Ethical Work Climate, Social Trust, and Decision-Making in Malaysian Public Administration

Abstract

This paper examines the role of social trust in influencing ethical work climate and decision-making. Moderated regression analysis was used to analyse the data. A survey was carried out at the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development (MECD) in Malaysia, and was completed by all 349 employees, which permitted a comprehensive overview. We found that company interest, friendship, team play, and personal morality were closely related to increasing social trust (p <0.05). Social trust also mediated a positive impact of company interest, friendship, team play, and personal morality on decision-making with p <0.05. Rules and procedures had no significant impact either on social trust or decision-making. Eight hypotheses were confirmed, while two were rejected. Implications for practice and research are discussed.