ABSTRACT

This study aims to empirically examine the influence of gender and personality, as measured by construal of self, on holier-than-thou perception bias aming Minangkabau accountants. Drawing on psychological and anthropological literature, this study formulates three hypotheses in examining the influence of gender and construal of self, as the personality variable, and their interaction on holier-than-thou perception bias. Data for this study were collected using a survey questionnaire to 235 final year accounting students in Padang, West Sumatera. The questionnaire containes three scenarios eliciting the participants judgments with regards to resolving auditor-client conflict and whistle blowing dilemma. The data collected were analyzed using the parametric analysis of variance (ANOVA) approach and were complemented by the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test to test the hypothesis. The findings of this study show that gender has a significant influence on holier-than-thou perception among Minangkabau accountants. In particular, Minangkabau women are more likely to demonstrate a holier-than-thou perception bias compared to their male counterparts. However, the findings show that construal of self and the interaction between gender and construal of self have no influence on holier-than-thou perception bias among Minangkabau accountants.