Exploring the factors that mediate the relationship between accounting ethics and financial reporting quality among MSMEs

The primary aim of the current research was to examine whether ethical leadership behaviors of managers in private call centers located in provinces in the TRA2 region affected employee voice and motivation. In the study, ethical leadership, employee voice, and employee motivation were examined conceptually, and studies in the literature conducted with the variables discussed in this study and their results were included. The hypotheses developed based on the proposed model in accordance with the study's aim were tested by path analysis and interpreted. The study population consisted of private call center employees operating in the TRA2 region. An online survey method via Google Forms was employed as the data collection method. The data acquired from the survey study were analyzed by utilizing the SPSS and YEM AMOS statistical programs. The analysis showed that managers' ethical leadership behaviors significantly affected employee voice and motivation, and employee voice also significantly affected motivation. The difference analysis performed in the research identified significant differences between gender and employee voice and motivation, between marital status and employee voice and motivation, between ethical leadership and education and seniority, and finally, between the province of work and employee voice and motivation.

We examine the process through which ethical leadership and ethical training contribute to the performance of employees through linking business ethics to customer orientation. Underpinned by social learning, we examine sequential mediation models of the process through which ethical climate, service climate and customer orientation mediate the relationships between ethical leadership and ethical training on employee performance. Utilising a sample of 187 employees from an Australian bank, we found support for our four hypotheses: ethical climate and customer orientation sequentially mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee performance; service climate and customer orientation sequentially mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee performance; service climate and customer orientation sequentially mediates the relationship between ethical training and employee performance; ethical climate and customer orientation sequentially mediates the relationship between ethics training and employee performance. Ethical leadership will have a stronger influence on improving employee performance relative to ethical training.

This study empirically explores the improvement of job performance in the public sector through an approach that combines aspects of leadership with ethical leadership, a system aspect approach with a High-Performance Work System (HPWS), and an individual aspect approach with employee motivation within the scope of government financial institutions (GFI). Social Exchange Theory is used as a conceptual basis. Data were collected through an online questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale measurement. The analysis was carried out using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique with SmartPLS 4 software to test the combination of multidimensional and unidimensional variables. The data obtained were 843 and after going through the screening and data cleaning process, 640 respondent responses were obtained for testing. The results of the study indicate that ethical leadership and HPWS have a positive and significant effect on employee motivation and job performance, and employee motivation has a positive and significant effect on job performance. In addition, employee motivation mediates positively and partially the relationship between ethical leadership and HPWS on job performance. This study provides theoretical contributions by combining ethical leadership and HPWS perspectives in one model that explains how these two factors affect job performance in the public sector through employee motivation mediation, while adding employee motivation as an intermediary mechanism to improve job performance in the public sector.

Background Public health professionals face decisions that have far-reaching ethical implications. Despite this, the field of public health ethics is relatively new, and teaching and training in ethics for public health professionals is “highly variable in quantity and content” [Doudenkova et al 2017]. Building on a prior body of research, surveys of ASPHER and EUPHA members were undertaken to explore current levels of ethics education. Methods Online surveys were distributed to ASPHER and EUPHA members with the aims of a) exploring the current status of ethics education in public health courses in ASPHER institutions and b) understanding the ethics education of individual public health practitioners in EUPHA. Results The ASPHER survey was completed by teaching staff at 35 different institutions between April and August 2019. The EUPHA survey was completed by 232 professionals between October 2019 and January 2020. ASPHER Survey: 39% (n = 12) of institutions awarding master's degrees in public health had one or more degrees in which no ethics was taught. Only 48% (n = 13) of institutions had someone in their academic team formally qualified to teach ethics by holding a master's degree, PhD or further academic role in ethics. EUPHA Survey: Despite 79% (n = 165) of respondents encountering ethical dilemmas on at least a monthly basis, 21% (n = 48) reported that they had never had any ethics education or training, and 50% (n = 101) respondents thought that they had too little training in ethics for their professional role. Conclusions There remains a significant proportion of those studying or working in public health who do not receive any public health ethics training or education. Key messages Ethics education in public health remains variable among ASPHER organisations and EUPHA members, a significant minority lacking any ethics training. To ensure ethically reflective and sensitive public health practitioners, access to ethics education is key.

