Influência da controlabilidade na relação entre o comportamento planejado e a ética-organizacional

Abstract

The subjects of this paper are management control systems and the ethical intentions of accountant professionals, through the theoretical lens of Planned Behavior Theory proposed by Icek Aizen and Martin Fishbein in 1985. Accounting needs to sustain itself in the middle of the economic, political, cultural and historical influence; this way, this science can contribute, by the means of management controls, to identify risk sector associated to behavior questions and lead them to an ethical conduct, since the management control system has been related to the behavioral actions of individuals, directing them to fulfill the institution objectives. This paper had the general goal to analyze the influence of controllability on the relationship between planned behavior and organizational ethics. So, delimited, under the theoretical approach, in exploring the dimensions of the planned behavior (behavioral acts, subjective norms and perceived control), organizational ethic and management control (principle of controllability). For reaching the goal, the theory was checked through the hypothetical-deductive method, and, besides that, it was used the methodology of descriptive-explanatory research about the goals, quantitative in relation to the problem approach and transversal for the time horizon aspect. For the procedures, it recurred to data gathering, applying a questionnaire to a sample of 105 participants that were controllers and/or Chief Executive Officer (CEO´s), which represented a confidence margin of 86,38%. The questionnaire was structured with 41 questions and 8 scenarios to measure the organizational ethical behavior. After collecting all the data, descriptive statistics, instrument confidence and Structural Equation Modeling technic were done to validate the hypothesis, with the use of the SmartPLS® software. The main results obtained demonstrated the non-existence of moderation of the management control system (controllability) between planned behavior and organizational ethics. Still, it was discovered that behavioral attitudes and subjective norms do not have direct effect in and organizational ethics scenario and only generate influence in these scenarios when mediated by ethical intents. On the other hand, it was found out that event though there are influencers for ethical intents, they do not potentiate ethical actions, proving the necessity to stimulate the protagonist view on the individuals as responsible for the ethical consolidation and dissemination. As the theoretical contribution of the study, stands out the comprehension of the planned behavior dimensions in the applicability of an ethical organizational scenario, showing gaps in the theory, as it, even though behavioral, does not fully explain the intention and ethical action on the corporations. Therefore, the social contribution stands on the identification of the management control limits used as an ethical incorporation warranty on the organization culture.