Cogent Business & Management ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/oabm20 Ethical decision-making of tax accountants: examining the relative effect of religiosity, re- enforced tax ethics education and professional experience Holy Kwabla Kportorgbi, Teddy Ossei Kwakye & Francis Aboagye-Otchere To cite this article: Holy Kwabla Kportorgbi, Teddy Ossei Kwakye & Francis Aboagye-Otchere (2022) Ethical decision-making of tax accountants: examining the relative effect of religiosity, re- enforced tax ethics education and professional experience, Cogent Business & Management, 9:1, 2149148, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 © 2022 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Published online: 25 Nov 2022. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 147 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 ACCOUNTING, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & BUSINESS ETHICS | RESEARCH ARTICLE Ethical decision-making of tax accountants: examining the relative effect of religiosity, re-enforced tax ethics education and Received: 17 October 2022 Accepted: 15 November 2022 professional experience *Corresponding author: Holy Kwabla Holy Kwabla Kportorgbi1*, Teddy Ossei Kwakye2 and Francis Aboagye-Otchere2 Kportorgbi, Department of Accounting, GIMPA Business School, Ghana Institute of Management and Abstract: This paper investigates the relative effect of re-enforced tax ethics educa- Public Administration, University of Ghana, P.O.Box AH 50, Achimota, tion (RTEE), religious commitment and professional experience on ethical decision- Accra Ghana making (EDM). Survey data from 356 tax accountants were analysed using the partial Email: hkportorgbi@gimpa.edu.gh least square structural equation modelling technique. The study found that intra- Reviewing editor: Collins G. Ntim, Accounting, religious commitment predicts EDM, but inter-personal religious commitment does not University of Southampton, predict EDM. Further, all three examined variables concurrently influence EDM, but RTEE Southampton, United Kingdom is the most influential EDM variable. The findings of this study should energise tax Additional information is available at the end of the article practice organisations to re-enforce tax ethics education among their officers and guide the assignment of officers to ethically sensitive tax engagements. The paper contributes to Kant’s theory of morality. Subjects: Accounting Education; Business Ethics; Ethics; Religious Ethics ABOUT THE AUTHORS PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Holy Kwabla Kportorgbi is a lecturer at the The Ghana statistical service’s survey of people’s department of Accounting and Finance of Ghana experiences and views on corruption listed tax Institute of Management and Public workspace among the top three most corrupt Administration (GIMPA). He is also a PhD candi- institutions in Ghana. This finding partly moti- date at University of Ghana Business School. His vated this study, considering that the tax work- PhD thesis in on ethical decision-making. His space is dominated by ethically educated current research interest is in the areas of tax professionals. This study found that membership ethics, tax compliance and tax policy, and in professional tax association provides a re- financial reporting. enforcement of ethics and leads to improvement Teddy Ossei Kwakye Dr is a senior lecturer at the in ethical decision-making. Gatekeepers in the Department of Accounting at the University of field of taxation should encourage and motivate Ghana Business School. Teddy’s research focuses professionals in other disciplines to acquire and on addressing strategic management account- maintain membership in tax profession associa- ing, corporate governance, financial and socio- tion. Relatedly, tax organizations should encou- environmental reporting, and ethics. rage programs that re-enforce tax ethics Francis Aboagye-Otchere Dr is a senior lecturer education among their employees. Further, the at the Department of Accounting at the study found that ethical decision-making University of Ghana Business School. His improves as tax officer accumulate more experi- research areas are corporate governance, cor- ence. The study recommends that experienced, porate social responsibility, environmental and chartered tax professionals should be accounting, and ethics. He has extensive assigned to ethically sensitive engagements. experience in university level teaching, executive Finally, the study found that individuals could and adult training, organizational and financial manifest a form of godliness but not be inclined restructuring, design, redesign and improvement to act ethically;thus religious stereotyping in tax of business processes. team composition decisions may produce unde- sirable efffects. © 2022 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Page 1 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Keywords: Ethical decision-making; religious commitment; re-enforced tax ethics education; tax ethics; professional experience 1. Introduction There is a plethora of literature on the respective influences of religiosity (Goel & Misra, 2020; Tariq et al. (2019), ethics education (Kakos, 2019; Parks-Leduc et al., 2021) and professional experience (Barrainkua & Espinosa-Pike, 2018) on ethical decision-making (EDM). There are, however, compelling reasons to study the concurrent and relative