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Factors influencing the level of
ethics and integrity in Malaysian
public sector
Asmawati Sajari
Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
Gambang, Malaysia
Hasnah Haron
Level of ethics
and integrity
141
Received 16 September 2021
Revised 13 March 2022
Accepted 24 June 2022
Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam, Nilai, Malaysia
Yuvaraj Ganesan
Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, and
Azam Abdelhakeem Khalid
Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Management and Economics,
Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjung Malaim, Perak, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this study is to look into the factors that influence the level of ethics and integrity in
Malaysian public sector.
Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a quantitative approach by delivering 128
questionnaires to Federal Chief Integrity Officers (CIOs), of which 83 were received and usable. The data were
analysed using multiple regression analysis and descriptive statistics.
Findings – The quality of CIO in terms of competency, work performance and ethical climate has
significant impact on the level of ethics and integrity. According to the study, having certified CIOs who can
effectively perform their function and promote and nurture a transparent ethical climate are critical for the
Malaysian Federal government to maintain a high level of ethics. Employees who have a high level of ethics
are more likely to stay with the organization.
Practical implications – In addition, this study will assist policymakers in taking the required actions to
strengthen public sector integrity practices for the establishment of a more dependable and efficient
government in Malaysia.
Originality/value – This study addresses a gap in the Malaysian public sector’s level of ethics and
integrity.
Keywords Quality of CIO, Ethical climate, Ethics, Integrity, Public sector
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Because of the rise in unethical behaviour, attempts to improve integrity with codes of
ethics, norms and regulations aimed at establishing an effective civil service delivery system
in the organizations have intensified. As a result, good implementation of ethics and
integrity will prevent ethical scandals including corruption, bribery, fraud, inefficiencies,
This paper funded by short-term grant of Universiti Malaysia Pahang RD150357.
Journal of Islamic Accounting and
Business Research
Vol. 14 No. 1, 2023
pp. 141-158
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1759-0817
DOI 10.1108/JIABR-09-2021-0256
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asset theft, poor internal control and misconduct. The major goal is to defend the public
interest by creating an effective and efficient governance structure that ensures public rights
are maintained, represents responsibility and reflects integrity in the performance of
everyday responsibilities by public sector officers. If this fails, the entire government
structure will crumble as well. Human beings in organizations must have integrity as their
core trait (Said et al., 2015). It is now regarded as one of the most important characteristics
for an organization or institution’s seamless operation. Integrity is thought to have a direct
impact on an organization’s behaviour as well as the moral decisions or choices it makes
(Nelly Trevinyo-Rodreguez, 2007). Management has a critical role in determining an
organization’s integrity (Kaptein, 2003; Said et al., 2015). To the best of the researcher’s
knowledge, no research has been undertaken in Malaysia to examine the impact of the Chief
Integrity Officer’s (CIOs) quality on the level of ethics and integrity in a business. The
research also looks into whether a higher level of ethics and integrity will strengthen an
employee’s devotion to organization.
Integrity is a key issue because it can lead to governance failures, which can lead to
corruption, especially in the public sector. Because unethical scandals are not uncommon in
the Malaysian public sector (MSC), ethics and integrity play a key role in maintaining
openness. In spite of the fact that many steps have been implemented to limit the occurrence
of unethical scandals in the public sector, statistics reveal that the number of unethical
scandals in the public sector is increasing every year (Siddiquee, 2010). Millions of dollars
have been lost as a result of wasteful, unmanaged and uncontrolled purchases of
superfluous equipment on projects that were subsequently abandoned because of unethical
scandals in the government sector. If the Malaysian government does not address issues
such as corruption, bribery and financial fraud, it will create an uncertain economic
environment, limiting investment, reducing government spending on public projects
because of lower tax revenue and causing other institutions to become inefficient (Diaby and
Sylwester, 2014). As a result of the circumstance, the Malaysian government has decided to
take impactful measures to address the issue of civil officials’ integrity. As part of the
initiatives, in 2008, government had appointed CIO to help supervise ethical issues. This
paper will look at the influence of the qualities of CIO in terms of (independence, competence
and work performance) and ethical climate on the level of ethics and integrity in MSC.
2. Literature review
2.1 Malaysian public sector
Previously, the Malaysian Civil Service was known as the MSC. According to Azleen and
Nurul Nazirah (2013), the federal government, state governments and local governments are
the three types of government. As a result, the government must address ethical and
integrity issues in the public sector. This is because the government must manage and
administrate its offices and contribute to greater service delivery and national growth. The
steps done by the Malaysian government to improve ethics and integrity in the MSC are
listed in Table 1. This involves the appointment of a CIO in the public sector to oversee
integrity concerns, as well as the implementation of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption
Academy’s (MACA) Certified Integrity Officer (CeIO) curriculum.
