Islamic Spirituality and Peers Influence as Antecedents of Ethical Intention of Public Servants: A Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) Approach

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of ethical intention among the public servants in Malaysian public service sector. All variables were measured using 7- points interval scale; Islamic spirituality (18 items), peers influence (6 items) and ethical intention (18 items) as exogenous variables. Questionnaires were distributed to 200 public servants in public primary and secondary schools in Kedah state based on a random sampling method. A respond rate of 78.5% (157 respondents) was obtained during data collection phase and 152 were usable. The data was input into SPSS 18 and analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) through AMOS 17. The result shows that the goodness of fit indices of structural equation model are adequate at GFI=0.941, p-value=0.066 RMSEA=0.046, ratio (cmin/df)= 1.326 and TLI= 0.959. The finding supports one significant direct effect in the revised model, thus supporting the hypothesis peer influence is significantly influence ethical intention (β= 0.358, c.r = 2.886, p<0.004. The result is discussed in the perspective of public servant towards ethical intention.