influence of these variables on EDM. The extant literature captured the influence of the variables (religiosity, work experi- ence, and ethics education) on EDM in isolation. Including these variables concurrently in an EDM model is pertinent for understanding variations in ethical behaviour among highly reli- gious, ethically educated, and experienced professionals. This study fetches this important perspective to the EDM literature. It explains why ethical scandals may persist in workspaces dominated by highly religious1 and ethically exposed professionals. There is also the case for revisiting the individual influence of religious variables on EDM. The findings in extant literature are inconsistent. One school of thought evinces a positive relation- ship between religious variables and ethical behaviour proxies (Fathallah et al., 2020; Sidani & Khalil, 2020; Nambukara-Gamage & Rahman, 2020; Tittle & Welch, 1983). Another taxonomy of studies reported “no/weak” influence (Agle & Van Buren, 1999; Shariff, 2015). Contemporary studies conceptualised religious variables as religious commitment, yet the results are still inconsistent. Goel and Misra (2020) extracted two components of religious commitment— intrinsic and extrinsic—and found that only intrinsic religious commitment influence EDM. However, Tariq et al. (2019) suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic commitment positively predict EDM. With a unique sample of ethics education “haves”, this study contributes to the contemporary debate on which component of religious commitment influences EDM and to what extent. Another reason for this study is to capture the relative effect of re-enforced ethics education (RTEE) on EDM. Existing literature focused on the EDM effect of ethics education and overly relied on samples comprising ethics education “haves” and ethics education “have-nots (Cloninger & Selvarajan, 2010; Kakos, 2019; Parks-Leduc et al., 2021; Remišová et al., 2019). Beyond positing contradicting results, the literature is constrained in explaining how much RTEE contributes to explaining variations in EDM among ethical education “haves”. This perspective is pertinent in guiding organisational policy on sustained and continuous ethics education. The study on EDM is pertinent in an era where emerging discipline-specific professional bodies continue to question the sufficiency of ethics education offered by generalised professional bodies. In Ghana, for instance, the Chartered Institute of Taxation-Ghana (CITG) argues that accounting professionals who work in the tax workspace should further obtain CITG membership as this provides re-enforcement of their tax ethics. The claim that re-enforced tax ethics education (RTEE) offers an additional layer towards EDM is supported by theories of re-enforced learning (Croker et al., 2015). However, it is primarily not empirically tested within the given context. Finally, this study examines the relative effect of professional experience on EDM. Literature on the influence of professional experience on EDM is scarce. The extant literature links work experi- ence to EDM (Arlow, 1991; Barrainkua & Espinosa-Pike, 2018; Wittmer, 2019). In accounting/ taxation practice, professional experience is a critical factor in work team composition and promotion. Thus, context-specific evidence on the relationship between professional experience and EDM is pertinent. This paper investigates the relative and concurrent influences of religious commitment, RTEE, and professional experience on EDM. Specific research objectives (RO) are to: Page 2 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 RO1: re-examine the influence of two components of religious commitment (i.e., intra- religious and inter-personal religious commitment) on the EDM of tax accountants in Ghana. RO2: establish the relative effect of religious commitment, RTEE, and professional experience on the EDM of tax accountants. The study context and sample reflect specific contexts in Africa and Asia where workspaces dominated by highly religious persons (Ghana Statistical Service, 2021; Goel & Misra, 2020) con- tinue to record tax ethics-related scandals (Addo, 2021). Furthermore, the study sample comprised tax accountants, a lowly represented perspective in accounting EDM literature. The study also draws and contributes to the Kantian theory of morality by establishing intra-religious commit- ment, RTEE and professional experience as factors that individually and collectively influence individuals’ scheme of interpretation and imbibement of the moral rules. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: a review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature, the study methodology, results and a discussion of the finding and conclusion. 