Summary: | Rampant unethical incidences in public sectors have eroded the public trust in government officials. The accusations
include the officials being unethical in their actions and eager in enriching themselves instead of protecting the public
interest. Indeed, unethical actions are derived from unethical judgments which are influenced by various factors. Applying
Hunt and Vitell’s theory, the objective of this study is to examine the ethical judgments in relation to organizational
ethical climate, deontological evaluations of rules compliance, and teleological evaluations of perceived consequences.
Data were collected from 141 government officials of Kota Bharu municipal council and analyzed using SmartPLS
version 3. As hypothesized, the findings supported that organizational ethical climate, deontological evaluations, and
teleological evaluations have a significant impact on ethical judgments. This study provides beneficial insights to the
government, policy and lawmakers, municipal councils, and academicians in which rule compliance (deontology) can
quantify the right over the wrong consequences (teleology) since having a sound organizational ethical climate is vital
in the formation of ethical judgments. Hence, it is hoped that enhancing ethical judgments among the officials would
regain the public trust in the municipal council and thus align with the country’s aspiration of becoming a corrupt-free
nation in due time.
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