Table 1 illustrates that efforts to curb unethical behaviour date back to before Malaysia’s
independence in 1957. The Anti-Corruption Agency was founded in 1967 to combat bribery
and other unethical behaviour in government offices. To assure the prevention of corruption
and strengthen the integrity of the public sector, the government introduced “Clean,
Efficient, and Trustworthy” in 1980 to replace the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance 1950 and
the Anti-Corruption Agency in 1961 (Lokman and Talib, 2015). The Malaysia of Integrity
Year
Government initiatives
1950
1961
1967
1980
2004
Prevention of Corruption Ordinance
Prevention of Corruption
Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA): Anti-Corruption Act 1967
Introduced “Clean, Efficient, Trustworthy”
Establishment of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (MII)
Launching of the National Integrity Plan (NIP)
Establishment of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Academy (MACA)
Establishment of the Corporate Integrity Development Center (CIDC)
*Putting the Chief Integrity Officer (CIO) from ACA “Kader” at ministries, departments,
agencies in high-risk unethical scandal
Transformed: Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission
(MACC’s) – MACC Act 2009
Implementation of the Certified Integrity Officer (CeIO) Programme
Establishment of Committee on Integrity (CIG)
Establishment of the Agency Integrity Management Division (AIMD)
Establishment of Integrity and Governance Committee – Chief Integrity Officer (CIO): have a
Certified of Integrity Officer (CeIO) as Head Integrity Unit
National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP): to strengthen integrity and governance efficiency of
public services
2006
2008
2009
2013
2014
2019–2023
(IIM) and the National Integrity Plan (NIP) were formed by the Malaysian government in
2004 with the goal of increasing the level of integrity in organizations and making integrity
a culture in Malaysian society (Siddiquee, 2010). Meanwhile, the MACA was founded in
2006 to assure efficiency in overcoming integrity concerns by delivering training
programmes in a variety of disciplines, including investigation, prosecution, intelligence,
prevention, consultancy and management.
MACA also designed the CeIO programme to train government officers as part of their
readiness investigating organizations’ integrity concerns through its Corporate Integrity
Development Center (CIDC) (Norazlan M.R, 2013). The CeIO programme, which requires a
CIO to complete a six-month training course with MACA, has several objectives. The
objectives include promoting compliance with laws, systems and procedures, advising on
fraud issues, and participating in initiatives that can help prevent unethical behaviour
(NKRA E-Newletter, 2013). According to Circular No. 6 (2003), the public sector has three
levels of risk: high risk, medium risk and low risk. MACC assigned CIOs to ministries,
departments and government agencies as “Kader” effective August 2008 to help monitor
and limit the risk of fraud and corruption.
One of the government’s other measures was the transformation of the AntiCorruption Authority (ACA) into the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on
January 1, 2009; with the main responsibility of enforcing the legislation to prevent
corruption. The Unit of Integrity was established in all federal and state government
entities following MACC’s proposal in 2013. As the leader of the Integrity Unit (IU), the
CIO will oversee and implement integrity-related activities. The government introduced
the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019–2023 on January 29, 2019, with the goal
of making Malaysia “renowned for integrity, not corruption” and creating a transparent,
corrupt-free nation. The NACP was created as a result of the government’s “Pakatan
Harapan” manifesto, which will be implemented in five years. It is envisaged that
through NACP, Malaysia will one day become a model for fighting corruption in the
public sector (GIACC, 2019).
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Table1.
Steps of ethical and
integrity
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The majority of ethical research has been conducted in the private sector. Putih Salin and
Ismail (2015) discovered that corporate governance mechanisms have an impact on the level
of ethics disclosed in annual reports in publicly traded companies. Meanwhile, Lokman and
Mahadzir (2019) discovered that organizational factors such as ethical training have an
impact on employee ethics. According to Guten et al. (2004), Chief Ethics Officer has an
impact on the level of ethics and integrity in a medical organization. Ethics leadership has
an impact on the level of ethics in local government (Hamoudah et al., 2021). To the best of
the researcher’s knowledge, no study has examined the impact of the CIO’s quality on the
degree of ethics in the public sector. In 2008, the position of CIO became mandatory
(Corporate Integrity Development Centre, MACC). Every public-sector organization should
have a CIO to manage ethical concerns and instil ethical ideals in the organization.
Table 2 presents Transparency International’s CPI numbers for Malaysia’s public sector
from 2012 to 2020. Malaysia’s CPI score declined from 54 to 55 out of 176 nations in 2016,
and now stands at 49 out of 100. Malaysia’s CPI ranking fell even further to 62 in 2017, down
from 55 in 2016. A ranking of 55 indicates that the country is highly corrupt, whilst a score
of 100 indicates that the country is very clean of corruption. Malaysia’s CPI rating has
likewise plummeted to number 62, down from number 55 in 2016. The 1MDB scandal, the
SRC International Sdn Bhd case and the Federal Land Development Authority affair are all
to be blamed. This is the lowest and worst rank since the index began in 1995
(Theedgemarkets, 2018), demonstrating that the nation’s anti-corruption efforts are still
insufficient. In spite of the fact that the administration is on the right approach to restoring
public trust, the CPI score has fallen. In 2019, the score improved to 53, indicating that graftfighting in the public sector is more successful than it was two years ago. However, the CPI
score fell two points in 2020, from 53 to 51. This was because of stalled institutional reform,
several high-profile cases being granted discharges that did not amount to acquittal, limited
access to information on matters, the meat cartel scandal, ongoing cases of abuse of power
and corruption by public officials, limited progress public updates on high-profile cases and
slow action in tabling the PRC (Transparency International, 2021; Figure 1).