2. Literature review 2.1. Concept definition and theoretical review 2.1.1. EDM Rest’s (1986) conceptualised EDM as a cognitive process through which individuals imbibe ethics in their decision-making. According to Rest (1986), the cognitive process comprises four independent stages: ethical issue recognition, ethical judgment, ethical intention, and actual ethical behaviour. At the ethical issue recognition stage, the decision-maker constructs ethical reality and evaluates the importance of ethical dimensions in a given situation (Lincoln & Holmes, 2008). In the second stage, the decision-maker applies his/her cognitive valuation of rules, principles, or norms to determine the rightness or otherwise of an intended decision. The ethical intention stage involves the willingness and mental fortitude of the decision-maker to take a purported “right” course of decision amid conflicting influences, other convenient alternatives and in the presence of external stress. The fourth stage involves unambiguous and absolute enforcement of the actual decision. Rest (1979) contends that the four stages are relatively distinct and that progress in one stage does not imply progress in the others. Musbah et al. (2016) agree that the ethical issue recognition stage and the ethical intention stage are independent but contend that the ethical judgment stage predicts the ethical intention stage. Following prior studies in business (Hirth-Goebel & Weißenberger, 2019; Jaijairam, 2017; Kashif et al., 2017; Valentine & Godkin, 2019), this current study conceptualises EDM to comprise ethical issue recognition and ethical intention. 2.1.2. Kant’s theory of morality Kantian theory of morality (Sullivan, 1989) provides a rich theoretical lens for understanding the influences of religious commitment, RTEE, and professional experience on EDM. We draw on Kant’s postulations on the interplay among moral rules, freedom, and autonomy. Kant argues that institu- tions/logics of life (i.e., religion, ethical norms of professional bodies) could be a source of moral rules that provide a moral reference for individuals (Reath, 2020; Wood, 2020). Although moral rules provide a frame of morality, individuals’ moral actions are influenced by their obligation to interpret the moral rules (autonomy) and freewill imbibement (freedom) of the moral rules (Sullivan, 1989). Following Kantian’s theory of morality, this study argues that religious commitments, RTEE, and professional influence may provide a source of moral rules. However, their depth and direction of influence largely depend on how well each variable influences individuals’ interpretation and imbibements of the espoused moral rules. For instance, a low level of imbibement of a moral Page 3 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 rule will predict a low influence on Rest’s (1986) EDM scale, and extensive reflection on the moral rules may predict EDM at higher stages on the EDM scale. 2.2. Conceptual framework In line with Kantian’s theory of morality and Rest’s EMD framework, the study holds that religious commitment, professional membership, and experience are institutional logics with unique moral rules. The study also postulates that individual decision-makers are autonomously responsible for interpreting moral rules offered by these three institutional logics. The results of these autono- mous interpretations could either produce an intrinsic rational interest to act ethically or yield a mere extrinsic manifestation of moral rules. Further, it is postulated that an individual’s depth intrinsic imbibement of the moral rules predicts EDM; but the mere extrinsic manifestation of the moral rules will not predict EDM. Figure 1 presents the summary of theoretical postulations, as inspired by Kantian’s theory of morality. Based on this conceptual framework, a positive association between the variables of inter- est (religious commitment, professional membership, and professional experience) should be interpreted as a high level of influence of the respective variables on the individuals’ scheme of interpretation and imbibement of the moral rules espoused by those institutions. 2.3. Empirical review and development of hypothesis The literature has not captured the simultaneous and relative influence of the three variables (religious commitment, RTEE, and professional experience) on EDM. The literature, however, cap- tures the relationships in isolation. A taxonomy of studies linked religious disposition/affiliations and ethical behaviour proxies and reported inconsistent results (Agle & Van Buren, 1999; Fathallah et al., 2020; Shariff, 2015). Shariff (2015) found that religion does not influence pro-social behaviour, while Fathallah et al. (2020) concluded that religious affiliation influences ethical behaviour proxies. Agle and Van Buren (1999) found a weak relationship between Christian religious affiliation and pro-social behaviour. Sulaiman et al. (2021) also sought to understand how Islamic religiosity influences EDM. The study found that only conscience mediates the relationship between Islamic religi- osity and EDM. Another taxonomy of studies conceptualised religious variables in greater depth as religiosity (Alteer et al., et al., 2013), religious commitment or spirituality (Nambukara- Gamage & Rahman, 2020). Nambukara-Gamage and Rahman (2020) and Longenecker et al. (2004) found that religious variable positively predicts ethical behaviour. Goel and Misra (2020) and Tariq et al. (2019) examined the relationship between two perspectives of religious commitment and EDM. While Goel and Misra (2020) found that only intra-personal religious commitment (a person’s metaphysical belief) positively and significantly influences attitude Figure 1. Conceptual framework. Page 4 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 towards business ethics, Tariq et al. (2019) disagree. Tariq et al. (2019) found that both intra- and interpersonal religious commitment positively influence EDM. To contribute to this emerging phase of literature, this study tests the following hypotheses: H1a. There is a positive