Factors influencing the intention to perform unethical behaviour among lecturers in higher learning institutions in malaysia /
Nurul Khair Binti Ishak
- xviii, 202 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 30 cm. + 1 CD-ROM
Faculty of Industrial Management
Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang – 2023
Includes bibliographical references
Higher education institutions have problems with unethical behaviour and lecturers were also implicated. There have been instances of unethical behaviour among lecturers in both developed and developing nations, which could harm the university’s reputation. Plagiarism, misuse of grant and abuse of authority are just a few examples of the misbehaviour displayed by lecturers. In order to determine whether academic workload (teaching, supervision, research and publication, consultation), moral reasoning, ethical leadership and ethical judgement affect lecturers’ intention to act unethically in Malaysian higher education institutions, this study will look into the effects of each factor. Based on wide ranging literature, a mediation research model was proposed to explain the relationship of identified factors and intention to perform unethical behaviour. Ethical judgement was proposed as mediator. The Hunt & Vitell Theory (1993, 1986) that looks at personal and organizational factors that will affect the unethical behaviour was the underpinning theory for this research. The main contribution of this study is adding moral reasoning variable to HV Theory. A survey method was adopted to collect data from 83 lecturers from public universities. Data was analysed using PLS-SEM. The results revealed that the intention of lecturers to perform unethical behaviour is low; and teaching and ethical judgement significantly influenced intention. Research, publication and consultation both positively influenced the ethical judgement of lecturers. Meanwhile, for mediation, ethical judgement mediates the relationship of teaching, research, publication and consultation to intention. Thus, university should ensure fair and equitable allocation on teaching workloads of lecturers; taking into consideration their research and publication and consultation workloads.