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The paper aims to analyze the relationships between ethical leadership (EL), job satisfaction (JS), affective commitment (AC) and turnover intention (TI) that might make accountants quit withdrawal and become productive and useful in private organizations operating in Istanbul.

Data were collected through an online survey using a simple random sampling methodology, obtained from 153 accountants working in companies in Istanbul. The methodology included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, structural equation modeling and mediation analysis.

Concerning direct relationships between EL, JS, AC and TI, EL has significant positive associations with JS and AC, whereas EL has a significant negative association with TI. JS has a significant positive association with AC, whereas JS has a significant negative association with TI. Also, AC has a weak significant negative association with TI. Given indirect relationships among EL, JS, AC and TI, JS and AC mediate the relationship between EL and TI. Finally, a similarity is found when comparing Generation X and Generation Y in terms of overall JS, AC and TI.

The study is limited solely to companies functioning in Istanbul and incorporates a low number of respondents. Therefore, the results cannot be considered to be accurate for the whole country. The study might guide both private and public organizations in which owners/managers develop strategic plans.

The study fills the gap in research on organizational behavior where little has existed until now that probes the EL–JS–AC–TI links in Turkey. A few studies measure the TIs of accountants. Furthermore, EL and AC are rarely evaluated in the field of accounting in Turkey.

This study aims to investigate the influence of ethical theories, religiosity and seniority on the ethical awareness of accountants.

The data were collected by using a questionnaire survey completed by 219 accountants located in various locations in Turkey. To investigate the relationship between constructs, the partial least square structural equation model was implemented.

The findings indicated that seniority in the profession and religiosity have a positive influence on ethical awareness. Within the theoretical approaches, deontology has a positive influence on ethical awareness, whereas egoism has a negative one.

The study has some implications regarding enhancing the ethical awareness of accountants: accountants who are in the early stages of their career development should be made aware of the ethical issues they face in their professional life; accountants should be taught laws and regulations of accountancy profession from the entry level throughout their working life; through professional associations, some initiatives may be taken to involve accountants in social responsibility programs to curb selfish behavior and improve empathy. However, a questionnaire survey does not permit an investigation from a qualitative perspective (the whys and hows of the answers); thus, further case studies might be necessary to make detailed investigations.

This study is unique in that it tries to answer what factors comprehensively influence the ethical awareness of accountants in an emerging market context.