2.2 Level ethics and integrity
The level of ethics and integrity is a part of an ongoing initiative to enhance and strengthen
Malaysia’s Corporate Integrity. This study’s examination on the level of ethics and integrity
is based on CIAQ or Corporate Integrity Assessment Questionnaire developed by the
Malaysia Institute of Integrity (IIM, 2010). The said questionnaire has 12 dimensions as a
tool to help organizations to assess and measure their progress in making formal and
transparent commitment to ethics and integrity in the workplace. Also, it presents the
average overall score of the level of ethics and integrity in the organizations (Dubinsky and
Richter, 2009). According to Preston (1996), as cited in Segon and Booth (2013), the creation
and adoption of an ethical system within an organization is also known as the
institutionalization of ethics. Ethical system requires and organization to look at many
different aspects such as leadership of the organization, proper infrastructure in place and
Year
Table 2.
Malaysia’s CPI score
and ranking 2012 to
2020
CPI score
Ranking out of country
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
49
54/174
50
53/177
52
50/175
50
54/174
49
55/174
47
62/180
47
61/180
53
51/180
51
57/100
Source: Transparency International Malaysia (2021)
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Figure 1.
CPI score from 2012
to 2020
disciplinary and rewards majors for ethical behavior. IIM (2010) identified 12 dimensions
where an organization can measure its level of ethics; namely:
(1) vision and goal;
(2) leadership;
(3) infrastructure;
(4) legal compliance, policies and rules;
(5) organizational culture;
(6) disciplinary and reward measures;
(7) measurement, research and assessment;
(8) confidential advice and support;
(9) ethics training and education;
(10) ethics communications;
(11) whistleblowing; and
(12) corporate social responsibility.
Ethics are a moral principle that people incorporate into their decision-making
processes (Salehi, Saeidinia and Aghaei, 2012). It usually refers to a set of rules or
principles that govern what constitutes as acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
Garret (1970) wrote, “Ethics are the science of determining distinctively human’s aims
and the relationship of means to those ends. In some way it is also the skill of
commanding means to serve specifically human ends”. Meanwhile, according to other
authors, “Ethics are a fundamental quality that one embraces and follows as a
guiding principle of basic drama in one’s life”. It denotes a person’s moral character
and honourable behaviour (Paswan, 2015). Becker (1998) defined “integrity as action
commitment to a morally justified set of principles and values [. . .]”, in such a way
that it is supposed to be a moral justification based on the actuality of a universal
truth. Integrity is a crucial component of effective leadership (Batten, 1997; Covey,
1996; Fairholm, 1998; Manz, 1998; Northhouse, 1997; Rinehart, 1998; Wenderlich,
1997; Winston, 1999). Integrity, according to Huberts (1998), is the ability to act in
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conformity with socially recognized moral principles, norms and rules. Integrity is a
functional trait that is frequently mentioned in the literature on servant leadership
(Pollard, 1996; Rinehart, 1998).
3. Hypotheses development
3.1 Quality of Chief Integrity Officer
Previously, quality was measured by looking at one or two dimensions such as the level of
education, roles of responsibility or job scope (Daud, 2002; Trans, 2010). However, Tong
(2013) looked at three dimensions of quality that comprise competence (experience and
education), work performance (job scope) and independence (reporting level). Meanwhile,
CIO is a person who assists in the development of an organization’s code of conduct,
develops ethics training programmes, recommends reporting lines and investigation
systems, recommends a performance management system and creates ethical cultures and
climates [Ethics Resource Center (ERC), 2007; Greenberg, 2009]. The independence,
competency and work performance of the CIO will be measured in this study. This
measurement is based on Qun’s (2014) study, in which he used the three dimensions listed
below to assess the quality of internal auditors. These individuals must have an attitude and
demonstrate excellent behaviour to affirm that they are autonomous and responsible
professionals. Thus, TCQ’s measurement was chosen because it is the most comprehensive
approach. Moreover, it can examine the relationship and indicate which of the three
dimensions or aspects is not performing to increase the level of ethics and integrity.
