The practice of ethical leadership among the academic administrators in International Islamic University Malaysia

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the practice of ethical leadership among the academic administrators in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Using the framework model of Ethical Leadership at Work (ELW) developed by Karianne Kalshoven in the year 2010, it looked into the perceptions of the three groups of respondents selected i.e. the academic staff, administrative staff and students of IIUM Gombak based on Semester 1, 2011/2012 session on the level of ethical leadership practiced in IIUM. As outlined by the ELW, it focused on the seven dimensions of ethical leadership practices i.e. people orientation, fairness, power sharing, concern for sustainability, ethical guidance, role clarification and integrity. A survey was conducted as it is the simplest way to explain the perception of the groups selected. Using 38 items listed in the questionnaire based on the seven dimensions mentioned above, 262 academic staff, 299 administrative staff and 375 students of IIUM Gombak participated in the survey with the accumulated total number of 936 respondents. The results based on the perception of the academic staff indicated that the practice of ethical leadership among the academic administrators in IIUM is moderate except for the dimension of fairness. On the perception of the administrative staff, the result has indicated that the practice of ethical leadership among the academic administrators in IIUM is moderate in all seven dimensions. However, the students' perception indicated the same as the academic staff's perception in which all dimensions are moderate except for the dimension of fairness which is low. Therefore, the differences between the perceptions of academic staff, administrative staff and students of IIUM on the practice of ethical leadership among academic administrators, six dimensions demonstrated that there is a significant difference in the perceptions of academic staff, administrative staff and students of IIUM on the practice of ethical leadership among the academic administrators except for the dimension of integrity where there is no significant difference of perceptions among the three respondents. Hence, the overall result shows that there is no significant difference of the practices of ethical leadership among the academic administrators in IIUM based on the perception of the academic staff, administrative staff and students of IIUM. With this regards, this research will definitely open the eyes of IIUM to improve further in planning trainings and awareness that are related to the academic administrators. Therefore, these results are useful for the IIUM as it will give a great impact on the academic administrators in IIUM.