The Effect of Machiavellian Personality on Unethical Behavior Mediated by Attitude Towards Money and Moderated Professional Status

Year 2025, Volume: 12 Issue: 3, 1107 - 1129, 30.09.2025

Ali Acaray , Mustafa Savcı

Abstract

Unethical behavior is one of the key obstacles for organizations and society to have a sustainable life. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the factors that may lead to this behavior and the mechanism of influence, as well as the moderator variables that may prevent the emergence of unethical behavior. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of Machiavellian personality on unethical behaviors mediated by attitude towards money and moderated by professional status. Research data were collected using a questionnaire form. The questionnaire was applied to accounting professionals in Rize province. 109 professionals responded to the questionnaire. The analyses revealed that Machiavellian personality positively affected unethical behaviors. While the full mediating role of attitude towards money was revealed, the moderating role of professional status was not statistically significant. Attitude towards money was more determinant in the emergence of unethical behaviors. This study contributed to the enrichment of literature by using multiple perspectives in determining the purpose and examining the mediating and moderating variables in the effect of Machiavellian personality on unethical behaviors.

Keywords

Machiavellian Personality , Attitude Towards Money , Professional Status , Unethical Behavior

Ethical Statement

Ethics committee approval for the study was obtained from the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Ethics Committee on May 29, 2024, with document number 2024/219. The authors declare that the study was conducted in accordance with research and publication ethics. The authors confirm that no part of the study was generated, either wholly or in part, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. The authors declare that there are no financial conflicts of interest involving any institution, organization, or individual associated with this article. Additionally, there are no conflicts of interest among the authors. The authors declare that they contributed equally to all processes of the research.

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