The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country

Nazahah Rahim, Nurwati A. Ahmad-Zaluki

Abstract


 

Ethical leadership is a form of leadership where individuals demonstrate acceptable and appropriate conducts in every aspect of their life. However, in Malaysia this form of leadership seems to be lacking as one of the biggest corporate scandals in history has been linked to its former top leader. This paper presents an exploratory study measuring the extent of ethical leadership among youth in Malaysia. Since youth represents one of the most valuable assets in the development of a country, it is pertinent to understand the attributes of these future leaders. Quantitative method was employed and data were collected through questionnaires involving 600 university students from three different universities in Malaysia. The questionnaire was adapted from Ethical Leadership at Work (ELW) instrument containing seven (7) attributes of ethical leadership. The findings revealed that “integrity” scored the highest mean score while “fairness” scored the lowest. However, with a narrow range between the high mean scores, the study also concludes that Malaysian youth embraced various ethical leadership attributes. Since there are limited studies examining leadership components among youth, the current study is among the first to explore ethical leadership attributes among youth in the context of a developing country. Although Malaysia has been bombarded with the 1MDB scandal, the level of ethics embraced by the Malaysian youth should be applauded. In terms of practice, it is important for the youth to be nurtured with these attributes at an early stage. This helps to develop future leaders who are capable to resolve ethical dilemmas when leading the country. The findings of this study provide a guideline to policy makers such as university administrators, in encouraging ethical culture in Malaysia towards a holistic approach in making sure that the country’s economic, social, cultural and environmental targets could be achieved.

 

Keywords: attribute, ethics, ethical leadership, future leader, Malaysia, youth


 


Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdullah, D.B., Abdullah, M.Y., & Salleh, M.A.M. (2017). A review on the concept of Fourth Industrial Revolution and the government’s initiatives to promote it among youths in Malaysia. Bangi, e-Bangi.

Ahmad Sabri, A.Z., & Ahmad Fuad, A.Z. (2016). Pemantapan Kepimpinan dalam Pembangunan Belia di Malaysia. Journal on Leadership & Policy, 1, 39-47.

Balwant, P.T. (2016). Transformational instructor‐leadership in higher education teaching: a meta‐analytic review and research agenda. Journal of Leadership Studies, 9(4), 20-42.

Bass, B.M., (1990). Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications. Simon and Schuster (3rd ed.). New York , The Free Press.

Brown, M.E., & Trevino, L.K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.

Brown, M.E., Trevino, L.K., & Harrison, D.A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117-134.

De Hoogh, A.H., & Den Hartog, D.N. (2008). Ethical and despotic leadership, relationships with leader's social responsibility, top management team effectiveness and subordinates' optimism: A multi-method study. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(3), 297-311.

Den Hartog, D. N. (2015). Ethical leadership. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behaviour, 2(1), 409-434.

Fairholm, G.W. (1995). Leadership: A function of interactive trust. Journal of Leadership Studies, 2(2), 9-19.

Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications.

Fincham, J.E. (2008). Response rates and responsiveness for surveys, standards, and the journal. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 72(2), 43.

Kalshoven, K., Den Hartog, D.N., & De Hoogh, A.H. (2011). Ethical leadership at work questionnaire (ELW): Development and validation of a multidimensional measure. Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 51-69.

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications.

Omar, Z., Yahaya, S.S.S., Ahmad, A., Kling, Z., & Sabrie, A.Z.S.A. (2016). Leadership styles of Malaysian youth leaders. Konvensyen Pengurusan Potensi Belia ke Arah Pembinaan Negara Bangsa, Hotel Everly, Putrajaya, 5 December.

Othman, Z., & Rahman, R.A. (2014). Attributes of ethical leadership in leading good governance. International Journal of Business and Society, 15(2), 359.

Poff, D., & Caldwell, C. (2018). Ethical leadership and the role of scholars. International Journal of Public Leadership, 14(1), 59-62.

Rahim, N.A. (2016). Assessing the influence of ethical leadership behaviours, leadership styles and leader roles as determinants of online Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosures in Malaysia (PhD dissertation). Retrieved from University of Gloucestershire.

Resick, C.J., Hanges, P.J., Dickson, M.W., & Mitchelson, J.K. (2006). A cross-cultural examination of the endorsement of ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 63(4), 345-359.

Salleh, M.J., & Tiyunin, Z.A. (2014). Best practice of ethical leadership among the academic administrators in Islamic tertiary education institution: Academic staff’s perceptions. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 3(11), 43-51.

Sama, L., & Shoaf, V. (2008). Ethical leadership for the professions: Fostering a moral community. Journal of Business Ethics, 78(1/2), 39-46.

Trevino, L.K., Hartman, L.P., & Brown, M. (2000). Moral person and moral manager: How executives develop a reputation for ethical leadership. California Management Review, 42(4), 128-142.

Vito, A.G., & Vito, G.F. (2015). What police leaders learned from “Lincoln on Leadership’? policing. An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 38(4), 775-787.

Waheed, Z., Hussin, S., Khan, M. I., Ghavifekr, S., & Bahadur, W. (2018). Ethical leadership and change: A qualitative comparative case study in selected Malaysian transformed schools. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 46(1), 113-129.

Waldman, D.A., Siegel, D.S., & Javidan, M. (2006). Components of CEO transformational leadership and corporate social responsibility. Journal of Management Studies, 43(8), 1703-1725.

Yang, Q., & Wei, H. (2017). Ethical leadership and employee task performance: Examining moderated mediation process. Management Decision, 55(7), 1506-1520.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.