relationship between inter-personal religious commitment and EDM H1b. There is a positive relationship between intra-religious commitment and EDM. On the influence of ethics education on EDM, Kakos (2019) argues that ethics cannot be taught and does not influence ethical behaviour. Other studies provide evidence to the contrary (Cloninger & Selvarajan, 2010; Remišová et al., 2019; Winston, 2007; Yoder & Denhardt, 2019). The studies found varying degrees of relationship between ethics education and ethical behaviour proxies. While some researchers (Remišová et al., 2019) hold that ethics education holds a pervasive influence on ethical behaviour, others (Cloninger & Selvarajan, 2010; Winston, 2007) contend that the level of influence does not transcend beyond Rest’s (1986) first stage of EDM. Although theories of re-enforced learning suggest that re-enforced ethics education improves ethical beha- viour, there is only a handful from the empirical perspectives. Balotsky (2012) found that re- enforced ethics education led to an improved ethical outlook in sampled MBA students. Zegwaard and Campbell (2014) attribute improved ethical development to re-enforced ethical learning from the graduate ethics curriculum. Extant literature reports a conflicting relationship between work experience and EDM (or its proxies). Fang et al., (2018) reported a positive relationship between work experience and EDM. This relationship is supported by Phatshwane (2013), who found that managers with higher work experience are more ethical than managers with fewer years of work experience. Jain (2020) likewise confirmed a positive relationship between work experience and ethical attitude among businesspersons. The positive association between work experience and EDM aligns with Kohlberg’s (1969) theory of moral development. Arlow (1991) reported a negative relationship between work and pro-social behaviour, suggesting that as individuals spend more time on a role, they are likely to “normalise” routine ethical issues that confront them. From the review, the relationship between work experience and EDM is not definitive among business groups in general. Further, the specific influence of professional experience (as opposed to general work experience) is sparse in the literature. To advance a comprehensive understanding of the collective relationship between religious commitment, RTEE, professional experience and EDM, the following hypotheses are tested: H2a. Religious commitment, RTEE, and professional experience collectively predict ethical issue recognition stage EDM. H2a. Religious commitment, RTEE, and professional experience collectively predict ethical intention stage EDM. 3. Methodology 3.1. Research design, sample, and data This study adopts a quantitative design and a cross-sectional survey method. A sample of 450 tax accountants were contacted for the study. Of the 450 contacted, 356 responded to the survey instrument, yielding a response rate of 79.11%. According to J.F. Hair et al. (2017a), the sample Page 5 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 size should be at least ten times higher than the number of indicators of the construct with the highest number of indicators in the model. In this study, the intrapersonal religious commitment construct has the highest indicators (6). Following J.F. Hair et al. (2017a), the study’s sample of 356 exceeds the minimum sample size of 60. Self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. The initial questionnaire was given to three tax accountants for review and comments, and sixty-three professional accounting students participated in a pilot study. The outcome of the pilot study informed the further revision of the data collection instrument. The instrument has three sections. The first section collected background information (i.e., age, experience, level of education, religion and affiliation, and professional status). The second section had a vignette that captured the ethical dilemmas of two fictional tax accountants. The respondents were requested to read and respond to statements from the vignettes. The third section collected data on religious commitment based on the adapted Worthington et al.’s (2003) RC-10 items. The outcome of the pilot study informed the adaptations (appendix 1). 3.2. Measurement of variables EDM and religious commitment are latent variables, with observable variables measured on a 7-point Likert scale, with 1 being strongly disagreed and 7 strongly agree. RTEE is a dummy variable, and professional experience is a continuous variable. 3.2.1. EDM EDM is conceptualised as ethical issue recognition and ethical intention. The questionnaire has four ethical vignettes, which captured four ethical dilemmas of two fictional tax accountants (appendix 2). The vignettes are self-constructed, but items for measuring ethical issue identifica- tion and ethical intention were adapted from Musbah et al. (2016). For each of the four vignettes, the respondents were expected to react to statements on a 7-point Likert scale to measure the EDM proxies. To measure ethical issue recognition, the respondents reacted to a statement, “I consider the ethical issue(s) in this scenario as important”. The respondent was requested to respond to a statement about whether he/she would take the same decision if he/she were the fictional tax Officer in each given vignette to measure ethical intention. 