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

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...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rahim, Nazahah, Ahmad Zaluki, Nurwati Ashikkin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/26613/1/GMJSS%2014%204%202018%2054%2064.pdf
_version_ 1803629161036644352
author Rahim, Nazahah
Ahmad Zaluki, Nurwati Ashikkin
author_facet Rahim, Nazahah
Ahmad Zaluki, Nurwati Ashikkin
author_sort Rahim, Nazahah
collection UUM
description 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.
first_indexed 2024-07-04T06:33:27Z
format Article
id uum-26613
institution Universiti Utara Malaysia
language English
last_indexed 2024-07-04T06:33:27Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
record_format dspace
spelling uum-266132019-11-20T02:36:37Z https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/26613/ The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country Rahim, Nazahah Ahmad Zaluki, Nurwati Ashikkin HD28 Management. Industrial Management 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. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/26613/1/GMJSS%2014%204%202018%2054%2064.pdf Rahim, Nazahah and Ahmad Zaluki, Nurwati Ashikkin (2018) The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country. Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 14 (4). pp. 54-64. ISSN 21802491 http://doi.org/10.17576/geo-2018-1404-05 doi:10.17576/geo-2018-1404-05 doi:10.17576/geo-2018-1404-05
spellingShingle HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Rahim, Nazahah
Ahmad Zaluki, Nurwati Ashikkin
The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country
title The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country
title_full The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country
title_fullStr The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country
title_full_unstemmed The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country
title_short The extent of ethical leadership among youth: The case of a developing country
title_sort extent of ethical leadership among youth the case of a developing country
topic HD28 Management. Industrial Management
url https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/26613/1/GMJSS%2014%204%202018%2054%2064.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT rahimnazahah theextentofethicalleadershipamongyouththecaseofadevelopingcountry
AT ahmadzalukinurwatiashikkin theextentofethicalleadershipamongyouththecaseofadevelopingcountry
AT rahimnazahah extentofethicalleadershipamongyouththecaseofadevelopingcountry
AT ahmadzalukinurwatiashikkin extentofethicalleadershipamongyouththecaseofadevelopingcountry