Fraud intention and the relationship with selfishness: the mediating role of moral justification in the accounting profession

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between selfishness, moral justification and intention to fraud among accounting certified professionals. It focuses on the role of moral justification in explaining the link between selfishness and intention to fraud. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire. The final sample includes 240 accounting certified professionals. To test the hypothesized model in this study, IBM AMOS ver26 was used to perform the structural equation modeling. Findings The results of this study show that selfishness has no direct impact on the intention to commit fraud. However, selfishness does have a positive impact on moral justification. Furthermore, the study found that moral justification mediates the relationship between selfishness and fraud intention. Practical implications This study provides important implications for accounting firms and other organizations and recommends that they implement the necessary practices to reduce the fraudulent intentions of certified accounting professionals while simultaneously reducing selfishness and moral justification. Originality/value This research is among the few studies in the accounting field that address the mediating role of moral justification in the relationship between selfishness and fraud intention among certified accounting professionals.