3.2.2. Re-enforced tax ethics education The object here is to categorise respondents as having re-enforced tax ethics education through professional membership in taxation or not having such re-enforced tax ethics education. The respondents were asked to indicate whether they are qualified tax accountants within the mean- ing of the Chartered Institute of Taxation Act, 2016 (Act 916). For analysis purposes, respondents with RTEE status are coded as “1”, and those who do not have RTEE status as 0. 3.2.3. Professional experience Professional experience is a continuous variable measured as the number of years the respondent has accumulated as a professional accountant. The data was collected in continuous form, but responses were ranged every five years for sample characteristics description purposes. 3.2.4. Religious commitment Two perspectives of religious commitment were measured: intra-religious commitment and inter- personal religious commitment. The reflective indicators for measuring each construct were adapted from Worthington et al. (2003). The original instrument of Worthington et al. (2003) comprised ten items: six items for intra-personal religious commitment and four items for inter-personal religious commitment. The adaptations (appendix 1) were informed by the outcome of the pilot study. 3.3. Empirical estimation strategy A structural equation model (SEM) was used for data analysis. SEM provides a platform for using latent (observable) indicators to measure an unobservable construct (Nitzl, 2016). Again, SEM Page 6 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 comes in handy for studies that study relationship-direct, mediation and moderation systems in a single model (Hair et al., 2012). The study used partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) instead of an alternative, covariance-based SEM. PLS-SEM is preferred for this study because PLS-SEM maximises explained variance of the endogenous latent variables (Hair et al., 2012). 4. Empirical analysis 4.1. Sample characteristics The demographic composition of this study’s sample follows trends observed in the accounting profession and the study’s geographical space. The study sample comprises 65% males and 35% females, which holds a semblance of the gender composition of the accounting profession in Ghana. The sample comprises highly religious persons, with almost every participant expressing affiliation to a religious group. The majority (66%) are affiliated with Christianity, and 26% expressly affiliate with the Islamic religion (26%). The sample comprises highly educated tax accountants; 94% of the sample hold at least a university degree, and the remaining 6% hold a tertiary diploma. This is expected because this study sampled only professional accountants, who in most cases have tertiary academic qualification. Other descriptive statistics of the sample are contained in Table 1. Most respondents hold a professional qualification in taxation, indicating that they have achieved a reinforced tax ethics education associated with membership in the tax profession. The remaining 29%, although qualified accountants, have not achieved RTEE associated with membership in the tax profession. 4.2. Descriptive characteristics of variables of interest The coefficient of variation for all the indicators and all variables falls below Papatsouma et al.’s (2019) maximum threshold of 3, indicating normally distributed data. Table 2 provides detailed descriptive characteristics of the variables of interest. The indicators for the proxies of EDM (EDM.EIR, EDM.EInt) have a score above the median score of 4. The sample recorded a lower score for ethical intention than the score for ethical issue recognition. This is primary evidence that the sample exhibit some attrition on the EDM scale. Table 1. Sample characteristics Profile No. Percentage Experience 1 to 5 years 137 38% 6 to 10 years 78 22% 11 to 15 years 88 25% 16 to 20 years 34 10% 21 to 25 years 14 4% 26 to 30 years 5 1% Total 356 100% Religious Affiliation Christianity 236 66% Islamic 93 26% Others (Traditional and Buddhism) 27 7.5% Total 356 100% Page 7 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Table 2. Descriptive of latent variables of interest Indicators Indicator code Mean SD Coeff. Variation Ethical issue EDM.EIR recognition Ethical recognition- EIR.S1 5.10 1.70 0.224 scenario 1 Ethical recognition- EIR.S2 5.25 1.71 0.221 scenario 2 Ethical recognition- EIR.S3 5.31 1.67 0.229 scenario 3 Ethical recognition- EIR.S4 5.06 1.76 0.191 scenario 4 Overall EDM.EIR 5.18 1.71 0.148 Ethical Intention EDM.EInt Ethical intention- EInt.S1 4.39 1.911 0.435 scenario 1 Ethical intention- EInt.S2 4.57 1.907 0.417 scenario 2 Ethical intention- EInt.S3 4.77 1.943 0.407 scenario 3 Ethical intention- EInt.S4 4.71 1.925 0.409 scenario 4 Overall EDM.EInt 4.61 0.169 0.04 Intra religious commitment Grow in Intrarel.commit 1 4.73 1.726 0.365 understanding of one’s chosen faith Construct meaning Intrarel.commit 2 4.61 1.754 0.380 to life through lenses of one’s faith Apply religion to Intrarel.commit 3 4.67 1.799 0.385 dealing with issues of life Private reflection on Intrarel.commit 4 4.76 1.619 0.340 one’s chosen faith Overall Intra.relcommit 4.70 0.076 0.020 Inter-personal religious commitment Participation in Interel.commit 1 4.54 1.828 0.403 religious discussions Financial Interel.commit 2 4.52 1.866 0.413 commitments to one’s religious group Fellowship with Interel.commit 3 4.76 1.697 0.357 