PurposeMotivation constitutes a central topic for business management, because of its critical impact on job performance. Therefore, understanding whether and how the style of leadership adopted by leaders in organizations promotes and maintains employee motivation is of great interest to both scholars and practitioners. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study investigates how ethical and emotional styles of leadership influence employee motivation and thus job performance.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study was conducted in the public sector in Kuwait. About 607 employees participated in this study. Structural equation modeling techniques were used for testing the causal relationships between constructs.FindingsResults of our study indicate that both ethical and emotional leaderships enhance employee motivation. Furthermore, employee motivation has a positive impact on job performance. The results also show that job performance exerts a negative effect on quitting intentions. Finally, interest in the private sector moderates the job performance–quitting intentions relationship.Practical implicationsThese findings provide theoretical contributions to the extant literature, as well as important practical implications for managers.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates the role of both ethical and emotional leaderships in shaping employee behaviors. To the best of our knowledge, this research is among the few that provides initial evidence regarding quitting intentions as an outcome of the impact of ethical and emotional leaderships on employee motivation and individual performance in Kuwait.

This paper explores the current gap that exists in the relationships with IT specialists and ethics training concerning their decision-making and moral reasoning. The theoretical basis for this study is grounded on Kohlberg's moral development model. The methodology used in the study was a qualitative method with the use of two surveys as a means of data collections. A group of IT specialists from a variety of occupational field utilizing IT systems participated by completing the Defining Issues Test 2 and the Ethics in IT Survey. Structural equation modeling and multiple regression testing was used to compare the relationships between all variables in the study.

BackgroundAdherence to ethical principles in clinical research and practice is becoming topical issue in China, where the prevalence of mental illness is rising, but treatment facilities remain underdeveloped. This paper reports on a study aiming to understand the ethical knowledge and attitudes of Chinese mental health professionals in relation to the process of diagnosis and treatment, informed consent, and privacy protection in clinical trials.MethodsA self-administered survey was completed by 1110 medical staff recruited from Shanghai’s 22 psychiatric hospitals. Simple random selection methods were used to identify target individuals from the computerized registry of staff.ResultsThe final sample for analysis consisted 1094 medical staff (including 523 doctors, 542 nurses, 8 pharmacologists and 21 other staff). The majority reported that their medical institutions had not established an Ethics Committee (87.8%) and agreed that Ethics Committees should be set up in their institutions (72.9%). Approximately half (52%) had not received systematic education in ethics, and almost all (89.1%) of the staff thought it was necessary. Nearly all participants (90.0%) knew the Shanghai Mental Health Regulations which was the first local regulations relating to mental health in China, but only 11% and 16.6% respectively knew of the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki. About half (51.8%) thought that the guardian should make the decision as to whether the patient participated in clinical trials or not.ConclusionsThe study indicates that most psychiatric hospitals in Shanghai have no Medical Ethics Committee. More than half the medical staff had not received systematic education and training in medical ethics and they have insufficient knowledge of the ethical issues related to clinical practice and trials. Training in ethics is recommended for medical staff during their training and as ongoing professional development.

A student should understand and uphold the greatest moral and ethical standards in their community and society through education. The student will eventually intuitively acquire these moral and ethical principles from schools and universities. This research explores the impact of four personal values (openness to change, self-transcendence, conservation, and self-enhancement) on the ethical behavior of undergraduate students in Oman. The study used a quantitative methodology, analyzing data from a questionnaire using descriptive statistics. Data was submitted by Omani university students in the Ad Dakhlia region of Oman. One hundred seventy-nine undergraduate students were chosen using simple random techniques. Partial least squares (PLS) techniques and structural equation modeling were employed in the study to evaluate the research variables. The results showed that ethical training and self-transcendence significantly affect students' moral behavior. However, personal values such as conservation, openness to change, and self-enhancement have no significant effect on students' ethical behavior. Integrating ethics education into curricula could foster integrity. It can be concluded that the significance of moral principles and practical applications-focused ethics education programs—especially those that emphasize self-transcendence—is imperative. Potential outcomes of this research include increased moral behavior among Oman's students through effective moral education and awareness of ethical principles to support moral decision-making in various cultural circumstances. This article makes both theoretical and practical contributions. In particular, support HEIs in developing customized ethics education programs for Oman. Theoretically, highlighting ethical education and principles like self-transcendence helps to understand critical ethical factors and directs future research at this connection.

The challenge of restricting unethical behavior requires public companies to reinforce ethical practices among leaders through various instruments. Previous research suggests that the (un)ethical behavior of leaders can be influenced by many situational factors. This study aimed to investigate the influence of ethics training and education on unethical leadership behavior in the Algerian public companies. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 leaders from public companies in Algeria. Data analysis was facilitated using ATLAS. ti 8 qualitative analysis software. The findings show that public companies in Algeria suffer from several issues related to leaders' ethics training and education. The findings also indicate that some of these unethical leadership behaviors are the result of ineffective training programs and poor ethics education within public companies. The absence or ineffectiveness of ethics training and education within and outside organizational settings has a detrimental impact on leaders' ethical character. This study is the first to explore how public companies in Algeria engage in ethical training and leadership education. The different sectors of the Algerian business can use the findings as a point of reference to embed the appropriate ethical climate in their respective organizations.

