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Proceedings of 5th Asia-Pacific Business Research Conference17 - 18 February, 2014, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ISBN: 978-1-922069-44-3

The Impact of Islamic Work Ethics on JobPerformance and Organizational Commitment

Mohamed Farah Abdi*, Siti Fatimah Dato’ Wira Muhamad Nor**and Nor Zuhairatun Md. Radzi***

Even though there is a lot of research focusing in ethics in the workplace,ethics still become the most commonly discussed in the recent years. Thisis due to continuance unethical cases in the organizations such ascorruption, fraud, sexual harassment and other unethical behavior. Thereare several countries and organizations faced an experience and stillsuffering from their ethical disorder. Therefore, this study is intended toexplore the view from an Islamic organization on the impact of Islamic workethics on job performance and also to seek for the relationship betweenIslamic work ethics, job performance and organizational commitment. Thestudy employed a random sampling method. Data was gathered byquestionnaires that were distributed between 40 staffs and lecturers inInsaniah University College, Kedah. The first part of the questionnairecovers the demographic profile of the respondents; whereas the second

part of the questionnaire tested the respondent’s level of agreement on thequestions of the Islamic work ethics, job performance and organizationalcommitment items. The gathered data was processed by SPSS. Result ofthe regression analysis discovered that job performance was significantlyassociated with Islamic work ethics but on the other hand theorganizational commitment was not significantly associated with Islamicwork ethics.

Field of Research: Ethics Management

1. Introduction

The Islamic work ethics is an orientation toward 'work' which is rooted inIslamic Shariah principles. Since work ethics is proven to have a significantinfluence on the individual and organizational outcomes, it is helpful tounderstand this concept (Jihad Mohammad and Farzana Quoquab,comparative study on Islamic work ethics). The individual's perception of workethics is produced by their religious faith as well as cultural values. Theconcept of work ethics has received significant research attention since 1980s[Ali (1988), Cherrington (1983), Kleiber and Crandall (1981) and Nasr (1984)].Those researches have defined work ethics as a dispositional variable whichis different among the individuals. According to Al-Modaf (2005), work ethicsare necessary for any organization to function, make profit and maintain in thefuture. Additionally, Abeng (1997) indicated that organization can work more

________________* Mohamed Farah Abdi, Masters student of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Malaysia.Email: [email protected]

** Siti Fat imah Dato’ Wira Muhamad Nor, Lecturer with Department of Business Management,Insaniah University College, Malaysia. Email: [email protected]

*** Nor Zuhairatun Md. Radzi, Lecturer with Department of Accounting, Insaniah UniversityCollege, Malaysia. Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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effectively and efficiently by adopting an ethical framework that guides andhelps to organize their work. Moreover, work ethics contributes in economicdevelopment (Congleton, 1991), as well as it mobilizes the success of theorganization and its employees (Yunus et al, 2011). Research has found that

belief in work ethics is highly predictive of work related behaviors andoutcomes (Furnham, 1990a). In more detail, work ethics is believed to reflectan individual's disposition towards different aspects of work, including favoritefor work involvement (Randall and Cote, 1991) and attitude toward monetaryand non-monetary rewards (Cherrington, 1980).

Islamic work ethics has its origin from the Quran and the sayings and actionsof Prophet Mohammad SAW (pbuh) (Ali and Al-Owaihan 2008: 1999). TheIslamic work ethics includes economic, social and moral elements (Ahmad,2011). Jalil (2010) noted that 'ethic can be understood in Islamic terms asHayy'a (the state of respect and the practice of good deeds). The Muslim

individual must practice the Islamic ethic in all parts of life. Porter (2010)stated that every nation and culture around the world has its own history andconditions that influence the meanings given to the work in people's life.Culture along with religious background has an impact on the people's ethicalthought and behaviors. Quddus et al. (2009) noted that religious backgroundand beliefs affect ethics and ethical understanding of the people. Therefore,people reflect their religious thought and beliefs in understanding andpracticing ethic in daily and business life.

Jalil et al. (2010) argued that ethical practices could help organization tocreate good relationship with other organizations and long-term relationshipwith the future possible customers. Because of the worldwide ethicaldishonors and the increasing of the needs and the importance as well as theadvantages of work ethics in the workplace a lot of work ethic research hasencouraged across the world (Rokhman, 2010).