Independence is defined as the freedom from factors that endanger objectivity or the
appearance of objectivity (IIAM, 2008). The level of reporting can be used to gauge
independence (Tong, 2013). Thus, independence in this study can be determined by
reporting level, whether functionally or operationally (Tong, 2013). Operationally reporting
refers to reporting within the organization’s management structure that helps with day-today internal activity, such as coordinating and monitoring the CIO’s integrity programmes,
and requires reporting to the Head of Department. Meanwhile, functionally reporting entails
the CIO’s direct reporting to a higher level of authority outside the organization on issues
such as power abuse and money laundering. To avoid the report being restrained by the
organization, outside parties such as the Agency Integrity Management Division are
involved. At the individual level of objectivity, the CIO should maintain an impartial,
unbiased approach and prevent conflicts of interest when conducting engagements in the
public sector. They should report to the Ministry’s General Secretary or Head of
Department, as well as the Agency Integrity Management Division every four months on
the 15th of May, September and January (Circular No. 6, 2013).
According to Kauffeld (2006), professional, methodological, social and self-competence
are the four aspects of competence. Professional competence refers to the abilities and
knowledge that employees need to perform their jobs and identify ways to improve the firm
(Kauffeld, 2006, Heinen, 2011). One of the most significant traits of an employee and
employer in a company is competence. Qun (2013) defined competence as the characteristic
of being physically and mentally adequate or well qualified. Years of experience and
educational attainment might be used to assess one’s competency.
Work performance refers to an employee’s activities, behaviour and outcomes in support
of the organization’s objectives (Viswesvaran and Ones, 2000). According to the IIA
Performance Standard 2200, internal auditors should design and record a plan for each
engagement, including the scope, aim, timeline and resource allocations (IIAM, 2008).
Engagement planning should be comprehensive and carried out by personnel with the
necessary knowledge and abilities. According to Qun (2013), a relationship between work
performance and internal audit efficiency may have an impact. The considerable association
demonstrates that the quality of work performance, as planned, performed and reviewed, as
well as the applicability of audits, is critical to ensuring that the organization’s objectives are
met and engaged effectively and efficiently. The work performance of the CIO as stated in
Circular Series 1 No. 1 was examined in this study (2011). Quality CIO (Chandler, 2015;
Treviño et al., 2014) has been found to improve an organization’s degree of ethics and
integrity in previous studies (Chandler, 2015; Treviño et al., 2014). According to Chue Quen
(2013), the role of Internal Audit (IA) Quality is to increase organizations’ effectiveness and
efficiency. As a result, the study hypothesizes that IA quality will boost the organization’s
effectiveness and efficiency. The purpose of this study is to look at the CIO’s role in
improving the organization’s level of ethics. As a result, the following theories are proposed
based on past research:
H1. Quality of Chief Integrity Officer is positively influencing the level of ethics and
integrity.
H1a. Independence is positively influencing the level of ethics and integrity.
H1b. Competence is positively influencing the level of ethics and integrity.
H1c. Work performance is positively influencing the level of ethics and integrity.
3.2 Ethical climate
The ethical atmosphere of a company refers to how important ethics are to them. For
example, they have a code of conduct and a whistleblowing policy in place, and good
behaviour is rewarded within the firm. According to Victor and Cullen (1988), “the
prevailing conceptions of particular organizational follows and procedures that have ethical
substance”; or “those components of work atmosphere that affect what causes ethical
behaviour at work”. Self-interest; company profit; efficiency; friendship; team-interest; social
responsibility; personal morality; norms and standard operating procedures; and laws and
professional codes are the nine theoretical characteristics of ethical climate that can be
measured with four-item subscales. The notion of what constitutes proper behaviour is
referred to as ethical environment. In reaction to ethical challenges, the ethical environment
influences both decision-making and subsequent behaviour (Martin and Cullen, 2006). The
concept of ethical climate is powerful. According to Sims (1992), as quoted in Laratta (2008),
an organization’s ethical climate is a common set of identifications about what ethical
behaviour is and how ethical challenges will be addressed. This atmosphere sets the tone for
decision-making at all levels and under all conditions. Abdullah et al. (2014) used the terms
ethical climate and ethical culture interchangeably in their paper. Ethical climate/culture
measurement is based on the Victor and Cullen (1988) and Suar and Khuntia (2004) scales
(2004). This is based on a ten-item survey that assesses management’s perceptions of the
current organization’s ethical atmosphere. The ethical climate questionnaire (ECQ)
established by Victor and Cullen was used in the study (1998).
Previous study has demonstrated that an ethical climate (Kolthoff et al., 2007) can
improve an organization’s degree of ethics and integrity. Shafer (2015) investigated the
ethical atmosphere of professional accountants in Hong Kong. The study found that it has a
major impact on ethical judgements within businesses. According to Haron et al. (2015), the
perceived ethical climate has a favourable impact on the ethical decisions taken. As a result,
it is hypothesized that:
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H2. The level of ethics and integrity is positively influenced by ethical climate.
