Interaction Effect of Foreign Language and Obedience Pressure on Ethical Judgment in Accounting: Evidence from Japan

Abstract

This study examines the interaction effect of foreign language and obedience pressure from superiors on the ethical judgment in an auditing context. We conducted a 2 × 2 between-participants experiment with language and obedience pressure as independent variables. Participants are accounting students from eight leading universities in Japan to proxy entry-level auditing professionals. They were asked to provide their judgments based on a consolidation reporting scenario. We found that, under obedience pressure, foreign language use makes one’s judgment less aligned with the superior’s preference (less compliant) than the use of the native language. These results provide new insights regarding the potential boundary of the foreign language effect in auditing issues.