others in one’s religious group Participation in Interel.commit 4 4.84 1.624 0.336 sharing religious doctrines with people outside one’s religious group (Continued) Page 8 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Indicators Indicator code Mean SD Coeff. Variation Participation in Interel.commit 5 4.93 1.589 0.322 activities of one’s religious group Influence on Interel.commit 6 4.76 1.740 0.366 decisions of one’s religious group Overall Interel.commit 4.73 0.110 0.036 4.3. Diagnostics of indicators We used the indicator loading to check indicator reliability, the composite reliability (CR) statistics to confirm internal consistency, and the average variance extracted (AVE) to test convergent validity. The variance inflation factor (VIF) was used to confirm the non-existence of collinearity. We also tested for discriminant validity using the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the Heterotrait- Monotrait Ratio (HTMT). 4.3.1. Indicator reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity The indicator loadings of the latent variables are compared with a threshold value of 0.50 to confirm indicator reliability. Indicators are deemed reliable when loading exceeds the minimum threshold (Hair et al., 2014). To conclude on internal consistency, the constructs should have composite reliability (CR) of at least 0.7 (Hair et al., 2014; Straub, 1989). To show convergent validity for a construct, Fornell and Larcker (1981) suggested an “extracted minimum average variance (AVE) of 0.5”. An AVE value of less than 0.50 means that more volatility exists, on average, in the products than the variance defined by the construct. The results for these three diagnostics are presented in Table 3. The indicators for the constructs are reliable (i.e., indicators for the latent variables achieved factor loadings higher than the minimum threshold of 0.50). CR of all the constructs is higher than the minimum threshold of 0.70, indicative of internal consistency. The AVE values are greater than the 0.50 threshold for all constructs. Thus, it is safe to conclude that the model achieves con- vergent validity. 4.3.2. Discriminant validity The Fornell-Larcker criterion is a technique for assessing discriminant validity (Hair et al., 2016). According to Fornell and Larcker (1981), the square roots of the AVE of each construct should be higher than the correlations of that construct with all other constructs to ensure a good discrimi- nant validity outcome. Based on the Fornell-Larcker criterion, the condition for discriminant validity has been adhered to for all the constructs. The figures in bold are larger than other correlation values among the latent variables (when glanced at vertically and horizontally) in Table 4. The HTMT provides a further test of discriminant validity. According to Teo et al. (2008), an HTMT value lower than 0.90 for a paired construct connotes discriminant validity for the paid construct. Table 5 provides the HTMT results for the two models. 4.3.3. Collinearity The final set of diagnostics was a collinearity test. Variance inflation factor (VIF) was used to test for collinearity. As a rule of thumb, VIF below 6 suggests that the model’s paired variables are not collinear (Hair et al., 2021). Table 6 provides the respective test results for the three models in this study. Page 9 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Table 3. Indicator reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity Loadings CA CR AVE EDM.EIR 0.880 0.917 0.735 EIR1 0.853 EIR2 0.858 EIR3 0.878 EIR4 0.840 EDM.Eint 0.885 0.921 0.744 EInt.S1 0.862 EInt.S2 0.891 EInt.S3 0.818 EInt.S4 0.877 InterRC 0.933 0.945 0.742 InterRC1 0.866 InterRC2 0.890 InterRC3 0.857 InterRC4 0.844 InterRC5 0.862 InterRC6 0.849 Intrarel.commit 0.910 0.937 0.789 IntraRC1 0.800 IntraRC2 0.921 IntraRC3 0.940 IntraRC3 0.885 ProfExp. 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 RTEE 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 The VIF for all the modelled relationships is below the maximum threshold of 5, confirming that the model is not affected by collinearity issues. 4.4. PLS-SEM results PLS-SEM results for the study are presented in Table 7. The results in Table 7 show the relationships for study objective 1 (RO1) and study objective (RO2) respectively. The path diagram for the two respective study objectives is presented in Figures 2 and 3 below. The hypotheses for the study are tested at a 95% confidence level. The threshold for the acceptance of the hypothesis is a p-value of 0.05. The hypothesis is rejected when the p-value exceeds the critical value of 0.05. The results of the hypothesis testing are produced in Table 8. 