4. Methodology
This study used an exploratory research design. Exploratory research aids in the selection
of the most appropriate research design, data-gathering methods and subjects. The data
gathered were tabulated and analysed quantitatively using the Statistical Packages for
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. The study analysed the data using descriptive analysis,
factor analysis, correlation and multiple regression analysis to obtain answers to the
research topics. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the profile of the respondents
involved in the study. Cronbach’s alpha was used to conduct a reliability test to ensure that
the questions correlate with one another. In addition, the mean value was calculated to
determine the level of ethics and integrity. Lastly, multiple regression analysis, ANOVA,
was used to identify the relationships developed in this study. The questionnaires were
answered by the CIO or the officer of IU of federal level (ministries, statutory body,
department) in the Malaysia government. The details of respondents (name, contact number,
address, position and email) were obtained from the CIDC Agency Integrity. Thus, the unit
of analysis is organizational level, and the respondents were the officers in charge of ethics
and integrity at the federal level, of which all the 128 executives have completed the MACC
training sessions. CIOs, compliance officers, assistance directors, investigation officers,
secretariat department, director of IU, senior compliance, governance and integrity centre
were among the 128 officers. However, only 83 surveys were received and usable out of the
128 questionnaires that were emailed. The survey was limited to the federal government.
This is because the federal government faces a moderate to high degree of risk, compared to
state governments where they face a low level of risk. To increase its quality, the
questionnaire was adapted, pre-tested and adjusted for content validity before being
distributed to a randomly selected sample. A total of 83 questionnaires had been received,
resulting in 64.5% response rate. According to Sekaran’s rule of thumb, a sample size of 40–
50 would be enough for the study. The sample size of this study was 70 and the respondents
involved in this study were 83. Thus, the sample size and data collected fulfilled Sekaran’s
rule of thumb.
The self-administered questionnaire was developed using structured questions. The
questionnaire is composed of four sections. Section A (demographics profile of respondents);
Section B (quality of CIO – using sum of mean value and five-point Likert scale); Section C
(ethical climate – using five-point Likert scale); and Section D (level of ethics and integrityusing five-point Likert scale). Table 3 shows the measurement variables of this study.
5. Results and discussions
Based on the finding, it was found that the quality of CIO has a positive relationship with
the level of ethics and integrity in the organizations of MSC at federal level. This research’s
finding is line with the research conducted by Chandler (2015). The said study stated that
ethics and compliance officers have direct consequence on the organization’s ethical culture
and action. It indicates that to have specific officer holding ethics and integrity porfolio,
head of IU will ensure officers with higher integrity. Thus, the level of ethics and integrity is
found to have no significant relationship with the independence of excellent CIOs. This
finding is consistent with Qun (2013), who discovered that independence has no bearing on
internal audit efficacy. Thus, CIOs should disclose ethics-related issues to MACC for them to
function independently. Organization should have a proper its clear to the CIO as to whom
the CIO should be reporting and the issue that need to be reported. The average independent
Set Variable
A
B
–
Quality of CIO
Independence
Competence
Work performance
C
Ethical climate
D
Level of ethics and
integrity
Measurement
Source
Profile of respondents
Functional report and administrative
report. Score 1, 2, 3, 4 and (Ministry, CIO,
Head of Department and other)
Sum of educational qualification and
experience (1 – Diploma, 2 – Degree, 3 –
Master, 4 – PhD)
Five-point rating scale of agreement level
on the statements given
Respondents are questioned on nine
dimensions using 1–5 Likert scale
(Strongly disagree to Strongly agree)
12 dimensions of CISM developed by IIM
with five-point Likert scale (1 – Strongly
disagree to 5 – Strongly agree)
Self-developed
Adapted from Tong (2013)
Adapted from Qun (2013)
Self-developed by role of CIO/CeIO
stated in Circular (2011)
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ECQ (Ethical Climate Question) by
Victor and Cullen (1987 and 1988)
Institute of Integrity Malaysia
(IIM, 2015) adapted from
Dubinsky and Ritcher (2008–2009)
for functionally reporting has a score of 53% and average operationally reporting has a
score of 47%. The presence of an Independence Officer in managing ethics and integrity has
an average score of 63%, meaning that 52 organizations have a person in charge to manage
issues of ethics and integrity and remaining 31 organizations do not. Functionally
independence relates to the task that CIO should conduct such as abuse of power and money
laundering that occurs in the organization. A report should be made to the highest level of
authority to avoid restraint in reporting. Hence, indicating that when a CIO is not
independent, there would not be an effective prevention of unethical problem in the public
sector. According to this study, a CIO of high independence should be reporting to Agency
Integrity Management Division (MACC). However, according to this study, the majority of
CIOs only reported to the Department Head. Previously, it was considered to be the most
likely factor to cause ethical failure in an organization. Because of this being one of the
possible reasons, this study focused on public sector entities where the culture of reporting
is to directly refer to the immediate superior for any ethical issues that raised.
