<p> There is a lack of empirical research on leadership. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the three components of the theory of reasoned action (TRA): (a) behavioral intention, (b) integration attitude, and (c) subjective norms as they relate to the commitment of the corruption component of occupational fraud (OF). The rationale of this study was to evaluate whether the influences of executive management related to the intent to commit corruption. The three independent variables were behavioral intention, attitude, and subjective norms, and one dependent variable, corruption. The research questions examined the relationship between executive management’s influences; behavioral intention, attitude, and subjective norms and the intention of committing corruption as well as the extent to which an executive manager’s moral reasoning influences such an intention. The hypotheses in the study were not formulated to establish cause and effect relationships nor to assign groups. This quantitative, nonexperimental study was also intended to recognize patterns and trends from the data and statistics of the results. A Pearson Coefficient Correlation was utilized as an analysis tool to recognize statistically significant correlations. An online survey was administered in fall 2016 to 76 participants who are in the executive management role of finance and accounting departments from different U.S. organizations. All 76 participants were included in the TRA analysis. However, due to the additional reliability test administered by the University of Alabama Center for Ethical Study (UACSED), only 63 participants were selected in the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT2) statistical analysis. TRA utilized a Pearson Coefficient Correlation analysis to determine if a relationship exists between the independent variables (behavioral intention, integration attitude, and subjective norms) and a single dependent variable (corruption). The Pearson Correlation results indicated a strong significant positive relationship for the following: (<i>r</i>76) = 0.795 for the relationship between executive management’s attitude towards the intention of committing corruption, (<i>r</i>76) = 0.713 the relationship between executive management’s subjective norms towards the intention of committing corruption, and (<i>r</i>76) = 0.874 for the relationship between executive management’s intention of committing corruption. The DIT2 results also indicated strong moral reasoning, illustrating high moral judgment of executive management and low intention of committing corruption based on the Maintaining Norms Score of 34.76 and a Personal Interest score of 32.12. The findings from this study could be used as a theoretical foundation for further research and subsequently bridge the gap in OF literature.</p><p>
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10598829 |
Date | 17 August 2017 |
Creators | Dunbar, Rochelle V. |
Publisher | Capella University |
Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | thesis |
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