State Governments: Constructing Fortifications Against Fraudulent Activities

Abstract

Vision, mission and objective statements are essential for the government departments to declare their fortifications for protecting public assets and upholding the highest possible ethical standards. Vision, mission and objective statements are defined and documented by state government departments in Malaysia to deter, among other things, official wrongdoing and dishonesty. The objective of this study is to investigate the efforts made by state government agencies to stop employee fraud and misconduct. The phrase integrity and its synonyms in the vision, mission and objective statements are recognized and examined after studying all of the state governments' official websites in Malaysia. The fact that the term "integrity" even exists can serve as a sign of how committed state government agencies are to upholding a responsible and reputable organization. The descriptive statistical analysis technique was utilized in the study to examine Malaysian state government departments' attention to preventing fraudulent actions from occurring. A keyword search method was employed. An examination of the official websites of state-affiliated organizations with the goal of determining if local governments promote integrity in their major identity statements. Results from the study indicate most state governments in Malaysia are not committed to the fight against fraud because integrity is not emphasized in their vision, mission and objective statements. Future research may take into consideration each term and phrase that has an identical meaning to that of the integrity. To date, studies on the importance of these statements are quite limited. Therefore, this study can be a preliminary study to provide important information in instilling integrity in state government employees by emphasizing it in the vision, mission and objective statements.