EXPLORING THE LEVEL OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AMONG YOUTH IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

In Malaysia ethical leadership seems to be lacking as one of the biggest corporate scandals in history has been linked to its former national leader. This paper presents an exploratory study measuring the level of ethical leadership among youth in Malaysia. It aims to know the level of each of the ethical leadership attributes (people orientation, fairness, power sharing, concern for sustainability, ethical guidance, role clarification and integrity) embraced by the Malaysian youth. 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 situated in the northern part of Malaysia. 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. Although Malaysia has been bombarded with the 1MDB scandal, the level of ethics embraced by the Malaysian youth should be applauded. 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. 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. Additionally, this study serves as a preliminary work that should be extended in the future. It offers insights for future research in ethics, leadership and youth studies.