Ethics has been one of the most commonly discussed and researched topic inthe recent years. Quddus et al, (2009) noted that there is an increasingimportance in working ethics. Similarly Jalil et al. (2010) stated that ethic andethical behavior are in the centre of arguments in business communityworldwide. The interest in ethics comes from the fact that the recent yearshave witnessed a number of dishonors that are attributed to the lack of theethical set of behavior (Hodgetts and Luthans, 2000: Rokhman, 2010).Practicing ethic at organizational level creates a number of benefits to theorganizations and this in turn creates an interest in work ethics.

Even though there are a lot of researchers focused on ethics in the workplace,these unethical practices still keep continuing in the organizations, such ascorruption, fraud, lies, sexual harassment and many other associatedsecondary behaviors which are considered unethical behavior. In recentyears, a number of practical studies took place to investigate ethical beliefsand intentions across different cultures (Graham, 1985). There are several

countries and organizations in the region have experienced and still sufferingfrom the ethical disorder. Moreover the facts that many organizations already

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collapse due to the unethical behavior in the workplace. Therefore, this studyis intended to explore the view from an Islamic organization on the impact ofIslamic work ethics on job performance and also to seek for the relationshipbetween Islamic work ethics, job performance and organizational

commitment.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Is lamic Work Ethics

Ethics defined as the activity of applying moral principles to an existingproblem (Wines, 1992) and as a science of conduct (Johnson, 1984). Ethics isthe knowledge that studies the intelligence and the wisdom where at the endof the course represents all the intellectual actions. It is therefore a normalstudy into its subject matter in the intention of getting knowledge. The modernworldwide development and the expansion of the global business have furtherunderlined the interest in the topics of ethical behavior and socialaccountability (Jones, 1991). Ethics also has been defined as the study ofright and wrong, and morality of choices made by individuals. Morf,Schumacher and Vitell (1999) believe that ethics is a moral principle thatindividuals insert it into their decision making process which will help theanger to be the last thing they produce in their society.

Beekun (1997) defined Islamic work ethics as the set of moral principles thatdistinguish what is right from what is wrong. According to Rizk (2008), Islamicwork ethics is a direction towards work and approaches work as a valuableasset in the human's lives. Islamic work ethics is originally derived from theHoly Qur'an, the teachings sayings and actions of Prophet Mohammad SAWas well as the legacy of the four Caliphs of Islam (Ali, 2005 and Rizk, 2008).

According to Hayaati (2007), ethics in the Islamic perspective is an indicationof good values whether in behavior, action, thinking or feeling. The majority ofresearchers argue that in Islamic work ethics, work is an obligatory activityand a desirable quality in the person's need and necessity to create thestrength in the individual and social life (Ali, 2001 and Ali and Al Owaihan,2008). Rashid and Ibrahim (2005) stated that ethics is the result and theoutcomes of Iman (belief) and it appears in the Islamic worldview of human

life. Moreover, it called akhlaq which is a set of Islamic moral values that havebeen approved basically in the Holy Qur'an and derived from the actions ofProphet Mohammad SAW throughout his lifetime (McGee, 2012).

Muslim scholars also recognize the important of Islamic work ethics in themodern age, as it became part of Islamic thought which is beneficial to everygeneration. Ali & Al Owaihan (2008), classified the work that is associatedwith the sayings of Prophet Mohammad SAW into eleven branch, that arepracticing lawful business, the importance of earning wealth, quality of work,wages, self dependence, monopoly, bribery, deeds and intentions,transparency, greed, and kindness. They said that Prophet Mohammad SAW

in a clear manner taught and trained the followers that good work is that whichadvantages others in the society. Then those who work hard are recognized

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and rewarded. The Prophet then stated that ''Worshiping has seventy paths,and the best of them is the involvement in an honestly earned living''. Meaningthat, work is the best form of worshiping. The Prophet (pbuh) promoted thepeople and their work to the highest level if their accomplishments assist

others. He said: ''The best work is the one that results in benefit'' and ''Thebest of people are those who benefit others''. In Islamic faith, it is realized thatthe people have different abilities, and it is those abilities and the chanceswhat enables them to obtain wealth. Therefore, practicing economicmovements should be based on moral and legitimate foundations.