The level of ethics and integrity was discovered to have a substantial link with
competence. It is in line with prior research that demonstrates that officers with higher
competence (skill, knowledge and experience) will be better able to implement an effective
ethics programme in the workplace (Irwin and Bradshaw, 2011). This study is backed up by
studies by Mihret and Yismaw (2007), Rai (2008) and Qun (2013), who discovered that staff
competence is a critical component in determining the overall quality of their expertise. As a
result, a CIO with more ethics and integrity experience, competence and understanding is
more effective in tackling unethical challenges in the organization. According to this report,
90% of CIOs have a master’s degree or a bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, 42% of CIOs have
worked in the field of ethics and integrity, and their average year of service is over 12 years.
As a result, having a good degree of ethics and integrity in an organization necessitates the
hiring of the right individual with the proper qualifications as a CIO.
The level of ethics was discovered to have a strong association with work performance. It
received the highest mean score of 4.21, suggesting that most respondents agreed with the
CIO’s job description. In the multiple regression analysis, work performance also scored the
highest beta coefficients (0.32), indicating that this dimension contributes the most in
explaining the variance in the level of ethics and integrity.
Table 3.
Measurement of
variable study
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This finding is consistent with Treviño et al. (2014), who found that ethics and
compliance officers’ efforts to develop and administer a variety of ethics and integrityrelated programmes can be advantageous in terms of enhancing employee views and
reducing inappropriate conduct. The use of work performance as a criterion for personnel
quality is also supported by Qun’s earlier study (2013). Internal auditors’ work performance,
he discovered, contributes to the overall quality of internal auditors. Respondents thought
they were in charge of coordinating and monitoring the ethics and integrity programme, as
well as creating a recovery integrity programme, monitoring the organization’s service
delivery system and aiding the Integrity and Governance Committee. They are also in
charge of coordinating the actions taken in response to ethical and integrity violations.
Integrating all of these work scope obligations improves the quality of the CIO and, as
described in the previous section, contributes to a higher percentage score level of ethics and
integrity.
This study applied the Hunt and Vitell Theory of Ethics (1986). This theory
examines ethical dilemma and ethical decision-making of individuals in deriving their
organizations’ ethics and integrity level. Hunt and Vitell’s Theory explains that
behavioural consequences impact future deliberations regarding ethical issues,
presupposing that the decision maker reaches a “right” or a “wrong” decision that
informs subsequent ethical decision-making (Pimental et al., 2010). This is backed by
Hunt and Vitell’s Theory of Ethics (1986), which states that, in addition to personal
traits such as CIO quality, the organizational environment also has a significant
impact on the organization’s ethics and integrity level. The level of ethics and
integrity has been found to have a strong and favourable association with ethical
climate. Ethical climate refers to the ethical atmosphere of an organization can
influence ethical decision-making, attitude or conduct, which has an impact on the
level of ethics and integrity. Thus, the finding is consistent with Haron et al. (2015)
and Sahfer (2015). These studies stated that ethical environment can enhance the
degree of ethics and integrity, which that can be defined as improving the level of
ethics in the organizations. This finding is also in line with Chouaib and Zaddem
(2013). The said studies revealed that ethical climate has an impact on work
effectiveness, and, as a result, increases the degree of ethics and integrity of the
business. Employee perceptions of how their organizations stress on the ethical
component of business and support ethical work behaviour have also been found to be
influenced by ethical climate (Kwon et al, 2013). This variable’s mean score is also
fairly high, coming in at 4.09. Because the mean score is so high, this signifies that the
respondents believed that their organizations have a good ethical atmosphere.
5.1 Respondents’ demographics profile
The link to the online surveys was given to 128 respondents, including the MSC
organization’s CIO and officers of the IU of organizations at the federal level. In August
2017, the MACC collected information on respondents such as name, contact number,
residence, position and email address from the Agency Integrity Management Division
(BPIA). Within three months, the data were gathered. A total of 83 surveys were returned
and usable, representing a 65% response rate.
