A proposed framework of organizational commitment as a mediator on ethical decision making in Malaysian local authorities

Abstract

Ethical decision making is a requirement and is a must for leaders in the local authorities to ensure that actions will be taken in a proper way.Decision making is the starting point of an outcome; it could be good or otherwise.Decision making by officers in a local authority is imperative; any wrong or unethical decision would cause issues for example, corruption which has become a threat to the world nowadays. Ethical decision making is particularly important in the context of local authorities (LA) as they interact directly with the community. Commitment from every leader and individuals in the LA is important and past studies also show evidence that organizational climate has significant effect on the decision making of these leaders. Thus this study proposes that organizational commitment mediates the relationship between organizational climate and ethical decision making. A sample of Head of Department (HOD) of local authorities will be selected as research respondents and answer a set of questionnaire. This research is significant as an indicator and guideline to local authorities with regards to how HODs make decisions and how they deal with the issues of integrity, accountability and ethics. Having this information, various actions including training and awareness programmes could be developed to ensure that these HODs are making decisions aligned with the aspirations of their stakeholders.