Razana Juhaida Johari

Faculty of Accountancy, 

UiTM Shah Alam, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

E-mail: razana@uitm.edu.my

The effects of ethical orientation, individual culture and ethical climate on ethical judgement of public sector employees in Malaysia

Ida Rosnidah

Faculty of Economics, 

Universitas Swadaya Gunung Jati, Cirebon, Indonesia

E-mail: idarosnidah@gmail.com

Siti Syazana Ahmad Nasfy

Faculty of Accountancy, 

UiTM Shah Alam, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

E-mail: shazanasfy@gmail.com

Sayed Alwee Hussnie Sayed Hussin

Jabatan Audit Negara, 

Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan, 62518 Putrajaya, Malaysia

E-mail: zuraidahms@salam.uitm.edu.my

Abstract. Recently, many unethical practices among public sector officer in Malaysia have been exposed. Issues related to unethical judgement of public sector officers such as corruption, misappropriation of assets, abuse of power, and misconduct of duties have been widely reported. As such, citizens are generally sceptical of public sector officers and hold them accountable for their failure in making ethical judgements. Specifically, this study is conducted with the aim to analyse the influence of ethical orientation, individual culture and ethical climate on the ethical judgement of public sector officers in the selected Malaysia public sectors. The data is analysed based on 176 responses of a questionnaire survey. The findings of the study show that the idealistic ethical orientation and individual culture significantly influence the ethical judgement of public sector officers. However, relative ethical orientation and ethical climate show no relationship on the public sector officers’ ethical judgement. This study contributes to literature through better understanding of the influence of the three independent variables (ethical orientation, individual culture and ethical climate) on the ethical judgement among public sector officers in Malaysia. Hence, this study will be useful to the public sector agencies in their effort to improve the ethical conduct of their officers in making judgement for the benefit of the citizens and the nation. The study also provides recommendations on how to improve the credibility and viability of public sector delivery systems towards fulfilling the needs of the public at large.

Received: July, 2019

1st Revision: December, 2020

Accepted: February, 2020

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2020/13-1/9

JEL Classification: M41

Keywords: Public sector officers, ethical judgement, ethical orientation, individual culture, Malaysia