Instrumentation
The instrument used for gathering data was Victor and Cullen’s Ethical Climate
Questionnaire (ECQ). The ECQ consists of 36 questions and uses a two-dimensional approach to
recognize ethical climates within a current work organization. The first dimension is
characterized by the ethical criteria consisting of self in egoism, benevolence, and principle that
are used within an organization. The second dimension corresponds to the locus of analysis. The
objective of the ECQ in this study was to determine whether a significant difference exists
between the ethical perceptions of the two groups of newly staffed accounting graduates.
Additional factors may exist as potential limitations to this study, such as an individual’s culture,
religion, and type of organization where an individual may be employed.