HEXACO Model

This study investigates how HEXACO personality traits—honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness—shape risk-taking, risk perception, and perceived benefits among undergraduate accounting students, informing teaching strategies to enhance ethical and audit competencies. In First quarter of 2025, data were collected from 170 accounting students at Tehran universities using validated personality and risk-taking measures adapted for classroom contexts. The analysis confirmed the soundness of these instruments. Findings indicate that honesty-humility reduces unethical behavior, while conscientiousness supports more cautious decision-making. An ethical risk-taking paradox emerged, as situational pressures sometimes encouraged risky choices despite ethical concerns. Emotionality and extraversion shaped risk behaviors by influencing how students perceived risks and benefits. The study suggests ethics-focused case studies and audit simulations as effective teaching strategies, showing how personality-informed approaches can strengthen ethical judgment and technical precision in accounting education. Grounded in experiential learning and self-efficacy principles, these findings align with global movements toward competency-based education that surpass traditional models.