Welcome to Issue 42.4 of the International Journal of Ethics and Systems (IJOES). In this issue, we present articles from Pakistan, India, Ghana, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brunei Darussalam and Jordan.
We begin with a contribution from Pakistan that investigates paradoxes of ethical leadership in relation to employee’s pro-social rule-breaking behavior in hospitals. The article presents the dynamics of psychological empowerment and ethical climate in organizations. The aim is to research the impact of ethical leadership on employees’ pro-social rule-breaking behavior, looking at the relation between psychological empowerment and ethical climate. The article uses quantitative analysis of a survey of nurses in different hospitals in Pakistan. The study finds that there can be a positive relation between ethical leadership, psychological empowerment and ethical climate regarding pro-social rule-breaking behavior. This means that ethical leadership may have unintended consequences leading to pro-social rule-breaking with unspecified consequences for the organization. Therefore, organizations need strategies for dealing with unintended consequences of ethical leadership.
Researchers from India also look at ethical leadership, but this time regarding the relation between organizational commitment and employee silence. The aim of the article is to have attention to the trust relation between leaders and organizational commitments among employees. The article looks at different ways to express employee silence and investigates how these attitudes relate to trust in the leader of the employees. The role of organizational commitment in relation to trust is studied from a quantitative perspective on bank employees. The findings of the research demonstrate that it is important to promote organizational commitment with trust in leadership. The article presents significant research on specific dimensions of trust and commitment. The result of the research is that it is important to establish trust in leadership to improve organizational commitment. In the future it is essential that trust is promoted together with organizational commitment in the private banking sector.
Research from Ghana looks at the ethical behavior by professional accountants investigating the role of their personal idiosyncrasies. The aim is to look at how the behavior of accountants is determined by socio-cultural factors that are outside the norms of the accounting profession. The paper is based on quantitative data from interviews with professional accountants. The study finds that there can be outside political factors, personal influences and material aspects that can influence attitudes of accountants. However, accountants are also capable of self-control adopting ethical norms and regulations in relation to their personal idiosyncrasies. The article highlights the importance of ethical rules and regulations to deal with problems of personal temptations among the accounting profession to deal with peer-influence and political mistrust. Indeed, the objectivity of personal self-control is key to avoiding corruption and influence from political and cultural factors in society.
A study from Ghana and Malaysia goes somewhat in the same direction looking at the relation between moral intensity, cultural values and ethical decision-making. The article investigates the role of moral intensity in ethical decisions with focus on ethical judgment in the tension between culture and morality. This research is based on a quantitative methodology with distributed questionnaires to university students. The focus is on how sensitive moral issues impact individual ethical judgments, and the researchers consider different dimensions of cultural orientations in the attempt to understand the role of intense moral orientations in moral decision-making and judgment.
The focus on cultural dimensions is also present in a study from Indonesia of the ethics of the firm regarding brand loyalty and corporate social responsibility and the efforts to make the economy more green and environmentally friendly. This research looks at how consumers perceive the ethics of the firm regarding corporate social responsibility and green marketing of green brands. The study is based on data from large malls in Jakarta, where researchers have investigated consumer behavior based on distributed questionnaires. The research demonstrates that ethics and corporate social responsibility play an important role for brand loyalty of the firm. It is important to promote this connection between consumer expectations of ethics and the ethics of brand loyalty. Therefore, ethical strategies of brand loyalty based on corporate social responsibility can help to improve the ethical reputation of the firm.
There is a good connection between brand loyalty and workplace spirituality. From the point of view of positive psychology, a study from Pakistan tries to emphasize how positive psychology can contribute to development of humanity in organizations. Workplace spirituality is important for ethics and values in organizations. Based on systematic literature reviews of the research on positive psychology and workplace spirituality, the article demonstrates how these fields contribute to the development of spirituality as an important part of developing ethical and responsible organizations with focus on sustainability and spirituality in the ethical climate of organizations.
After this we present four studies on Islamic ethics, politics and economics.
A study by authors from Nigeria, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam looks at role of the concept of social well-being in Islam regarding economic justice and peaceful co-existence. This research is conducted as a review of the literature in this field with focus on different fields, including economics, politics and philosophy. The article proposes a PRISMA literature review of the concept of social well-being in Islam studies literature. There is specific attention to the role of social well-being and peaceful coexistence in Islam approaches to economic justice in different societies. The study searches to integrate different principles of well-being and economic justice through comparative research on different social and economic structures. With this the paper investigates the possibility of social well-being in theories of economic justice in Islam.
An additional review of Islam and ethics based on PRISMA methodology is from Brunei Darussalam. This article investigates the relation between Islamic epistemology and ethics to promote sustainable development in Islamic management and economics. This research looks at the role of Islamic ethics in these different articles. The review draws on content from major databases to look at the role of sustainability in different Islamic epistemologies, social responsibility theories and ethical approaches with focus on environmental protection. The aim is to provide insights in Islamic ethics of sustainability that can be used for decision-making and policy development.
A study from Jordan compares banking practices in Islamic and conventional banks in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The study looks at the relation between profit maximization and ethical banking practices. The method is a mixed-method approach where an interview an Islamic banking specialist was combined with quantitative data from the banks. The findings included documentation of ethical behavior in Islamic banks. This documentation was based on insights from different banks in different countries. The study demonstrates the important of focus on ethics in Islamic banks and in the future Islamic banks need to include ethics in corporate governance standards.
Finally, we present in this issue of IJOES a study of a Waqf-based microfinance institution in Indonesia. This research examines the impact of financial and social inclusion on well-being based on structured questionnaires among customers in a Waqf-based microfinance organization. The research demonstrates that financial inclusion has not so much impact on customer well-being as on the social inclusion of non-customers. The impact demonstrates how Waqf-based microfinance institutions need to improve activities for financial inclusion promoting financial literacy and developing new relations and partnerships.
Thus, the keywords of this issue of IJOES have been the following: Ethical leadership, organizational commitment, ethical climate, ethical behavior, personal self-control, decision-making and judgment, workplace spirituality, well-being and financial inclusion. We wish the reader good luck and enjoyment in reading this issue number 42.4 of IJOES.
