Machiavellianism and earnings management with the mediating role of moral discounting in Iranian electricity distribution companies

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
saeide rezaei 1
Arefeh mohaghegh 2
arezoo khosravani 3
keramatllah heydary 4
1 , Department of Accounting, semnan Branch, Islamic Azad University, semnan, Iran
2 , Assistant Prof, Department of Accounting, semnan Branch, Islamic Azad University, semnan, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting, semnan Branch, Islamic Azad University, semnan, Iran
4 Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting, damghan Branch, Islamic Azad University, damghan, Iran
10.22034/jmaak.2025.23875
Abstract
With the increase in financial scandals in recent years, which has put the credibility of organizations and enterprises at risk, and the increasing importance of preparing and presenting correct financial reports presented by managers and employees of organizations, Machiavellianism can play an important role in Doing unethical work including earnings management. Therefore, in the current research, the effect of Machiavellianism one arnings management was investigated with the mediating role of moral intensity in electricity distribution companies. To achieve this goal, four hypotheses were proposed and to test the hypotheses, the data of 21 Iranian electricity distribution companies were selected and 320 questionnaires were distributed and 297 questionnaires were collected using cluster random sampling method. To investigate the variable of Machiavellianism, first the indices were extracted through the research literature and then the Delphi method was used, and structural equation method and PLS software were used to investigate the relationship between the variables. The research results confirmed the existence of a relationship between Machiavellianism and earnings management and indicate a significant relationship between moral intensity and earnings management, as well as the existence of a relationship between moral intensity and Machiavellianism. And moral intensity mediates the relationship between Machiavellianism and earnings management.
Keywords
earnings management
Machiavellianism
moral intensity
electric power generation company
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