2.2 Job Perform ance

Generally job performance refers to how well an individual can perform his orher work. Job performance can be defined as all the behaviors that theemployees engage at their work (Jex, 2002). Researchers are very certainabout the possibility to define and measure the job performance. They startedto realize that determining the measurements of a job and its performancerequirements was not an easy job. Mead (1998) mentioned that organizationsshowing moral direction manage to produce positive picture in the eye ofcommunity and form a positive organizational culture. Barutcugil (2004)argued that ethical organizations possibly will achieve a number ofadvantages, for example, effectiveness, employee accountability,communication effectiveness, and competitive advantages.

The organizations that practice ethical principles contribute to theachievement and the well being of the organization, ensure prosperity for thestakeholders, and help the society's welfare, said (Barutcugil, 2004: Berroneal. 2007: Donker et al. 2008: Jalil et al. 2010: Mead, 1998). The workplacesthat take pleasure in ethic creates job satisfaction, commitment and goodcommunity residency (Ali and Al-Owaihan, 2008: Jalil et al. 2010: Koonmee etal. 2009: Sabir et al. 2012: Sparrow et al. 2010). Forming an ethical principlesand putting them into practice creates a wealthy environment. Ali (2005)stated that Islamic work ethics values hard work, effort, competition, loyalty,transparency and morally responsible behavior. Likewise, Kumar and Rose(2010) pointed out a number of helpful manners resulted from putting Islamicwork ethics into practice, such as hard work, commitment, loyalty to work,

work creativity, cooperation and fair competitiveness in the marketplace.Those manners are important human resources that establish theeffectiveness, productivity and the performance of the employment.

Jalil et al. (2010) says that Islamic work ethics positively affect organizationalwell functioning. And putting Islamic work ethics into operation in theorganizations generates continuous development of the organization,increased customer satisfaction and demonstrates good representation of thebusiness Jalil et al. (2010). Ali and Al-Owaihan (2008) declared that thesuccessful achievement of Islamic work ethics leads to a higher performanceand widespread wealth. Besides that, many researchers guaranteed that the

values of Islamic work ethics improves the quality and the performance of

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both the individuals and organizations (Ahmad, 2011: Ali and Al-Owaihan,2008: Husin, 2012: Jalil et al. 2010: Kumar and Rose, 2010).

2.3 Organizat ional Com m itment

According to Werkmeister (1967), commitment is an expression of theindividual's own self, and reflects value standards that are fundamental to theindividual's existence as a person. Kidron (1979) moreover examines thatwork ethics express higher relationship with the moral commitment to theorganization than calculative commitment (Elizur & Koslowsky, 2001).

Allen & Mayer (1990) defined organizational commitment as a psychologicalstate that attaches an employee to an organization. Mahdavi (2001), expressthat organizational commitment is the attachment that is formed betweenemployees and their employing organization. Mowday, Porter, and Steers(1982), also defined organizational commitment as the relative strength of anindividual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization. Inorder to accomplish organizational commitment, managers must assist theiremployees' value involvement in the organization. Boom & Arumugam, 2006,stated that ''the more the employees' value being part of the organization, themore likely they are to stay with the organization''. The practice of acceptingemployee's opinion and suggestion will definitely ensure the employeescommitment.

2.4 Is lamic Wo rk Ethics and Organizational Com mitm ent

Organizational commitment is one of the most widely topic that is beenstudied by researchers in the organizational behavior literature (Copper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005: Maertz et al., 2007). It is also one of thecentral concepts in psychology (Morrow, 1993) and the strong relation of anindividual's identification and involvement in a particular organization(Mowday, Porter and Steers, 1982). Wagner and Hollenbeck (2005) definesorganizational commitment as the measure to which people identify theorganization that employs them. Thus, the degree that the employees give totheir organization is then the level of their commitment, this is a very goodpoint of view, because whenever an organization interested to measure the

employees level of commitment, will go through the measure of theirevaluation and identification of the organization that employs them.

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2.5 Conc eptual Framework

Based on the discussion presented in the literature review section, thefollowing conceptual framework was constructed and presented in Figure 1.

H1

H2

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Based on the analytical interpretations in the previous section, the followinghypotheses were proposed:

H1 Islamic work ethics influence the performance of the job.

H2 Islamic work ethics influence the commitment in an organization.