5.2 Descriptive analysis level of ethics and integrity
Table 4 shows the descriptive statistics for level of ethics. Legal compliance, policies and
rules scored the highest mean (4.20), indicating that the organizations were doing well in
their efforts to implement policies, rules and guidance, as well adopt the ethics and integrity
Demographic
Category
Gender
Male
Female
Malay
Chinese
Indian
Others
Muslim
Buddhism
Christianity
Others
25–34 years
35–44 years
45–54 years
55 and above
Master
Degree
Diploma
Others (SPM)
Ministries
Department
Statutory body
Yes
No
Yes
No
Less than 3 years
3 years to less than 6 years
6 years to less than 9 years
9 years to less 12 years
12 years to less than 15 years
Yes
No
Agency integrity
Management division (MACC)
Ministry Secretary
Chief Executive Officer Head of
Department
Others
Agency integrity
Management division (MACC)
Ministry Secretary Chief Executive
Officer Head of Department
Others
Yes
No
Yes
No
Race
Religion
Age
Qualification
Type of organization
Existence of integrity unit
Head of unit integrity
Working experience in ethics and integrity
Professional certificate/Qualification in
Ethics and Integrity Program
Functional reporting level
Operational reporting
Level
Other officers responsible for ethics and
integrity programme independently
Experience any breach of ethics or integrity
Frequency
(%)
53
30
76
2
3
2
79
1
1
2
15
36
19
13
33
41
7
13
63
7
13
81
2
53
30
32
14
4
13
20
70
13
12
12
5
44
63.9
36.1
91.6
2.4
3.6
2.4
95.2
1.2
1.2
2.4
18.1
43.3
22.9
15.7
39.8
49.4
8.4
2.4
75.9
8.43
15.7
97.6
2.4
63.9
36.1
38.6
16.9
4.8
15.7
42.1
84.3
15.7
14.5
14.5
53.0
63.0
10
3
12
6
52
10
31
52
62
21
12.0
3.6
14.5
7.2
62.7
12.0
37.3
62.7
74.7
25.3
system as part of their organizations’ best practices. However, the findings revealed that
infrastructure scored the lowest mean (3.03) as compared to other dimensions. This indicates
that there is not much emphasis by the federal government on integrity infrastructure to
support the organizations in achieving their integrity’s goals effectively. The overall mean is
3.97 or 79.30% (for overall score level of ethics and integrity).
Level of ethics
and integrity
151
Table 4.
Respondents’
demographics profile
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152
5.3 Validity and reliability of measures
Factor analysis was performed to test the validity, whereby it is to ensure the goodness of
variable measurement. This is to ensure the validity and reliability of data used for
hypothesis testing (Sekaran, 2003). Factor analysis was performed to test the validity of
measures used in measuring the lean practices related to different functional areas. The
Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy is 0.69 (above the recommended
level of 0.6) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity is significant (p < 0.05). Table 5 reveals that the
items for lean practices loaded factors analysis with Eigen values exceeding 1. The factors
analysis explains the percentage of variance in the data (above the recommended minimum
level of 0.60). Reliability analysis was conducted to ensure that the measures of variables
have internal consistency across time and across the various items that measure the same
concept or variable (Sekaran, 2003). Reliability was measured by this study through
Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The values of Cronbach’s alpha for the practices ranged
between 0.60 and 0.96. These values well exceeded the minimum value of 0.70 (Nunally,
1978). Meanwhile, a value greater than 0.60 is still acceptable (George and Mallery, 2003).
Thus, it can be concluded that the measures have an acceptable level of reliability (Table 6).
5.4 Multiple regression analysis of hypotheses
The multiple regression analysis was used to examine the influence of determinant factor on level
of ethics and integrity. The R2 square value indicates that 24.1% of the independent variables of
the variance in the level of ethics and integrity can be explained by the four variables (R2 = 0.241;
p < 0. 05). The regression result in Table 5 shows that independence (b = 0.095, p < 0.05) is not
significant to the level of ethics and integrity. However, competence (b = 0.162; p < 0.10) is found
to be significant to the level of ethics and integrity at 10% level of significance. Also, work
performance is significant (b = 0.315; p < 0.05). For ethical climate (b = 0.270, p < 0.05), it is
found to be significant to the level of ethics and integrity at 5% level of significance. The
hypotheses are accepted and significant except for the “independence” quality of CIO. Thus, H1b,
H1c and H2 are accepted, while H2 is rejected (Table 7).
6. Conclusion
The research investigates the impact of CIO quality and ethical climate on the level of ethics
and integrity. The poll yielded 83 usable responses from CIOs and executives in charge of
integrity in the Malaysian public entities at federal level. It was discovered that the level of
ethics and integrity has a favourable association with the competence and work
performance dimensions of CIO quality. According to the findings, MSC organizations have
implemented programmes to promote ethics and integrity in the workplace. The federal
government’s level of ethics and integrity has been found to be at a modest level of 79.30%.
To acquire a greater level of ethics and integrity, more effort is required. It shows that the
organizations are doing well in terms of legal, compliance, policies and regulations, out of
the 12 elements of level ethics and integrity. Thus, the low level of ethics and integrity can be
increased, i.e. in terms of the “infrastructure” dimension with the support received by the
organizations to attain their integrity’s goals effectively (staff, resources, formal and
informal reporting). Besides that, online ethics training and education should be initiated,
whereby these could be achieved through self-study. Additionally, toolkits should be given
to supervisors and managers where they could then conduct the training.
