Personal Values and Ethical Intentions: A Value-Congruence Perspective on the Moderating Role of Ethical Education among Accounting Students in Ghana

This study examines the relationship between personal values and ethical intention among accounting students in Ghana, and whether ethical education moderates this relationship. Guided by Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study investigated the effects of self-transcendence, openness to change, self-enhancement, and conservation on ethical intention. A positivist cross-sectional survey design was employed using a stratified random sample of undergraduate accounting students from accredited Ghanaian universities. Data were analysed using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4. The model explained 44.3% of the variance in ethical intention. Openness to change emerged as the strongest predictor, while self-enhancement showed an unexpected positive effect. Ethical education strengthened the relationship between openness to change and ethical intention, but reversed the effect of self-enhancement at higher levels of ethical exposure. The findings suggest that ethical education operates as a conditional moderator shaped by students’ underlying value orientations.