3. Research Design and Methodology

3.1 Sample and Procedure

This study used both primary and secondary data. A self-administeredquestionnaire was employed and distributed among 40 staffs and lecturers inInsaniah University College, an Islamic organization in Alor Setar, Kedah,Malaysia. Respondents were randomly chosen. The questionnaires werecollected right after the completion. The method of close-ended questionswere used to develop the questionnaire items, since it is the easiest way forthe respondents to answer, and the best method for the study to obtain therespondents opinion in a structured manner.

3.2 Measur es

The survey questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part covers thedemographic profile of the respondents; whereas the second part of thequestionnaire tested the respondent’s level of agreement on the questions ofthe Islamic work ethics items. Respondents were asked to indicate their

C OW CI L

S CI

BLJ

ES AL WRIS

L NWRC W CLRWO

IL C SR

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indicated 0.703 which is considered as acceptable. Therefore, these twoindependent variables are acceptable and give a great Alpha value.

Table 2. Reliability of Islamic Work Ethics, Job Performance and

Organizational Performance Variable No of Items Cronbach AlphaIWE 17 0.844JP 5 0.914OC 5 0.703

4.4 Correlat ion An alysis

Table 3. Correlation Analysis Between Islamic Work Ethics,Job Performance and Organizational Performance

IWE JP OCIWE Pearson Correlation 1 .

Sig. (2-tailed)N 40

JP Pearson Correlation .573 1 .Sig. (2-tailed) .000N 40 40

OC Pearson Correlation .264 .250 1Sig. (2-tailed) .100 .119

N 40 40 40**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

4.5 Mult iple Regression s A nalysis

According to table 4, the R square is 34.4%; means that the dependentvariables can be explained by 34.4%. Durbin Watson point out that the valueis in the range of 2.028 and it is therefore has no any problem inautocorrelation.

Table 4. Model Summary for Islamic Work Ethics, Job Performance andOrganizational Performance

Model R R Square AdjustedR Square

Std. ErrorOf The

Estimate

DurbinWatson

1 .587a .344 .309 .42058 2.028

Table 5 confirms that the value of F is 9.711 and proves that this study issignificant.

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Table 5. ANOVA of Islamic Work Ethics, Job Performance and OrganizationalPerformance

Model Sum OfSquares

Df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 3.436 2 1.718 9.711 .000 a Residual 6.545 37 .177Total 9.981 39

a. Predictors: (Constant), OC, JPb. Dependent Variable: IWE

Table 6 shows that job performance have a positive relationship with Islamicwork ethics; whereas, organizational commitment have a negative relationshipwith Islamic work ethics.

4.6 Hypoth esis Test ing

Variables Hypothesis Testing P Value Testing Decision

JobPerformance

OrganizationalCommitment

H1 Islamic work ethicsinfluences the

performance of the job.

H2 Islamic work ethicsinfluence thecommitment in anorganization.

.000

.356

P0.05

Accepted

Rejected

Table 6. Coefficient of Islamic Work Ethics, Job Performance andOrganizational Performance

Model

UnstandardizedCoefficients

StandardizedCoefficients

T Sig.

95% ConfidenceInterval For B

B Std.Error

Beta LowerBound

UpperBound

1 (Constant) 1.966 .481 4.088 .000 .992 2.940

JP .429 .109 .541 3.935 .000 .208 .650OC .087 .093 .129 .935 .356 -.102 .276

a. Dependent Variable: IWE

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5. Summary and Conclusions

The findings indicated that Islamic work ethics has an impact on jobperformance and positively correlate with it. As a result, the organizations

need to put Islamic work ethics into practice as it ensures the ultimate and thecontinuous success of the organization. As the Islamic scholars such as Ali(2001) and Ali and Al-Kasemi (2007) mentions about Islamic work ethics thatis of a great importance for the development and success of Muslim societiesand their organizations. This study also proves their statements by showing agreat reliability in term of the employee's performance. This result is alignedwith past research where work ethics positively affect job performance(Andrisani and Parnes, 1983) the level of job satisfaction (Blood (1969).However, it found a negative correlation for the second variable;organizational commitment.

Ultimately this study suggests that organizations can work more effectivelyand efficiently by adopting an ethical framework that guides and helps toorganize their work as it has been mentioned by Abeng (1997). In future theperception of Islamic work ethics should be expanded by attach morevariables to enhance the contribution towards this topic.

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