According to the report, there has to be an emphasis on having a quality CIO. He has to
be someone who is skilled and capable of performing his job to ensure that the
organization’s ethical conduct is up to par. To be competent in his profession, the CIO should
have the necessary experience and education. He should also carry out his duties in
3.00
2.55
3.00
1.93
3.00
2.78
2.58
2.21
2.75
1.33
2.09
2.40
Legal compliance, policies and rules
Disciplinary measure and rewards
Vision and goals
Leadership
Accountability
Whistleblowing
Organizational structure
Ethics communication
Confidential advices and support
Ethics training and education
Measurement, research and assessment
Infrastructure
Note: Overall mean score: 3.97 (3.97/5) = 79.30%
Min
Variable
5.00
5.00
4.75
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
4.20
Max
0.56
0.63
0.47
0.68
0.64
0.67
0.61
0.72
0.68
0.75
0.70
0.37
SD
4.20
4.11
4.08
4.07
4.05
4.04
4.04
4.04
3.92
3.92
3.86
3.30
Mean
84% (1)
82% (2)
82% (3)
81% (4)
81% (5)
81% (6)
81% (6)
81% (6)
78% (7)
78% (7)
77% (8)
66% (9)
Score (%)
Level of ethics
and integrity
153
Table 5.
Descriptive statistics
for level of ethics and
integrity
JIABR
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154
accordance to his job description. Therefore recommended that CIOs who are yet to be
qualified to pursue, the certification offer by MACA which were expose or train them on
issues relating to professional ethics and integrity. Ethics-related rules and mechanisms
should be in place in the public sector to ensure an ethical climate. The organizations should
foster a transparent ethical climate by enforcing a code of ethics that all employees must
adhere to, and reward those who do and reprimand those who do not. The Malaysian
Federal Government should also nurture a high level of ethics so that the employees feel
comfortable and safe, which will encourage them to stay. Meanwhile, this paper’s result
shows that the independence of CIO at reporting level is not positively influencing the level
of ethics and integrity. It can be concluded that a CIO does not influence a correct reporting,
functionally and operationally. This shows that this would not effectively prevent unethical
problems in the Federal government institutions. To reduce the corruption and fraud issues,
CIOs should be submitting the functionally report to Agency Integrity Management
Division (MACC); but instead, they submitted the report to their Heads of Department. Thus,
the roles of CIO in the organization as what MACC proposes should help to decrease
fraudulent activities. This is done by having a clear understanding of the reporting level, i.e.
where the organization stands in terms of ethics and integrity level. Besides that, this study
can be practiced in terms of encouraging the sense of responsibility among members of the
community and promoting the development of civil society that respects and upholds the
principles of integrity. The study can also raise the level of awareness of the importance
ethics and integrity among the employee in the organization. Implementing an ethical
climate and choosing the quality of CIO in terms of competence and work performance will
contribute to proper integrity control systems and accountability – important elements in
creating value for an organization. Thus, a high-integrity organization can encourage
sustainable economic growth or business.
As a result, because the MSC is actively promoting the integrity system among its entities, the
public will have more faith in the government’s ability to manage public funds and government
matters. The findings may also be useful in raising citizens’ awareness on the importance of good
Variables
Table 6.
Reliability analysis
for all variable
Work performance
Ethical climate
Level of ethics and integrity (12
dimensions)
Model
Table 7.
Hypotheses’
relationships:
between CIO quality,
ethical climate and
level of ethics and
integrity
Factor analysis loadings
KMO
Cronbach’s alpha
0.82, 0.78, 0.73, 0.72, 0.71, 0.68
0.74, 0.74, 0.73, 0.72, 0.71, 0.70, 0.65
0.65–0.92
0.79
0.79
0.73–0.91
0.87
0.78
0.60–0.96
Standardized
coefficients
B
t-value
Sig.
0.655
0.248
0.271
0.066
0.095
0.162
0.315
1.486
0.941
1.684
3.093
0.141
0.350
0.096**
0.003*
0.167
0.270
2.577
0.012*
Unstandardized coefficients
B
Std. error
(Constant)
0.973
(H1a) Independence
0.233
(H1b) Competence
0.456
(H1c) Work
0.204
performance
(H2) Ethical climate
0.426
Dependent variable: level of ethics and integrity
Notes: Significant: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.10
governance in ensuring organizational integrity in a variety of ways. Furthermore, this research
could help in evaluating the existing governance tools and elements, whether they are used in the
public sector or not. The study has its limitations, much like any other research. To begin, the
number of samples should be limited to CeIO (CIOs). As a result, the performance of those in
charge of integrity and have completed the certification procedure can be scrutinized. However,
because there were few CIOS who were also CeIOs throughout the study, CIOs and officers in
charge of ethics and integrity in the organizations had to be included as well. The sample
investigated might be expanded to include ethics officers from state governments, and a
comparison between federal ethics officers could be made. Future study could combine a
qualitative research approach with survey questions, such as an in-depth interview with CIOs.
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Corresponding author
Azam Abdelhakeem Khalid can be contacted at: azamabdelhakeem@gmail.com
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