Purpose This study aims to examine the moderating role of code of ethics in the relationship between the implementation of internal control systems and the quality of pre-tertiary education in Ghana. The COSO framework, stakeholder theory and stewardship theory served as the underlying theoretical lens for the operationalisations of the variables tested. Design/methodology/approach The study used a survey method to collect data from 332 administrators responsible for implementing pre-tertiary education in Ghana. The collected data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings The study shows that there is a significant positive relationship between internal control systems (control environment, control activity, risk assessment, information and communication) and pre-tertiary education quality measured by indicators of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. The results also indicate that code of ethics moderates the positive relationship between internal controls and pre-tertiary education quality. Nonetheless, the monitoring component revealed a positive but statistically insignificant relationship with pre-tertiary education quality. Research limitations/implications The study exclusively examined data derived from questionnaire surveys. Consequently, the study could not ensure the robustness and dependability of the findings by incorporating cross-validation procedures that reassess the model using secondary data. Practical implications To achieve SDG 4, administrators of pre-tertiary education in Ghana should incorporate the code of ethics into the internal control mechanisms used to accomplish high-quality pre-tertiary education, instead of solely depending on internal control assurance. Originality/value This research uses stakeholder and stewardship theories to demonstrate how a well-designed internal control system, when aligned with code of ethics, can moderate the implementation of internal controls to improve the quality of pre-tertiary education.

The purpose of this article is to present the relationships among older employee stress, motivation, satisfaction, and relationships in the workplace using two different approaches and different sample sizes. Research was implemented on an initial sample of 1013 older employees. In the next step, six smaller samples were calculated using the random selection of cases, namely samples with 25, 50, 100, 250, 400, and 500 older employees. This way the possible impact of sample size on relationships between latent variables using the covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) and the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methods was assessed. The results on the larger samples have proved to be quite robust since they were confirmed with both approaches. They indicate that stress has a strong and negative impact on employee relationships and also a negative impact on employee satisfaction. Furthermore, employee relationships have a strong and positive impact on satisfaction and a positive impact on employee motivation. In addition, satisfaction has a strong and positive impact on employee motivation. The present paper helps readers to better understand the difference between the CB-SEM and the PLS-SEM methods. Researchers should be encouraged to use both techniques, even though CB-SEM methods have had a long tradition in management and marketing research since both fields heavily rely on psychometric measurement. From the organizational point of view, conclusions highlight the importance of the impact the variables of older employee stress, motivation, satisfaction and employee relations have on each other in the workplace.

This study investigates the multiple impacts of digital leadership, including visionary leadership, digital citizenship, and systemic improvement, on employee performance in the Egyptian petrochemicals sector. Furthermore, it investigates the mediating roles of digital self-efficacy and employee motivation within these interactions. A quantitative methodology was employed, gathering data from 391 valid responses out of 700 issued questionnaires to sector employees, resulting in a 55.9% response rate. Data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with AMOS software. The model exhibited a superior fit (χ2/DF = 2.659, RMSEA = 0.059, TLI = 0.925, CFI = 0.934). Research indicates that digital leadership has a substantial impact on employee performance, employee motivation, and digital self-efficacy. Both employee motivation and digital self-efficacy were found to significantly partially mediate the relationships between various dimensions of digital leadership and employee performance. Digital leadership dimensions explained 44.3% of the variance in employee motivation, 24.2% of the variance in digital self-efficacy, and jointly (via mediators) represented 28.5% of the variance in employee performance. These results highlight the essential need to cultivate digital leadership skills and improve employee digital readiness and motivation to optimize performance in digitally evolving sectors such as the Egyptian petrochemicals industry. The study offers both theoretical and practical contributions by integrating digital leadership into the dynamic capabilities framework and providing empirical evidence from the Egyptian petrochemicals sector. The findings highlight digital leadership’s critical role in fostering adaptability, innovation, and employee performance, enabling organizations to thrive during digital transformation.

