and Multimethod Studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 89(6): 1010–1028
Schwartz S. H., L. Sagiv: 1995 Identifying Culture-Specifics in the Content and Structure of Values. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 26:92–116
Smith, P. B. and S. H. Schwartz: 1997, ‘Values’, in C. Kagitcibasi and M. H. Segall (eds.), Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology (Allen and Bacon, Boston), pp.␣77–118
Stevens-Long J.: 1990 Adult Development: Theories Past and Future. In: R. A. Nemiroff, C. A. Colarussso (eds) New Dimensions in Adult Development. Basic Books, New York, pp 125–165
Swindle, B., L. D. Phelps and R. Broussard: 1987, Professional Ethics and Values of Certified Public Accountants. The Woman CPA (April), p. 3
Tan B.: 2002 Researching Managerial Values: A Cross-Cultural Comparison. Journal of Business Research 55(10): 815–821
Waldmann E.: 2000 Teaching Ethics in Accounting: A Discussion of Cross-Cultural Factors with a Focus on Confucianism and Western Philosophy. Accounting Education 9: 23–35
Whitcomb L. L., Erdener C. B., C. Li: 1998 Business Ethical Values in China and the U.S. Journal of Business Ethics, 17: 839–852
Whitely W. T., G. W. England 1977 Managerial Values as a Reflection of Culture and the Process of Industrialization. Academy of Management Journal 20(3):439–453
Williams R. M. Jr.: 1968 The Concept of Values. In: D. L. Sills (ed) International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences. Macmillan, New York, NY
Wilson, T. E., S. Pinac-Ward and D. R. Ward: 1998, ‘CPA Values Analysis: Towards a Better Understanding of the Motivations and Ethical Attitudes of the Profession’, in L. Ponemon (ed.), Research on Accounting Ethics (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), 4, 201–210
Xinran: 2003, The Good Women of China (Random House, Toronto), p. 114
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant #: 70471038 and by an Odette Research and Teaching Innovation Fund from the University of Windsor, Canada. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lan, G., Ma, Z., Cao, J. et al. A Comparison of Personal Values of Chinese Accounting Practitioners and Students. J Bus Ethics 88 (Suppl 1), 59–76 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9829-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9829-6