4.5. Discussion of findings 4.5.1. Does religious commitment predicts EDM? The study’s first objective (RO1) is to re-examine religious commitment’s influence on the EDM of Ghana’s tax accountants. The results show that intra-religious commitment predicts EDM at both ethical issue recognition and ethical intention stages of EDM. Inter-personal religious commitment does not predict ethical EDM. From Kant’s theory perspective, the results mean that intrinsic Page 10 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Page 11 of 20 Table 4. Discriminant validity- Fornell-Larcker criterion Model 1 EDM.EIR EDM.EInt Interel.commit Intrarelcommit EDM.EIR 0.857 EDM.EInt 0.455 0.862 Interel.commit 0.284 0.569 0.879 Intrarelcommit 0.333 0.659 0.866 0.888 Model 2 EDM.EIR EDM.EInt Intrarel.Commit Prof.Exp RTEE EDM.EIR EDM.EInt 0.519 Intrarel.Commit 0.306 0.532 Prof.Exp 0.167 0.395 0.199 RTEE 0.232 0.261 0.089 0.306 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Page 12 of 20 Table 5. Discriminant validity- HTMT criterion EDM.EInt ProfExp Interel.commit Intrarelcommit RTEE EDM.EInt ProfExp .395 Interel.commit .540 .223 Intrarelcommit .737 .291 .846 RTEE .261 .306 .076 .076 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Table 6. Variance Inflation Factor VIF Model 1 Interel.commit -> EDM.EIR 3.999 Interel.commit -> EDM.EInt 3.999 Intrarelcommit -> EDM.EIR 3.999 Intrarelcommit -> EDM.EInt 3.999 Model 2 Intrarelcommit -> EDM.EIR 1.066 Intrarelcommit -> EDM.EInt 1.066 RTEE->EDM.EIR 1.131 RTEE->EDM.EInt 1.131 ProfExp>EDM.EIR 1.167 ProfExp>EDM.EInt 1.167 Table 7. Influences of religious commitment, RTEE and ProfExp on EDM Variables Coefficient Std. Error T-Stats P Value Adjusted R2 RO1 Interel.commit −0.078 0.110 1.142 0.254 0.107 -> EDM.EIR Interel.commit −0.120 0.086 1.566 0.118 0.434 -> EDM.EInt Intrarelcommit 0.403 0.115 3.804 0.000 0.107 -> EDM.EIR Intrarelcommit 0.767 0.078 9.573 0.000 0.434 -> EDM.EInt RO2 Intrarelcommit 0.297 0.057 5.17 0.000 0.132 -> EDM.EIR RTEE->EDM.EIR 0.517 0.123 4.215 0.000 0.132 ProfExp>EDM. 0.027 0.065 0.416 0.678 0.132 EIR Intrarelcommit 0.469 0.246 10.3 0.000 0.360 -> EDM.EInt RTEE->EInt 0.476 0.105 4.544 0.000 0.360 ProfExp->EDM. 0.218 0.044 4.959 0.000 0.360 EInt manifestation of one’s religious belief (i.e., participation in religious activities, sharing of religious doctrines, financial commitments for religious purposes, etc.) have an insignificant level of influ- ence on the individual’s scheme of interpretation and imbibement of moral rules espoused by religion. On the other hand, individuals’ level of metaphysical imbibement of religious norms positively influences their level of interpretation and propensity to act ethically. Empirically, the findings of this study on religious commitment support Goel and Misra’s (2020) finding that in the context of ethical behaviour, intra-religious commitment matters, not inter- personal religious commitment. The study’s finding does not support Tariq et al.’s (2019) finding, with holds that both intra-religious and interpersonal religious commitment positively influ- ence EDM. Page 13 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Figure 2. Religious commitment EDM. Figure 3. Intrarel.Commit, RTEE, ProfExp and EDM. Specifically, this paper provides that the extrinsic manifestation of shared religious values is “sand” in the wheels of EDM, while intra-religious commitment is “grease” in the wheels of EDM. 4.5.2. Relative effect of religious commitment, RTEE and professional experience on EDM The study’s second objective (RO2) is to establish the relative effect of religious commitment, RTEE and professional experience on EDM. The findings are that only intra-religious commitment and RTEE influence EDM at the ethical issue recognition stage of EDM. At the ethical intention stage, however, all three examined variables influence EDM. RTEE has the most significant influence on EDM, followed by intra-religious commitment. Professional experience holds the slightest influence on EDM. Page 14 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Table 8. Hypothesis Variables Coefficient P-value Hypothesis Accept/Reject Interel.commit -> −0.134 0.118 H1a Reject EDM.EInt Intrarelcommit -> 0.751 0.000 H1b Accept EDM.EInt Intrarel.Commit -> 0.296 0.000 H2a Accept EDM.EIR RTEE->EDM.EIR 0.517 0.000 H2a Accept ProfExp>EDM.EIR 0.027 0.678 H3a Reject Intrarelcommit -> 0.469 0.000 H2b Accept EDM.EInt RTEE->EInt 0.476 0.000 H2b Accept ProfExp->EInt 0.218 0.000 H3b Accept From Kantian’s theoretical perspective, the positive and significant relationship between the three variables of influence and EDM connotes that the variables do not merely serve as sources of “moral rules”. Beyond serving as a source of moral rules, the variables (i.e., RTEE, intra-religious commitment, professional experience) influence individual members’ construction of the meaning of “moral rules” and the imbibement of moral choices. For instance, the positive and significant association between RTEE status and EDM proxies suggests that RTEE that comes with member- ship in a tax professional body (i.e., CITG) influences EDM. In other words, professional qualification in tax is essential because it perhaps aligns the epistemological perspectives of the members towards EDM. The findings of this paper support the argument for tax accountants to strive for a professional qualification in taxation, irrespective of whether they belong to other professions. This study does not support Goel and Misra (2020) that there is no significant relationship between professional status and attitude towards ethics. Sample characteristic differences could account for the con- trasting results of this study and Goel and Misra’s (2020) study. The paper finds that professional experience does not predict EDM at the ethical issue recogni- tion stage but predicts EDM at the ethical intention stage of EDM. The “no relationship” finding between professional experience and EDM’s ethical issue recognition stage implies that experience is not an ethical sensitising device. In other words, individuals’ level of ethical sensitivity neither improves nor deteriorates with their experience level. It is pertinent to note that professional experience is an EDM influential variable, considering that the relationship between professional experience and ethical intention is significant and a relative measure of EDM. The paper confirms the findings of Jain (2020), Fang and Foucaut (2018), and Phatshwane (2013) but is inconsistent with the findings of Arlow (1991). In summary, this paper holds that more experienced profes- sionals will likely exhibit improved EDM than new and inexperienced professionals. 