Aim/Purpose: ************************************************************************ After its investigation, the Research Ethics, Integrity, and Governance team at RMIT University found that the primary author of this paper breached the Australian Code and/or RMIT Policy and requested that the article be retracted. ************************************************************************** This paper aimed to examine the influence of ethical and transformational leadership on employee creativity in Malaysia’s private higher education institutions (PHEIs) and the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior. Background: To ensure their survival and success in today’s market, organizations need people who are creative and driven. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of ethical leadership in fostering employee innovation and good corporate responsibility. Research on ethical leadership and transformational leadership, in particular, has played a significant role in elucidating the role of leadership in relation to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). In this study, we have focused on ethical and transformational leadership as an antecedent for enhancing employee creativity. Despite an increase in leadership research, little is known about the underlying mechanisms that link ethical leadership and transformational leadership to OCB. Because it sheds light on factors other than ethical leadership and transformational leadership that influence employees’ extra-role activity, this research is relevant theoretically. OCB may have a mediating function between ethical leadership and transformational leadership style and employee creativity because it is associated with the greatest outcomes, but empirical research has yet to prove this. So, one of the study’s goals is to add to the hypotheses about how ethical leadership style and transformational leadership affect employee creativity by using an important mediating variable – OCB. Methodology: This study adopted a quantitative approach based on a cross-sectional survey and descriptive design to gather the data in a specific period. A convenient sampling approach was used to gauge 275 employees from Malaysia’s PHEIs. To test the hypotheses and obtain a conclusion, the acquired data was analyzed using the partial least square technique (PLS-SEM). Contribution: The study contributes to leadership literature by advancing OCB as a mediating factor that accounts for the link between ethical and transformational leadership and employee creativity in the higher education sector. Findings: According to the research, OCB has a substantial influence on the creativity of employees. Furthermore, ethical leadership boosted OCB and boosted employee creativity, according to the research. OCB and employee creativity have both been demonstrated to benefit greatly from transformational leadership. Further research revealed that OCB is a mediating factor in the link between leadership styles and creative thinking among employees. Recommendations for Practitioners: Higher education institutions should focus on developing leaders who value transparency and self-awareness in their interactions with followers and who demonstrate an inner moral perspective in addition to balanced information processing to ensure positive outcomes at the individual and organizational levels. Higher education institutions should place a priority on hiring leaders that exhibit ethical and transformational traits to raise awareness of these leadership styles among employees. Recommendation for Researchers: The new study also adds significantly to the body of knowledge by examining the relationship between ethical and transformational leadership and the creativity of the workforce. It aimed to identify the relationship between transformational leadership style and individual creativity in higher education by examining the mediating influence of OCB. Impact on Society: Higher education institutions should devise strategies for developing ethical and transformative leaders who will assist boost OCB and creativity within their workforce. Students and faculty in higher education can benefit from these leadership methods by learning to think in more diverse ways and by developing thought processes that lead to a larger pool of innovative ideas and solutions. As a consequence, employees who show creative behavior may be effectively managed by leaders who utilize ethical and transformational leadership styles and motivate them to show OCB that allow them to solve creative problems creatively. Future Research: A mixed-methods approach should be used in future research, and this should be done in public institutions in developing and developed nations to put the findings to use and generalize them even further. Future research will be able to examine other mediators to learn more about how and why ethical and transformational leadership styles affect PHEI employees’ creativity.

Analysis of the Influence of Leadership, Training, and Work Motivation on Employee Performance at PT. Bank Papua Abepura Branch it aims to analyze the influence of leadership, training, and work motivation variables simultaneously and partially, as well as analyze which variables have the dominant influence on the performance of employees of PT. Bank Papua Abepura Branch. The population in this study are employees of PT. Bank Papua, Abepura Branch, with a total of 32 employees. The sampling technique in this study used a saturated sample where all members of the population were sampled. The analytical method used in this study is multiple linear regression analysis. The results of the study show that simultaneously the variables of leadership, training, and work motivation have a positive and significant effect on the performance of employees of PT. Bank Papua Abepura Branch. Partially, the leadership variable has a positive and significant effect on the performance of PT. Bank Papua Abepura Branch, while the variables of training and work motivation have no significant effect on the performance of employees of PT. Bank Papua Abepura Branch. Variables that have a dominant influence on the performance of employees of PT. Bank Papua Abepura Branch is a leadership variable.

Purpose Drawing on social exchange theory (SET) and social learning theory (SLT), this paper aims to connect ethical leadership (ETHL) and ethical training (ET) with employee loyalty (EL) and employee work engagement (EWE), both directly and indirectly, in the context of Indian hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach This study collects quantitative data from 425 hotel employees and analyzes the hypotheses using partial least square-based structural equation modeling. Findings The findings indicated that ETHL and ET influence EWE and EL. Furthermore, EWE mediates the linkage between ETHL−EL and ET−EL. This study also validates that EWE influences EL. Practical implications Hospitality sector should nurture ETHL and conduct ET to enhance EWE and foster EL. Originality/value Drawing on SET and SLT, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first one to explore the combined influence of ETHL and ET on EL, both directly and indirectly, in Indian hospitality contexts.