The primary aim of this study is to investigate the relationship among the ethical leadership, ethical climate and integrity violation of the local government of two countries, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Past studies indicate that ethical leadership and ethical climate influenced the integrity of local government. However, studies were mostly conducted in Western countries. Given the lack of comparative studies in Muslim-oriented countries, we intend to fill the gap by building upon previous studies on the relationship between ethical leadership and ethical climate and integrity violation of the local government. The study used survey to collect data from local authorities in the two nations. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the survey data. The findings demonstrated that the relationship between ethical leadership and integrity violation is not significant for Malaysians. Thus, the study assumption is not supported. By contrast, Saudi showed a different result in the relationship between ethical leadership and integrity violation; the relationship between ethical leadership and integrity violation in Saudi is negatively significant. Hence, the assumption is supported for Saudi participants. In regard to the ethical climate, results reveal that for Malaysia and Saudi, ethical climate negatively and significantly influence integrity violation. Thus, the assumption for both countries is supported. The findings of this study are useful for the practical development of local authorities as the findings provide information for the local government to safeguard against integrity violation. The findings also contribute social implications by educating organizations toward the role of ethical climate in preventing integrity violation. In addition, the study contributes to the growing interest in comparative studies.

中文翻译：

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道德领导，道德气候和违反诚信行为：沙特阿拉伯和马来西亚的比较研究

这项研究的主要目的是调查沙特阿拉伯和马来西亚这两个国家的地方政府的道德领导，道德气候和诚信受到侵犯之间的关系。过去的研究表明，道德领导和道德氛围影响了地方政府的诚信。但是，研究大多在西方国家进行。鉴于面向穆斯林的国家缺乏比较研究，我们打算通过先前关于道德领导力与道德氛围和违反地方政府的正直行为之间的关系的研究来填补这一空白。该研究使用调查从两国的地方当局收集数据。用PLS-SEM分析调查数据。调查结果表明，道德领导与正直诚信之间的关系对马来西亚人而言并不重要。因此，不支持研究假设。相比之下，沙特在道德领导与正直行为之间的关系表现出不同的结果。沙特阿拉伯的道德领导与正直诚信之间的关系是负面的。因此，这一假设得到沙特阿拉伯参与者的支持。关于道德气候，研究结果表明，对于马来西亚和沙特阿拉伯，道德气候对完整性侵犯有负面影响。因此，这两个国家的假设都得到了支持。这项研究的结果为地方当局的实际发展提供了有用的信息，因为这些发现为地方政府提供了防止诚信受到侵犯的信息。研究结果还通过教育组织了解道德氛围在防止侵犯诚信方面的作用，也对社会产生了影响。此外，该研究有助于对比较研究的兴趣不断增长。