5. Conclusion and limitations This paper investigated the relative influences of religious commitment, re-enforced tax ethics education (RTEE), and professional experience on EDM. Tax accountants were sampled, and PLS- SEM was utilised to analyse the data. The study found that RTEE, intra-religious commitment and professional experience individually and collectively influence EDM. This paper contributes to Kantian’s theory of morality on two fronts. First, the study affirms Kantian’s proposition that the rational intrinsic interest explains an individual’s ethical behaviour. This study supports the Kantian postulation that intrinsic religious commitment is grease in the wheels of EDM, and the extrinsic manifestation of religious values is sand in the wheels of EDM. Page 15 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Secondly, the study proved that membership in a professional body does not only provide a source of moral rules to members. Specifically, the study evinces that such associations provide an additional layer towards EDM. Regarding policy implications, the study’s results will energise tax professional bodies to insist on tax-specific professional qualifications for tax officers who handle ethics-sensitive portfolios. Again, gatekeepers in the tax workspace should strengthen protocols for admission and maintenance of membership as a tax practitioner. Policymakers in tax organisations should champion programs that re-enforce tax ethics among officers. Furthermore, tax practice firms should prioritise profes- sional experience when assigning their officers to ethically sensitive tax engagements. Finally, policymakers should look beyond extrinsic manifestations of religious values when leveraging religiosity to enhance ethicality in organisations. Religious stereotyping, where “loud” religious manifestations are wrongly equated to ethicality has been disproven by this study. The finding of this study suggests the possibility of people manifesting godliness but not being committed to ethical behaviour. 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Page 18 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 Appendix Appendix 1: Adaptation of RC 10 Item In Worthington et al. (2003) In current study Intrapersonal religious commitment I often read books and magazines Not used about my faith IntraRC1 I spend time trying to grow in Adopted understanding of my faith IntraRC2 Religion is especially important to My religious beliefs explain how me because it answers many I interpret issues of life questions about the meaning of life. IntraRC3 My religious beliefs lie behind my I apply my religious beliefs to whole approach to life dealing with issues of life IntraRC4 It is important to me to spend I spend valuable time to reflect on periods of time in private religious my chosen faith thought and reflection. Religious beliefs influence all my Not used dealings in life. Inter-personal religious commitment InterRC1 Not applicable I often participate in religious discussions InterRC2 I make financial contributions to Adopted my religious organization InterRC3 I enjoy spending time with others Adopted of my religious affiliation. InterRC4 Not applicable I participate programs that aim at sharing my religious doctrines with people outside my religious group. InterRC5 I enjoy working in the activities of Adopted my religious organization. InterRC6 I keep well informed about my I influence decisions of my religious local religious group and have group some influence in its decisions Appendix 2: Tax ethics vignette The scenarios that you are about to read are hypothetical and are meant for this research only Nimo and Kaiza have been friends. Their friendship dates to their university days when they were roommates. Nimo works with Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and on one occasion, led a team for tax audit at a company (Freeze Ltd). Kaiza is a senior consultant at a private tax practice firm, and in charge of managing tax affairs of Freeze Ltd. Nimo and Kaiza did not disclose to their long- standing friendship to their respective superiors. Nimo suspected that Freeze Ltd operates an undisclosed bank account. Kaiza is aware that Freeze Ltd operates a secret bank account but remained quiet when Freeze’s officials denied the allegation. Nimo’s team did not probe the issue further. Nimo-led team assessed Freeze Ltd.’s tax liability as Ghc450,000. After the field audit, Nimo held a review meeting with his supervisor. At the review meeting, Nimo’s supervisor said, “let the working papers reflect a tax position of GHC80,000; when Freeze Ltd is happy, we are happy as a team” Nimo compiled and reviewed the working papers to reflect a tax position of GHC80,000. Page 19 of 20 Kportorgbi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2149148 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2149148 © 2022 The Author(s). 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