The effect of gender and code of ethics on budgetary slack ethical judgment: Experimental evidence from Indonesia

• Published in: Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science Vol. 28; no. 56; pp. 273 - 286
• Main Authors: Lucyanda, Jurica, Sholihin, Mahfud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bingley Emerald Publishing Limited 11.12.2023; Universidad ESAN, Peru; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Behavioural research; Budget; Budgetary slack ethical judgment; Business ethics; Code of ethics; Codes of conduct; College students; Decision making; Ethics; Experiment; Gender; Gender differences; Gender identity; Management accounting; Mixed factorial design; Social norms; Values; Women; Indonesia; A22; A23; Experiment; Budgetary slack ethical judgment; Code of ethics; Mixed factorial design; Gender; C90; M41; D91; Behavioural research
• ISSN: 2218-0648; 2077-1886; 2218-0648; 2077-1886
• DOI: 10.1108/JEFAS-05-2021-0044

Purpose - This research aims to study budgetary slack from a behavioural perspective, especially examining the effect of gender and code of ethics on budgetary slack ethical judgment. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts the experimental method of 2 × 3 between-subjects mixed factorial design with 102 participants to test the hypotheses. The participants are undergraduate and postgraduate accounting students at a major university in Indonesia. Findings The results show that gender affects budgetary slack ethical judgment, in which women judge budgetary slack as more unethical than men. Additionally, the results indicate that individuals consider budgetary slack more unethical when a code of ethics is present than when it is absent. Originality/value This study contributes to the management accounting literature and behavioural research by understanding budgetary slack from an ethical perspective. Additionally, this study contributes to ethics literature by identifying the effect of gender and code of ethics on budgetary slack righteous judgment.